*metabolism
all chemical reactions that occur in the cellular structure. includes both consumption and release, which convert molecules from the environment into biological molecules
dormant
wiki: alive but not growing
lecture: potential to be alive, but not showing properties of life currently
*properties of life
lecture: metabolism, form of reproduction, death
reading: order, evolutionary adaptation, reproduction, regulation, consumption of energy, growth and development, reaction to environement
*emergent property
properties due to the arrangements and interactions of parts
levels of biological organization
- biosphere - earth
- ecosystems - desert, forest, grasslands
- communities - groups of living things including plants, fungi, animals
- populations - group of species w/i bound of specified area
- organisms - individual living thing
- organs and organ systems - lungs, respiratory system
- tissues - made of group of cells that work together to perform a specialized function - leaf tissue allows CO2/O2 in/out
- cells - life’s fundamental unit of structure and function
- organelles - functional components within the cell - chloroplast
- molecules - consists of 1+ atoms
systems biology
attempts to model dynamic behavior of whole biological systems based on the interactions among the system’s parts
e.g. how will lowering blood pressure affect the rest of the body?
cell
- organism’s basic unit of structure and function
- smallest unit that exhibits all properties of life
prokaryotic cell
single celled, dna throughout cell, no organelles?, generally smaller than eukaryotes
eukaryotic cell
subdivided by internal members into various membrane-enclosed organelles, dna in nucleus
dna
- double helix made of nucleotides: A, T, C, G
- consists of 100k+ genes
- encoded by arrangement of nucelotides
genes
- specific portion of dna
- encode info to build molecules; notably proteins
proteins
carry out cellular work and play a structural role
chromosome
- packages of genes
- consists of long dna molecule
what controls protein production? directly/indirectly? how?
- dna controls protein production indirectly via RNA.
- dna’s nucleotide sequence is copied to RNA, which is then translated into a specific protein with a unique shape and function
gene expression
process where information in a gene directs the production of a cellular product
genomics
- large scale analysis of dna sequences
- study whole set of genes of a species and compare genes between species
genome
entire “library” of genetic instructions that an organism inherits
feedback mechanism
regulates biological systems
negative feedback
accumulation of an end product of a process slows that process. most common form of feedback.
- e.g. excess ATP production, last enzyme created inhibits beginning enzyme to slow down production
positive feedback
end product speeds up its own production. less common
- e.g. blood clotting in response to injury. chemicals released by platelets attract more platelets
evolution
accounts for unity and diversity of life
- similarities: common ancestor, skeletal structure
- differences: heritable changes, adapt to environment
taxonomy
branch of biology that names and classifies species. formalizes the ordering of species into groups of increasing breadth based on the degree to which they share characteristics
Linnaean system
(large to small)
domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
3 domains of life
bacteria, archaea, eukarya
