Unit 1: Cell Biology Flashcards
When did multicellular life first appear?
550 million years ago
How did multicellular life evolve?
Multicellular life evolution
give steps
- Unicellular cells worked together
- As organisms increased in cell number + size, distance between cells and environment increased as well, so they couldn’t rely on direct exchanges of materials with the environment and they couldn’t get rid of waste at an adequate speed
- started evolving to cell differentiation, making specialized cells which were grouped together, making tissue
What did the first multicellular organism evolve from?
Unicellular cells
What is a cell?
The smallest unit that can perform the functions of life
Who was Robert Hooke?
Robert Hooke was the man to coin the term ‘cell’ in 1600s after seeing plant cells in cork tissue under a microscope. He called it a cell because he was reminded of the cells monks used for meditation.
Where did the term ‘cell’ come from?
Robert Hooke used word ‘cell’ in 1600s after seeing plant cells in cork tissue under a microscope because he was reminded of cells monks used for meditation
How did Cell Theory come about?
- Robert Hooke used word ‘cell’ in 1600s after seeing plant cells in cork tissue under a microscope because he was reminded of cells monks used for meditation
- no clear rules were later there for cells vs non-cells so we needed to define cells
- in 1838 cell theory came about based on work by Theodor Schwann, Matthias Schleiden, and Rudolph Virchow
Which 3 scientists produced work to form the cell theory?
Theodor Schwann, Matthias Schleiden, and Rudolph Virchow
What year did cell theory come about?
1838
Why was there a need for cell theory?
There were no clear rule for cells vs non-cells so we needed to define cells
What are the rules of cell theory?
- all living organisms are composed of cells
- cells are the smallest unit of life
- cells come from pre-existing cells (omni cellulae e cellula)
What three cells are exceptions to cell theory and why?
- The striated muscle cells: multiple nuclei/are multinucleated, and each cell is 30 mm long. typical cell has one nucleus and is smaller
- Acetabularia: from 0.5 to 10 cm long, longer than typical cell
- Aseptate fungal hyphae: many nuclei, no septa, and shared cytoplasm. essentially combined cells
What are striated muscle cells and why are they atypical?
Unit 1 Knowledge
Striated muscle tissues are made of sarcomeres which show a striped/striated pattern under the microscope. The striated cells have multiple nuclei/are multinucleated. Each muscle fibre cell is also 30 mm long, which is larger than the typical cell.
What are Acetabularia and why are they atypical?
Acetabularia is a giant single-celled green algae, from 0.5 to 10 cm. It has 3 parts: rhizoid (root-like), stalk, and a top umbrella that might fuse into a cap
What are Aceptate Fungal Hyphae and why are they atypical?
Aseptate fungal hyphae are hyphae (long threads) with many nuclei, no septa (dividing cell walls), and share a cytoplasm. Cells are all basically combined here
What is a μm
Micrometer
Convert 1 μm to nm
1 μm = 1000 nm
Convert 1 mm to μm
1 mm = 1000 μm
Draw the size of drawing, magnification, actual size pyramid
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What are the functions of life?
Metabolism, response, homeostasis, growth, reproduction, excretion, nutrition
MR H GREN
Define metabolism as a function of life
Metabolism is life-supporting chemical reactions that take place in cells
Define response as a function of life
Response to stimulus is a reaction to changes in the external environment
Define homeostasis as a function of life
Homeostasis is the maintenance of an internal environment
Define growth as a function of life
Growth is an increase in shape/size over an organisms lifespan
Define reproduction as a function of life
Reproduction is the production of offspring either sexually or asexually
Why is a virus non-living?
Virus’ can not reproduce or metabolize
Define excretion as a function of life
Excretion is the removal of waste products
Define nutrition as a function of life
Nutrition is the intake of nutrients
What is a paramecium?
Definition, size, environment, eating habits, structure
Definition: Genus of unicellular protozoa
Size: Less than 0.25 mm in length
Environment: Widespread in aquatic environments, particularly stagnant ponds
Eating Habits: heterotrophs, feeding on food particles
Structure: Have cilia to move. Cilia are hair-like things that cover the entire cell and beat rhythmically to move the cell in a certain direction.
How does paramecium showcase the functions of life?
Metabolism: catalyzed by enzymes and occur in cytoplasm.
Response: beating cilia helps to propel paramecium towards desired environments. The wave action of the cilia moves the paramecium in response to changes in the environment.
Homeostasis: osmoregulation. The contractile vacuole fill up with water and expel through the plasma membrane to manage the water content.
Growth: After consuming and assimilating biomass from food, it get’s larger until it divides
Reproduction: sexual + asexual (more common). Binary fission when too big. The nucleus can divide to support mitosis, so reproduction is often asexual.
Excretion: digested nutrients go to the cytoplasm and the vacuole is shrinked. Vacuole goes to the anal pore, and ruptures, expelling the waste outside of the cell. The entry and exit of substances is thus controlled by the plasma membrane.
Nutrition: engulfs food through endocytosis. soluble products are absorbed into the cytoplasm. Eats microorganisms.
