Cell Biology Flashcards
All information that was taught to me while attending Vanier College's "Animal Health Technology" Program, located in St-Laurent Montreal.
What is biophilia?
The love of living things
What is biology ?
The science of the study of life
What are Cyanobacteria ?
Bacteria capable of photosynthesis
What is life?
Made up of at least 1 cell. Way of capturing and using energy and raw materials
When did life begin?
3.8 billion years ago with chemical origin of the first living cell
Prokaryotic cells contain :
Plasma membraneCytoplasmDNANucleoidRibosomes
Eukaryotic cells contain
Plasma membraneCytoplasmDNANucleusRibosomes
Cyanobacteria means what
Capable of photosynthesis
What is nature?
Everything in the universe except for what humans have manufactured
What are atoms?
Fundamental building blocks of all substances
What are molecules?
Consisting of two or more atoms
What is a cell?
Smallest unit of life
What is an organism ?
An individual consisting of one of more cells
What is a population?
Individuals of the same species in the same area
What is a community?
Populations of all species in same area
What is an ecosystem?
A community and it’s environment
What is a biosphere?
All regions of the earth where organisms live
What is an emergent property?
A characteristic of a system that does not appear in any of its component parts
What is an animal?
Multicellular consumer, life stages , mobile
What is an archaeon ?
Single celled, no nucleus, closely related to eukaryotes
What is a bacterium?
Single celled, no nucleus
What is biodiversity?
Variation among organisms
What is a prokaryote?
Cell with no nucleus
What is a fungus?
Single celled/multicelled, digests outside body, absorbs released nutrients, decomposer
What is a nucleus?
A sac that encloses DNA
What is a plant?
Multicelled producer by photosynthesis
What is a protist
Part of group of eukaryotes
What is a genus?
A group of species that share unique features
What is a species?
Individuals that share one or more heritable traits and can interbreed.
What are the three domains that organisms are classified into?
Bacteria, archaea, eukarya
What is energy?
The capacity to do work
What is a nutrient?
Atom/molecule that has an essential role in growth and survival that an organism cannot make for itself
What are producers?
Acquire energy and simple raw materials from environmental sources to make their own food
What is photosynthesis?
Sunlight energy to make sugars from carbon dioxide and water
What are consumers?
Cannot make their own food, get energy and nutrients indirectly by eating producers and other organisms
What are decomposers?
Feeds on waste or remains of organisms
What is a receptor?
Molecule or cellular structure that responds to a specific form of stimulation.
What is homeostasis
Adjustment to change allows organisms to keep conditions in their internal environment within a range that favors cell survival
What is DNA?
Nucleic acid and source of each individual’s distinct figures
What is inheritance
Transmission of DNA from parents to offspring
What is reproduction?
Actual mechanisms by which parents transmit DNA to offspring
What is development ?
The orderly transformation of the first cell of a new individual into an adult
What is a species?
A kind of organism
What is a genus?
First part of a two part name for a species
What is a bacteria?
Single celled organism
What does prokaryotic mean?
Bacteria containing no nucleus.
What are archaeons?
They are the same as prokaryotes but evolutionally closer to eukaryotes
What are eukaryotes?
An organism with a nucleus
What are Protists?
Simplest kind of eukaryotes
What are fungi
Multicelled and eukaryotic organisms
What are plants?
Multicelled eukaryotes
What are animals?
Multicelled eukaryotes that ingest tissue or juices of other organisms
What are mutations ?
Small scale changes in DNA
What is an adaptive trait?
Trait that has changed in a way that makes an individual better suited to his environment
What is natural selection?
Differential survival and reproduction of individuals in a population that differ in the details if their heritable traits
What is evolution
Change in the line of decent
What is critical thinking?
Judging information before accepting it
What is science?
The systematic study of nature
What is scientific theory
A hypothesis that has not been disproved after years of tests
What are experiments
Tests that can support or falsify a prediction
What is a variable?
Characteristics that differs among individuals or events
What is an experimental group :
Group of individuals that recieve a certain treatment
What is a control group?
Identical to experimental groups but missing one characteristic
What is a sampling error
What is a sampling error?
What are atoms ?/
Particles that are the building blocks of all substances
What are protons?
Subatomic particles carrying a positive charge
What are neutrons?
Subatomic particles carrying no charge
What are electrons?
Subatomic particles carrying a negative charge
What is a charge?
An electrical property that attracts/repels other subatomic particles
What is an atomic number?
An amount of protons an element contains
What is an element?
Pure substance containing only of atoms with the Same amount of protons
What is a mass number?
Total number of protons/neutrons in a nucleus
What is a periodic table?
All elements known in a table based on their chemical properties
What is a radioisotope ?
Radioactive isotope
What is radioactive decay?
The spontaneous emission of energy when their nucleus breaks down
What is a tracer?
Any molecule with a detectable substance attached
What is a shell model?
Used to check an atom for vacancies
What is an ion?
