Lecture 1: What is the meaning of life? Flashcards
What is vitalism?
the belief (from ancient times through at least the late 19th century) that living things are fundamentally different than non-living matter because they are imbued with a “vital force”
What is fermentation?
the conversion of glucose to ethanol and CO2
-this process was once thought to only be able to be performed by living things; however, it was found that fermentation can occur without a living organism and, thus, can occur in solutions containing no living cells. From this, the notion was created that the same chemical and physical properties of non-living matter also govern the behavior of living matter. Therefore, vitalism was debunked.
What characteristics distinguish living matter from non-living matter?
living things can:
- extract, store, use matter & energy from the environment
- generate chemical complexity: large, complicated information rich molecules, nonrandom distributions of molecules, complex self-assembled structures, replication of information and structured
- sense and respond to environmental changes
- change over time by gradual evolution
in summary: a living system can make order out of chaos, which costs energy and, thus, living things have the ability to extract energy from the environment
A ____ is the fundamental unit of all living things
cell
Name 4 common features of all cells
- plasma membrane (hydrophobic barrier that defines boundary and maintains integrity)
- cytoplasm (contains cytosol, a highly concentrated aqueous solution filled with macromolecules, small molecules, and ions
- ribosomes and other large insoluble macromolecular assemblies suspended in cytosol
- chromosomes (genetic material that stores biological information and is in the form of DNA)
What are the 4 major classes of biomolecules that all life forms share
proteins/amino acids
carbohydrates/monosaccharides
nucleic acids/nucleotides
lipids/fatty acids
protein shape and structure determines its ______
function
protein structure is determined by its _______ sequence
amino acid
the instructions for encoding the sequence of a protein are stored in _____
DNA (a gene)
what is the central dogma of molecular biology?
DNA gets transcribed into RNA, and RNA gets translated into protein
Gene duplication is one important mechanism driving evolution. Why?
it allows one gene to change while still preserving the original (functional) gene
Are viral genomes made of DNA and/or RNA? Are they double and/or single stranded?
They may be made of DNA or RNA and can be double or single stranded
Distinguish between a non-enveloped virus and an enveloped virus?
non-enveloped virus is just nucleic acid coated in protein
enveloped virus has its nucleic acid coated by a capsid, which is covered in lipid bilayer membrane
What type of genome does Sars-CoV-2 have?
+ stranded RNA genome surrounded by a capsid (protein coat) and membrane, which docks with ACE2 receptor on cell surface
Distinguish between the following COVID tests: qRT-PCR, antigen tests, and antibody tests
qRT-PCR: detects viral RNA in patient sample by amplifying the viral RNA sequence if present; detects whether a patient is currently infected. it takes 1-3 days, is more expensive, and more sensitive
antigen tests: detects viral protein in patient sample by using antibodies that bind spike protein; detects whether a patient is currently infected; rapid results, less expensive, but less sensitive
antibody tests: detect the presence of antibodies against spike protein in patient sample; detects whether patient had past infection
