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An organism's adaptations to its environment, such as adaptations for conserving water, are the result of
evolution
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Define evolution:
- -the process of change that has transformed life on Earth from its earliest beginnings to the diversity of organisms living today
- -the fundamental organizing principle of biology
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Define scientific inquiry:
- -posing questions about the living world and seeking science-based answers
- -the central activities of biology
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Define biology:
the scientific study of life
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1. What do we recognize life by?
2. Name some properties of life.
- 1. We recognize life by what living things do.
- 2. Properties of life include regulation (rabbit ears), order (sunflower structure),
- evolutionary adaptation (seahorse camouflage),
- response to the environment (venus fly),
- reproduction (giraffe),
- growth and devolopment (genes control the pattern of growth and development of organisms),
- energy processing (hummingbird)
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Emergent Properties
- -novel properties that emerge at each step, properties that are not present at the preceding heirarchy level
- -due to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases
- -ex: photosynthesis requires a specific organization of molecules in the chloroplast (it will not occur in a test tube)
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Give examples of how emergent properties are not unique to life.ianmond in a wedding ring are both carbon, they have very different appearances and properties due to the different arrangements of their carbon atoms.
- -A box of bicycle parts won't take you anywhere, but if they are arranged in a certain way, you can pedal to your chosen destination.
- -While the graphite in a pencil "lead" and the diamond in a wedding ring are both pure carbon, they ahve very different appearances and properties due tot he different arrangements of their carbon atoms.
- Theme: New properties emerge at each level in the biological hierarchy
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Define reductionism. Give an example.
- The approach of reducing complex systems to simpler components that are more manageable to study (a powerful strategy in biology).
- Ex: By studying the molecular structure of DNA that had been extracted from cells, Watson & Crick inferred how this molecule could serve as the chemical basis of inheritance. The central role of DNA in cells and organisms became better understood when scientists were able to study the interactions of DNA with other molecules. Biologists must balance the reductionist strategy with the larger-scale, holistic objective of understanding emergent properties - how the parts of cells, organisms, and higher levels of order, such as ecosystems, work together. This is systems biology.
- Theme: New properties emerge at each level in the biological hierarchy.
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Define system.
- A system is a combination of components that function together.
- A biologist can study a system at any level of organization.
- Theme: New properties emerge at each level in the biological hierarchy.
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Define systems biology.
- Systems biology is an approach that attempts to model the dynammic behavior of whole biological systems based on a study of the interactions among the system's parts, Successful models enable biologiest to predict how a change in one of more variables will affect other components and the whole system.
- Theme: New properties emerge at each level in the biological hierarchy.
- -Relevant to the study of life at all levels
- -The ultimate aim of systems biology is to answer large-scale questions like "How might a gradual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide alter ecosystems and the entire biosphere?"
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In an ecosystem,
- -Each organism interacts continuously with its environment, which includes both other oranisms and physical factors.
- -Interactions between organisms ultimately result in the cycling of nutrients in ecosystems (tree, minerals, oxygen, decomposition)
- Theme: Organisms interact with other organisms and the physical environment.
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Discuss the global climate change.
- About half of human-generated CO2 stays in the atmosphere, acting like a layer of glass around the planet that admits radiations that wards the Earth but prevents heat from radiating into houter space.
- Theme: Organisms interact with other organisms and the physical environment.
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What are the themes of this book?
- 1. New properties emerge at each level in the biological hierarchy.
- 2. Levels of biological organizaition
- 3. Organisms interact with other organisms and the physical environment
- 4. Life requares energy transfer and transportation.
- 5. Structure and function are correlated at all levels of biological organization.
- 6. The cell is an organism's basic unit of structure and function
- 7. The continuity of life is based on heritable information in the form of DNA
- 8. Feedback mechanisms regulate biological systems
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The input of energy from the sun makes life possible: A fundamental characteristic of living organisms is:
- A fundamental characteristic of living organism is their use of energy to carry our life's activities.