What is a chlamydomonas
Definition, size, environment, eating habits, structure
Definition: Genus of unicellular green algae (chlorophyta)
Size: 10-30 micrometers in diameter
Environment: In soil, water, oceans, and snow on mountain tops
Eating habits: Autotrophs
Structure: Cell wall, chloroplast, ‘eye’ that detects light, 2 flagella which are like whips which it uses to swim
How do chlamydomonas showcase the 7 functions of life?
Metabolism: catalyzed by enzymes and occur in cytoplasm.
Growth: increases through production of organic molecules during photosynthesis + mineral absorption. Increase until they divide.
Response: Wave action of the cilia moves the algae in response to changes in the environment. It also uses eye spot to sense light changes and moves to brighter areas.
Homeostasis: osmoregulation. The contractile vacuole fill up with water and expel through the plasma membrane to manage the water content.
Nutrition: Photosynthesis happens in the chloroplasts to provide nutrition
Reproduction: sexual or asexual when it’s big enough, through mitosis.
Excretion: The plasma membrane controls the entry and exit of substances, including the diffusion out of waste oxygen.
Why is the surface area to volume ratio important?
- Cell growth is limited by their surface area: volume ratio
- volume grows more than SA in a cell when a cell grows
- if difference is too big, not enough molecules can come in, and not enough waste + heat can get out
- larger SA:Volume ratio means more efficiency
- Diffusion pathways are shorter
- concentration gradients are easier to generate
Why does the brain have folds?
folds in brain increase surface area and let more tissue fit in a smaller place. Folding helps fit the growing cortex (cortex is associated with intelligence), and lets nerve signals travel a significantly smaller distance
What is Lissencephaly?
Lissencephaly is where cortex doesn’t fold right and so children don’t develop much after 3-5 months, and most die by age 10
Why does the small intestine have folds?
Add: What they’re called
- small intestine has folds that increase SA coming in contact with food. These folds are called villi.
- Nutrients are absorbed in the body by villi
- cells making up villi have microvilli, increasing SA even more
What is Celiac disease?
Celiac disease is where the immune system destroys the villi as a response to gluten in the diet, and the person can suffer from malnutrition as a byproduct
How did multicellular organisms evolve?
- grew since they were no longer limited
- specialized through differentiation
- Started showing emergent properties
What is differentiation?
process where cells develop to have more distinct structure + function
What are emergent properties?
The interaction between different parts allows the organism to do more than the sum of the cells. the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
How does differentiation happen?
- genome is the complete set of genes, chromosomes, or genetic material present
- cellular differentiation is the process of an unspecialized stem cell changing to carry out a specific function in the body differentiation occurs due to expression of different genes
- emergent properties tell us that the whole is more than the sum of its parts
- human genome has around 21,000 genes. all are present in each cell, but not all are active in each cell type.. we have 220 distinct highly specialised cell types. all these specialised cells and the organs constructed from them have developed as a result of differentiation.
- at early stage of fertilized egg, some cells divide and develop differently. Until this stage, the cells in an embryo are pluripotent embryonic stem cells that can divide into any type of body cell.
- once a cell differentiates, there’s no reversing it naturally
- all diploid cells of an organism share an identical genome. each cell has all the genetic instructions, but not all genes are expressed in all cells. In totipotent embryonic stem cells, the entire genome is active. Newly formed cells get signals which deactivate genes. The fewer active genes, the more specialised.
What are stem cells?
Unspecialized cells that differentiate along different pathways. They retain the capacity to divide indefinitely and differentiate into specialized cell types, if provided with the right stimulus.
What are the types of stem cells and what can they do?
- Totipotent stem cells can differentiate into any type of cell and can give rise to a complete organism
- pluripotent stem cells can differentiate into all body cells but can’t give rise to a whole organism
- Multipotent stem cells can differentiate into a few closely related types of body cell
- Unipotent stem cells can differentiate into their associated cell type
What is stargardt’s disease?
Definition, frequency, appearance time, cause, effect
- Stargardt’s disease is of the eye. It’s inherited from juvenile macular degeneration which affects only a small part of the retina and causes progressive loss of central vision
- affects 1 in 80,000 ~ 100,000
- appears in late childhood to early adulthood
- caused by passed down recessive genetic mutation in gene ABCA4 which causes a transport protein on photoreceptor cells to malfunction, causing the cells to malfunction and then degenerate
- production of a dysfunctional protein that cannot perform energy transport.causes progressive and eventually total loss of central vision.
How can stem cells be used to treat Stargardt’s disease?
Patients get retinal cells from human embryonic stem cells, which are injected in the retina. They become functional. Central vision improves as a result of more functional retinal cells. This treatment is still in at the stage of limited clinical trials but will likely be used in the future.
What is leukemia?
Definition, effects
- Leukemia is a cancer of blood or bone marrow which results in abnormally high levels of poor-functioning white blood cells
- patients have higher risk of developing infection, anemia, and bleeding
How can stem cells be used to treat leukemia?
Include risks/benefits
- one of the first conditions to be treated with stem cells
- treated by harvesting hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) which are multipotent stem cells that can be taken from bone marrow, peripheral blood or umbilical cord blood
- patient later goes through chemotherapy and radiotherapy to destroy the diseased white blood cells
- then HSCs are implanted back into the bone marrow where they form healthy white blood cells
- use of own HSCs means far less risk of immune rejection than with traditional bone marrow transplant