Lecture 1

Question 1

A mechanistic view of the cell

Answer 1

All organisms are composed of one or more cells.

3 minimum requirements for a functioning cell:
(i) An information storage system

(ii) Separation from the outside world
(iii) Metabolic machinery involving enzyme catalysis to allow:

• DNA replication
• Protein synthesis
• Extraction of chemicals from the environment for growth - Extraction of energy from the environment to do all the above