Atom with a different amount of electrons and protons
What is electro negativity?
Measure of an atoms ability to pull electrons from other atoms
What is a chemical bond?
Attractive force that arises between two atoms when their electrons interact.
What is a molecule?
Formation when two or more atoms of the same or different elements join in chemical bonds
What are compounds?
Molecules that consist of two or more different elements in proportions that do not vary
What is a mixture?
Two or more substances intermingle. Does not bond
What is a covalent bond?
Two atoms sharing a pair of electrons
What is non polar?
Atoms participating in bond share electrons equally
What is polar?
Atoms participating in a bond do not share electrons equally
What is polarity?
Separation of charge into distinct positive and negative regions
What is a hydrogen bond?
Weak attraction between a highly electronegative atom and a hydrogen atom
What is a solvent?
Liquid that can dissolve other substances
What is a solute?
The substance being dissolved
What does hydrophilic mean?
Polar molecules that are water loving
What does hydrophobic mean?
Water dreading substances ie.oils
What is temperature?
Way to measure energy of a molecular motion (vibration)
What is evaporation?
Molecules move faster and individual molecules at the waters surface escape into the air
What is cohesion ?
Molecules resist separating from one another
What is ph?
The measure of the amount of hydrogen ions in a solution
What are acids?
They donate hydrogen ions as they dissolve in water
What do bases do?
They accept hydrogen atoms
What is a salt?
Something that dissolves easily in water and releases ions other than h+ and oh-
What is a buffer system ?
Weak acid or base and it’s salt that can keep the ph of a solution stable
What is a functional group?
A cluster of atoms covalently bonded to a carbon atom of an organic molecule
What is metabolism?
Activities by which cells acquire and use energy as they construct, rearrange, and split organic compounds.
What is condensation ?
Two molecules covalently bonded into a larger one
What is a monomer?
Molecule that is used to build larger molecules that are the structural and functional parts of cells
What is a polymer?
Large chains of monomers
What is cleavage?
When a molecule splits into two smaller ones. Hydrolysis is an example
What is a functional group transfer?
When a functional group is transferred from one molecule to another
What is electron transfer ?
When electrons are transferred from one molecule to another
What is rearrangement?
Juggling of covalent bonds converts one organic compound into another
What are carbohydrates?
Organic compounds that consist of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in a 1:2:1 ratio
What are lipids?
Fatty, oily, or waxy organic compounds that are insoluble in water
What are fatty acids?
Simple organic compounds that have a carboxyl group joined to a backbone of four to thirty six carbon atoms
What are fats?
Fats are lipids with one, two, or three fatty acids that dangle like tails from a small alcohol called glycerol
What are triglycerides?
Fats with three fatty acid tails linked to the glycerol
What are phospholipids ?
Have a polar head with a phosphate in it and two non polar fatty acid tails
What are waxes?
Complex, varying mixtures of lipids with long fatty acid tails bonded to long chain alcohols or carbon rings
What are steroids?
Lipids with a rigid backbone of four carbon rings and no fatty acid tails
What is a protein?
Organic compound composed of one or more chains of amino acids
What are Polypeptides ?
Bonded amino acids in chains
What is to denature?
To have the shape unravel and to no longer function
What is ATP?
A nucleotide called adenosine triphosphate
What are Nucleic acids?
Polymers - chains of nucleotides in which the sugar of one nucleotide is joined to the phosphate group of the next
What is RNA?
Ribonucleic acid
What is DNA?
Deoxyribonucleic acid
What are monosaccharides?
Simple sugars
What are oligosaccharides?
Short chain carbohydrates
What are polysaccharides?
Complex carbohydrates
What are glycerides?
Glycerol backbone with one,two or three fatty acid tails ie. triglycerides
What are mostly fiberous proteins?
Long strands or sheets of polypeptide chains ; often strong and water insoluble
What are mostly globular proteins?
One or more polypeptide chains folded into globular shapes; many roles in cell activities
What four generalizations make up cell theory?
- Every living organism consists of one or more cells 2. The cell is the structural and functional unit of all organisms. A cell is the smallest unit of life, individually alive even as part of a multicelled organism3. All living cells come from a division of other pre-existing cells 4. Cells contain hereditary material which they pass on to their offspring during division
What is a cell?
A cell is the smallest unit that shows the properties of life
What is a eukaryotic cell?
A cell containing a nucleus
What is a prokaryotic cell?
A cell without a nucleus
What is a plasma membrane?
Cells outer membrane
What is a nucleus?
Double membraned sac holding a eukaryotic cells DNA
In prokaryotic cells where is the DNA found?
In a region of cytoplasm called the nucleoid region
What is a cytoplasm?
A semi fluid mixture of water, sugars, ions, and proteins between the plasma membrane and the region of DNA
What are ribosomes?
Structures on which proteins are built and suspended in cytoplasm
What is surface to volume ratio?