- -moving, growing, reproducing, and other work require energy
- -organisms often transform one form of energy to another
- Theme: Life requires energy transfer and transformation
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An animal's muscle cells use sugar as
- fuel to power movements, converting chemical energy to kinetic energy, the energy of motion.
- Theme: Life requires energy transfer and transformation.
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Theme: Structure and function are correlated at all levels of biological organization.
- -form fits functione anatomy
- -how a devide works is correlated with its structure
- -guide to the anatomy of life at all its structural levels
- Ex: leaf is thin and flat to maximize sunlight exposure
- Ex: bird wings have an aerodynamically efficient shape and a honeycombed internal structure that is strong but lightweight.
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Theme: The cell is an organism's basic unit of structure and function.
- -in life's structural hierarchy, the cell is the lowest level of organization that can perform all activities required for life
- -the activities of organisms are all based on the activities of cells
- -every cell is enclosed by a membrane that regulates the passage of materials between the cell and its surroundings
- -every cell uses DNA as its genetic information
- -2 main forms of cells are prokaryotic and eukaryotic
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Define eukaryotic cell. Give examples.
- A eukaryotic cell is subdivided by internal membranes into various membrane-enclosed organelles
- -In most, the largest organelle is the nucleus, which contains the cell's DNA.
- -The other organelles are located in the cytoplasm, the entire region beteen the nucleus and outer membrane of the cell.
- Ex: plants & animals
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Define cytoplasm.
The entire region between the nucleus and out membrane of the cell.
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Define prokaryotic cell. Give examples.
- The DNA is not separated fromt he rest of the cell by enclosure in a membrane-bounded nucleus.
- -Prokaryotic cells lack the other kinds of membrane enclosed organelles that characterize eukaryotic cells.
- Ex: two groups of microorganisms, called bacteria (singular: bacterium) and archaea (singular, archaean)
- Theme: The cell is an organism's basic unit of structure and function.
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The properties of all organisms, whether prokaryotic or eukaryotic, are based in:
- the structure and function of cells.
- Theme: The cell is an organism's basic unit of structure and function.
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Theme: The continuity of life is based on heritable information in the form of DNA. Describe DNA.
- Deoxyribonucleic Acid: the cell's genetic material
- -Mostly found in chromosomes: each chromosome contains one very long DNA molecule, with hundreds or thousands of genes arranged along its length.
- -Replicates as a cell prepares to divide, and each of the two cellular offspring inherits a complete set of genes, identical to that of the parent cell.
- -Each of us began life as a single cell stocked with DNA inherited from our parents.
- -Replication of that DNA with each round of cell division transmitted copies of the DNA to our trillions of cells.
- -The DNA controls the development and maintenance of hte entire organism and, indirectly, everything the organism does.
- -Serves as a central database.
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Describe the molecular structure of DNA. Define & describe genes.
- The molecular structure of DNA accounts for its ability to store information.
- -Each DNA molecule is made up of two long chains / strands, arranged in a double helix.
- -Each chain is made up of four kinds of chemical building blocks called nucleotide, abbreviated A, T, C, & G.
- -The way DNA encodes info is analogous to how we arrange the letters of the alphabet into precise sequences with specific meanings.
- -DNA provides the blueprints for making proteins, and proteins are the main players in building and maintaining the cell and carrying out its activities.
- -Enzymes, which catalyze (speed up) specific chemical reactions, are mostly proteins and are crucial to all cells.
- -The DNA of genes controls protein production indirectly, using a related kind of molecule called RNA as an intermediary.
- -The sequence of nucleotides along a gene is transcribed into RNA, which is then translated into a specific protein with a unique shape and function.
- -The entire process, by which the info in a gene directs the production of a cellular product, is called gene expression.
- -Genes: the units of inheritance that transmit information from parents to offspring. Ex: blood type
- -In translating genes into proteins, all forms of life employ essentially the same genetic code.
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Define RNA and their function.
- Some RNA molecules in the cell are translated into protein, some RNAs carry out other important tasks.
- -Some types of RNA are actually components of the cellular machinery that manufactures proteins.
- -Recently, scientist have discovered whole new classes of RNA that play other roles in the cell, such as regulating the functioning of protein-coding genes.
