Module 1: Introduction to the Study of Cell and Molecular Biology Flashcards
Who is Robert Hooke?
He coined the term “cell” from pores inside a cork.
Who is Antoine Van Leeuwenhoek?
He examined a pond of water and observed a teeming microscopic animalcules.
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Saw bacteria from peppercorn water and dental plaque.
What is the confocal microscope?
- It is a fluorescence imaging technique used to increase optical resolution by using a pinhole to block out-of-focus light.
- Can be used to create 3D images of the structures within cells.
What is the light-sheet microscopy?
Is a fluorescence imaging techanique, which untilizes a sheet of laser light to illuminate only a thin slice of the sample.
What are the two objectives of light-sheet microscopy?
1) Illumination
2) Detection
What is the elctronic microscopy?
- Uses electrons instead of light.
- Used on fixed (dead) samples.
- Used for samples too small to be seen with light microscopy.
What are the three component of the cell theory?
- All organisms are composed of one or more cells.
- The cell is the structural unit of life.
- Cells arise only by division from a pre-existing cell.
BONUS - Cells contain genetic info (DNA) passed to next cell generation.
What are HeLa cells?
They are cultured tumor cells isolated from a cancer patein.
What do cells from different species share?
Similar structure, composition, and metabolic features.
How does the cell use the genetic program it possess?
Information for building an organism is encoded in genes and packaged into a set of chromosomes within the cell nucleus.
What do genes store information and instruction for?
- Constructing cellular structures,
- The directions for running cellular activities,
- The program for making more of themselves.
- Genetic info can be haploid and diploid in cells.
How do cells reproduce?
By division process where contents from a mother cell are distributed into two daughter cell>
What converts light energy into chemcial energy?
Photosynthesis
What do animal cells derive energy in the form of?
Glucose
What does the sum total of chemcial reactions rxns in a cell represent?
That cells metabolism
What can cells do?
- Transport materials
- assemble and disassemble structures.
- Move itself from one site to another.
What are cells in plants or animals covered with to interact with environments and substances?
Receptors
How do cells respond to stimuli?
By altering their metabolism, moving from one place to another, or even self-destruction.
How does the feedback circut help the cell?
Serves to return the cell to their appropriate state.
How are cells studied?
They are studied by examining organisms that are alive today.
What feautures do cells share?
Common genetic code (DNA), a plasma membrane, and ribosomes.
What are the 2 classes of cells?
Prokaryotic (Bacteria) and Eukaryotic (plants, animals, protists, fungi)
How are pro-eukaryotic differentiated?
By their size and types of organelles they contain.
Where are genetic material in both pro-eukayotes?
Prokaryotic - nuclear area
Eukaryotes - membrane bound nucleus.
What are the organelles present in eukaryotes and not in prokaryotics?
- Eukaryotes have a cytoplasm, ribosomes and complex cytoskeletal proteins. They divide by meiosis/mitosis. Use both cytoplasmic movement, cilia and flagella.
- Prokaryotes have ribosomes, they divide by simple fission and use flagella for movement.
What allows daughter cells to receive equal genetic material?
Mitotic spindle
What is the flagellum? and what does it do?
It is a thin protein filament. It protrudes from the cell and rotates. The rotations exert pressure against the surrounding fluid, propelling the cell through the medium.
What are the domains in prokaryotic cells?
Domain Archaea and Domain Bacteria.
What is cyanobacteria?
It contains arrays of cytoplasmic membranes that serve as sites of photosynthesis.
What did cyanobacteria give rise to?
Green plants and oxygen-rich atmosphere, some are capable of nitrogen fixation.
What is the cell size limited by?
- Volume of cytoplasm that can be supported by
the genes in the nucleus. - Volume of cytoplasm that can be supported by
exchange of nutrients. - Distance over which substances can efficiently
travel through the cytoplasm via diffusion.
What are viruses?
They are pathogenic and intracellular obligate(requires a host to complete its life cycle) parasites.
What are virions?
It is a virus particle outside the host cell.
- It contains genetic materials plus protein capsules (capsids).
- Some are encased by a lipid membrane-derived envelope.
What are viruses that infect bacteria known as?
Bacteriophages which are complex infection cycles and medicinal potential.
What are viroids?
They are pathogens, each consisting of a small, naked RNA molecule, which can cause disease by interfering with gene expression in host cell.
What are the two types of viral infection?
- Lytic infection: the virus redirects the host into making more virus particles, the host cell lyses and releases the viruses.
- Integration: the virus integrates its DNA (called a provirus) into the host cell’s chromosomes.
