Lecture 1:

FIRST GENERALIZATION OF BIOLOGY:

Evolution through natural selection

- The great unifying theory, as suggested by evolution, refers to the concept of a

common progenitor that explains the diversity of all living organisms.
- Earth has a long history, with living organisms arising in the course of this history
from more primitive forms
- All organisms are related or share a common ancestor

Natural Selection:
- Individuals in a species show a wide range of variation
- Differential reproduction refers to the fitter individuals with characteristics best suited
to the environment are more likely to survive and reproduce
- Given enough time, a species will evolve

- Life formed spontaneously on early Earth

- Extra-terrestrial origin

SECOND GENERALIZATION OF BIOLOGY

Unity of biochemical processes

- This is the result of a common ancestor being shared by all organisms. All organisms
share certain biochemical reactions
- All organisms have DNA that contains the instruction for how that organism will
develop
- Organisms also have the machinery to carry out the instructions - proteins

THIRD GENERALIZATION OF BIOLOGY

All organisms consist of cells

- A cell is defined as a closed domain where the chemical reactions required for life
are carried out.
- The cell theory says that:
1. All living things are composed of cells
2. All cells come from pre-existing cells
3. The cell is the smallest organizational unit

Darwin’s Dilemma
- Where were the first cells in the fossil record? (As the current evidence of cells come
from a diverse range)
- How to explain the Cambrian explosion?
- How did eukaryotic cells evolved from prokaryotic cells?

Summary of Lecture:
1. Introduction to Cell Biology. Cells are best studied in the context of Evolution.
2. Evolution: Single most important concept in biology is evolution.
EVOLUTION THROUGH NATURAL SELECTION -
Charles Darwin, "The origin of species by means of natural selection" (1859).

This is the first generalisation of biology, the theory of common descent. In general,
scientists since Darwin have been convinced that the earth has a long history, and that all
organisms arose from more primitive forms. Therefore all organisms are related, as they
share a common ancestry.

All modern biological thinking fits inside an evolutionary framework! In order to see how
evolution works, we'll look briefly at the origins of life. Evolution is essentially a two-step
process:
1) VARIABILITY, and
2) DIFFERENTIAL REPRODUCTION, or the ordering of that variability based on fitness
(also known as descent with modification).

3. Unity of Biochemical Processes is the second generalisation of biology, and follows

from the first. If all organisms are related, then it is not surprising that they also share
certain biochemical reactions. This feature of organisms will become more apparent as
the course proceeds. For example, all organisms have DNA, the blueprint with instructions
on how an organism will develop, and proteins, the machinery to carry out the instructions.

4. Cell Theory: says that all organisms consist of cells and arise from other cells, and is the
third generalisation of biology. A cell is a bag, or closed domain, where the chemical
reactions required for life are carried out. Cells have probably succeeded because of the
presence of a cell membrane, a barrier between the living protoplast and its environment.
Cell membranes are selectively permeable, permitting the regulation of inflow and outflow.
This feature of cells will be dealt with in detail in lecture 6.

5. Darwin’s Dilemma: where were the very first cells in the fossil record, and how to
explain the Cambrian explosion (the sudden appearance of complex cells and
organisms)? During his lifetime, Darwin acknowledged that the lack of ancestral fossils was
“a valid argument” against his theory. We now know that during the approximately 4.6 billion
years of earth’s history, there were two major events that occurred during the pre-Cambrian
period (before 570 million years ago). The first, about 4 billion years ago, was the origin of
life as we know it. The first cells were probably organized in stromatolite-like structures and
resembled bacterial cells that we still find today (the Prokaryotes). The origin of these cells is
unknown, a dilemma that we still share with Darwin. The second important episode, around
600 million to 1.8 billion years ago, led to the emergence of a new kind of cell, a cell where
the genetic material is aggregated into a distinct nucleus bound by membranes (the
Eukaryotes). The evolution of this second type of cell greatly accelerated the pace of
evolutionary change. This is most obvious when looking at the Cambrian explosion, or the
appearance of diverse animal fossils around 542 million years ago.
6. Prokaryotic vs Eukaryotic cells: The greatest division amongst organisms is not
between plants and animals, but between those cells that have nuclei (said to be eukaryotic)
and those that lack nuclei (or prokaryotic).
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The information on microscopes below is important, but will not be covered in the lecture.
You should complete the Introductory ILT (Independent Learning Task) on Microscope
Training and Biological Drawing before attending the 1 hour Introductory Practical in Week 1.

You will find this activity in the ILTs section of the LMS site. Microscopes and units of
measure used in biology:
Cells are microscopic, ranging in size from the biggest (l mm) to the smallest (0.50 µm). The
microscope was invented by Hooke who observed cork cells, while Leeuwenhoek was the
first person to see microbes swimming about in drinking water.

Light microscope - uses visible light with a resolution limit = 0.l µm

Electron microscope (EM) - uses an electron beam with a limit = l nm

*Units - l mm = 10-3 metres 1 µm = 10-6 metres 1 nm = 10-9 metres Perspective - l mm =

10-3 m
~ biggest cell, visible to naked eye l µm = 10-6 m
~ smallest cell, just visible by LM l nm = 10-9 m
~ size of a molecule, just visible by EM The transmission (TEM) and the scanning (SEM)
electron microscopes differ in many ways.

Try to recognise the difference between the images they produce. The SEM produces 3-D
images while the TEM produces 2-D images of material that is either naturally thin or
sectioned to be thin. Image-enhanced video microscopy: Recently, cell biologists have
developed new, computer-assisted, light microscopy techniques that allow the observation of
live cells with great resolution. Great leaps in our knowledge of cell biology have usually
followed big advances in technology