- -All these RNAs are specified by genes , and the process of their transcription is also referred to as gene expressiong.
- -By carrying the instructions for making proteins and RNAs and by replicating with each cell division, DNA ensures faithful inheritance of genetic information from generation to generation.
- Theme: The continuity of life is based on heritable information in the form of DNA
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Genomics: Large-Scale Analysis of DNA sequences
Define genome, genomics, bioinformatics.
- Genome - the entire "library" of genetic instructions that an organism inherits.
- Genomics: studying whole sets of genes of a species as well as comparing genomes between species.
- and each set has DNA totaling about 3 billion nucleotide pairs.
- -A typical human cell has two similar sets of chromosomes, and each set has DNA totaling about 3 billion nucleotide pairs.
- -Bioinformatics: the use of computational tools to store, organize, and analyze the huge volume of data that result from high-throughput methods.
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Name and describe the three important research developments that have made the genomic approach possible.
- 1. "High-throughput" technology: tools that can analyze biological materials very rapidly and produce enormous amounts of data.
- Ex: The automatic DNA-dequencing machines that made the sequencing of the human genome possible.
- 2. Bioinformatics: the use of computational tools to store, organize, and analyze the huge volume of data that result from high throughput methods.
- 3. The formation of intterdisciplinary research teams - melting posts of diverse specialists that may include computer scientists, mathematicians, engineers, chemist, physicists, and biologists from a variety of fields.
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Theme: Feedback mechanisms regulate biological systems
Discuss theme, define feedback, negative feedback, positive feedback.
- Regulation of biological processes is crucial to the operation of living systems.
- Ex: Muscle cells require more energy during exercise, they increase their consumption of the sugar molecules that serve as fuel. When you rest, a different set of chemical reactions converts surplus sugar to storage molecules. Those chemical processes of the cell that either decompose or store sugar are accelerated (catalyzed) by proteins called enzymes. Each type of enzyme catalyzes a specific chemical reaction.
- -The key is the ability of many biological processes to self-regulate by a mechanism called feedback.
- -Feedback regulation: the output or product of a process regulates that very process
- -Negative feedback: the most common form of regulation in living systems, in whcih accumulation of an end product of a process slows that process
- Ex (neg feedback): the cell's breakdown of sugar generates chemical energy in the form of a substance called ATP. When the cell makes more ATP than it can use, the excess ATP "feeds back" and inhibits an enzyme neart the beginning of the pathway.
- -Positive feedback: an end product speeds up its own production.
- Ex (pos feedback): The clotting of your blood in response to injury. When a blood vessel is damaged, structures in the blood called platelets begin to aggregate at the site. Positive feedback occurs as chemicals released by the platelets attract more platelets. The platelet pileup then initiates a comples process that seals the wound with a clot.
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Evolution, the Overarching Theme of Biology
- Evolution is the one idea that makes sense of everything we know about living organisms.
- Life has been evolving on Earth for billions of years, resulting in a vast diversity of past and present organisms. But along with the diversity we find many shared features.
- For example, while the sea horse, jackrabbit, hummingbird, crocodile, and giraffes look very different, their skeletons are basically similar.
- The scientific explanation for thisunity and diversity - and for the suitability of organisms for their environments - is evolution: the idea that the organisms living on Earth today are the modified descendants of common ancestors.
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Define "high-throughput" technology. Give examples.
- They are tools that can analyze biological materials very rapidly and produce enormouse amounts of data.
- Ex: Automatic DNA-sequencing machines that made the sequencing of the human genome possible
- -This is one important research development that has made the genomic approach possible.
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Define bioinformatics.
- The use of computational tools to store, organize, and analyze the huge volume of data that result from high-throughput methods.
- -This is the 2nds major development that has made the genomic approach possible.
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Discuss the importance of the formation of interdisciplinary research teams.
- They are melting pots of diverse specialists that may include computer scientists, mathematicians, engineers, chemists, physicists, and biologists from a variety of fields.
- -This is the third key devlopment which has made the genomic approach possible.
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