A physical relationship
What is a lipid bilayer?
The structural foundation of all cell membranes
What is a cell wall?
A rigid wall surrounding the plasma membrane of nearly all prokaryotes.
What is flagella?
Slender cellular structures used for motion
What is a pili?
Protein filaments that helps cells cling to or move across surfaces
What are biofilms?
Communial living arrangements in which single celled organisms live in shared mass of slime
What does the endoplasmic reticulum do?
Routes and modifies new polypeptide chains and synthesizes lipids
What does a Golgi body do?
Modifies new polypeptide chains and sorts and ships proteins and lipids
What do vesicles do?
Transport, store and digest substances in a cell
What do mitochondrion do?
Make ATP by sugar breakdown
What do chloroplast do?
Make sugars in plants and some Protists
What does a lysosome do?
Intracellular digestion
What does peroxisome do?
Inactivates toxins
What does a vacuole do?
Stores things
What is an organelle?
Structure that carries out a specialized function in a cell
What does a ribosome do?
Assembles polypeptide chains
What does a centriole do?
Is an anchor for cytoskeleton
What is a nuclear envelope?
The membrane of a nucleus
What is a nucleoplasm?
A viscous fluid similar to cytoplasm
What is a nucleolus?
A dense irregularly shaped region where subunits of ribosomes are assembled from proteins and RNA
What is chromatin?
Name for all of the DNA together with its associate proteins in the nucleus
What is a chromosome?
Each molecule of DNA together with it’s many attached proteins
What is the endomembrane system?
Series of interacting organelles between the nucleus and the plasma membrane
What is endoplasmic reticulum ?
Extension of the nuclear envelope
What are peroxisomes?
Containing enzymes that digest fatty acids and amino acids
What are vacuoles?
They isolate and dispose of waste, debris or toxic materials
What is a Golgi body
Attach phosphate groups or sugars and cleave certain polypeptide chains
What are lysosomes?
Vesicles that contain powerful digestive enzymes
What is a mitochondrion?
Type of organelle that specializes in making ATP
What are plastids ?
Membrane enclosed organelles that function in photosynthesis or storage in plants and algal cells
What are chloroplasts?
Organelles that are specialiZed for photosynthesis
What is a central vacuole?
An area where amino acids, sugars, ions, wastes, and toxins accumulate
What is a primary wall?
Plasma membrane cemented together by pectin and is then covered in cellulose
What is a secondary wall?
The secretion of material onto the primary walls inner surface forms the secondary wall
What is lignin?
A complex polymer of alcohols that makes up as much as 25% of the secondary wall of cells in older stems and roots
What is an extra cellular matrix?
Non living complex mixture of fiberous proteins and polysaccharides is secreted by cells and varies with the type of tissue.
What are cell junctions?
Structures that connect cells to other cells and to the environment
What are microtubules?
Long, hollow cylinders that consist of subunits of the protein tubulin
What are microfilaments?
Fibers that consist primarily of subunits of the globular protein actin
What is a cell cortex?
A reinforcing mesh under the plasma membrane
What are intermediate filaments ?
Stable parts of a cells cytoskeleton that strengthen and maintain cell and tissue structures
What are motor proteins?
Accessory proteins that move cell parts in a sustained direction when they are repeatedly energized by ATP
What are eukaryotic flagella and cilia?
Whiplike structures that propel cells through fluid
What is a centriole?
Barrel shaped organelle which remains below the finished area as a basal body
What are psuedopods?
False feet
What is ATP?
The energy currency of the cell
What does DNA tell organisms to do?
To grow, develop and reproduce using information in their DNA
What molecules are cells composed of?
Carbohydrates - sugarsLipids - fatsProteinsNucleic acids - DNA and RNA
Compare life’s three domains
- Bacteria - single celled , prokaryotic2. Archaea - single celled, prokaryotic. Evolutionarily closer to eukaryotes3. Eukarya - eukaryotic cell. Both single celled and multicelled
Name the six kingdoms
- Bacteria2. Archaea3. Protists4. Plants5. Fungi6. Animals
What happens to adaptive traits over generations?
They tend to become more common in a population and less adaptive forms of traits become less common
Give an example of artificial selection?
Dog breeds
What is a vestigial structures and what is it an example of?
It is a structure that loses it’s original function and becomes something else. Ie hair of a chimp standing up to show fear ➡️ goosebumps on a human
What is science limited to?
Science is limited to that which is observed
Give an example of an observation
People get cancer
Give an example of a hypothesis
Smoking cigarettes may cause cancer
What is probability?
The measure expressed as a percentage of the chance that a particular outcome will occur
What does statistically significant mean?
It refers to a result that is statistically unlikely to have courses by chance
What atoms are life’s chemical basis?
Protons, neutrons , electrons
Why do electrons matter?
Whether an atom will interact with other atoms depends on how many electrons it has
How to electrons move around the nuclei?
They move in orbitals