Jurongville Secondary School

Secondary 3 Express Biology Notes

Syllabus 5093

Name: _________________________ ( )

Class: Sec 3___ Date: ____________

Chapter 1: Characteristics of Living Organisms

Chapter 2: Cell Structure & Organization

1.1 Characteristics of living organisms

• Most living organisms show the following characteristics

Characteristics of Life Description

Nutrition
Respiration
Excretion
Growth
Movement
Sensitivity
Reproduction
Adaptability

2.1 Cell Structure & Organization

• Cells are the basic unit of life

• Cells can exist

o Singly as independent organisms showing all the characteristics of life (eg.

Amoeba) (called UNICELLULAR ORGANISMS) (Uni: one)

o As part of a MULTICELLULAR organism (Multi: many)

 These cells are modified for specific functions (eg. Root hair cell, red
blood cell, muscle cells, etc)

• The living matter in cells consists of

Components Functions
Nucleus • Contains hereditary material (Chromosomes) made of DNA
• Acts as a control center for cell activities
• Controls cell division
Cytoplasm • Many chemical reactions of life in the cell occur here, especially
special structures (organelles) within it.
Cell Surface • Is a partially-permeable (or selectively-permeable) membrane
Membrane • Prevents cell contents from flowing out
• Controls substances entering or leaving the cell

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 • Cells organelles found in the cytoplasm includes
Cell Organelles Functions
Cellulose cell wall • Rigid fully-permeable membrane
(Plant Cell Only!) • Provides mechanical support and protection to plant cells
Vacuole (Sap • Membrane-bound spaces containing chemicals that are either
vacuole in plants) secreted, excreted or stored by cells
Chloroplast • An organelle which contains a pigment (chlorophyll) and enzymes
(Plant Cell Only!) needed for photosynthesis
Mitochondria • Releases energy during cell respiration

• Differences between a typical animal cell & a typical plant cell

Animal cell Plant cell
Similarities • Cell membrane
• Cytoplasm
• Nucleus
Differences Vacuoles are small and many, Large single, central vacuole,
contain no cell sap contain cell sap (made up of
sugars mostly)
No cell wall Contain cellulose cell wall
No chloroplasts May have chloroplasts
Around 10-20 microns across Around 40-100 microns across

• A step-by-step organization from simple atoms to a complex organism is shown

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 Multicellular
organism

2.2 Organization of Living Organisms (Cells combining to improve their efficiency)

o Cell  Tissues  Organs  Organ systems  Organism
o Tissue: A group of similar and specialized cells working together to carry out a
particular function. E.g. muscular tissue and xylem tissue

o Organ: Body part composed of several types of tissues working together to carry
out a particular function e.g. heart

o Organ system: A system composed of several functionally related organs working

together for a special function. E.g. Circulatory system, Digestive system.

2.3 Some specialized cell structures & their related functions

o In unicellular organisms, one cell must be able to carry out all the functions of a
living organism
o In multicellular organisms, one type of cells is usually modified to carry out one
main function. The appearance of the cell (called adaptation) will vary depending
on what the main function is.
o The following specialized cells are examples of how cells are adapted (or
modified) in order to serve their functions

Type Structure Function

Root hair cell The outer part of the cell wall is in the form of Absorption of water and
long, tubular extension (the root hair), which mineral salts from the soil
• Is able to form very close contact with
the soil water film surrounding many
soil particles
• Greatly increase the surface area of
the cell available for uptake of water
and ions
Xylem vessel • Xylem vessels are long and narrow • Conduct water and
tubes, stretching from roots, through mineral salts from
the stem, to the leaves. They are the roots to the
stacked end to end like drain pipes stem, leaves,
flowers and fruits
• Xylem vessels are strengthened by • To provide
the chemical lignin. As lignin builds mechanical support
up, it eventually kills the xylem for the plant above
vessels. There is thus no cytoplasm to the ground
block the flow of water and mineral
salts.
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 • Xylem vessels are part of the vascular
bundles which runs through the stems
of plants to help resists bending
strains caused by winds
Red blood cell • The cytoplasm in red blood cells To carry oxygen around
contain haemoglobin, which combines the body
with oxygen to form oxyhaemoglobin
Haemoglobin + O2  Oxyhaemoglobin (at
high oxygen level)
• The cells are small and many, hence
increasing large surface area for
oxygen absorption
• Each cell has a biconcave shape,
making their surface area for
absorption even larger
• They are flexible, making them able to
be pushed easily through small blood
vessels (capillaries).
Muscle cell • They are long and thin, allowing many To cause movement when
to work side-by-side for greater force, they contract (muscles can
or to form a contractile network of only do work when they
fibres contract, never when they
• Each cell (or fibre) contains many relax, and they can
smaller fibrils, each capable of NEVER EXPAND)
contracting
• Their cytoplasm contains many Mode of action
mitochondria which are responsible Contract (become shorter)
for releasing energy within a cell and Relax (return to orig size)
needed to bring about muscular
contraction

Root Hair Cell Diagram: Red Blood Cell Diagram: Xylem

vessel: