BM101: BIOLOGY FOR ENGINEERS

Cell as a Structural and Functional Unit of

Life

Instructor: Yashveer Singh, PhD

Slides courtesy: Dr. Durba Pal

6 August 2019 1
 Distinguishing features of living organisms
▪ High degree of chemical complexity and microscopic organization

▪ System for extracting, transforming and using energy from the environment

▪ Defined functions for organism’s components and regulated interactions among

them

▪ Mechanism for sensing and responding to alterations in their surroundings

▪ Capacity for precise replication and self assembly

▪ Capability to survive over time by gradual evolution

Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry 2 2

 What is common to all life forms?

Whole bacteria comprises just one cell (unicellular)

An adult human comprises trillion cells (multicellular)

▪ All living organisms, whether big or small, contain cells

▪ Even a single cell is able to carry out essential life processes

Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry 3 3

 How does life begin in multicellular organisms?

▪ The spermatozoa and ovum (called gametes) fuses during the

fertilization to form a zygote, which is a single cell and it undergoes further
division and differentiation
▪ Ever for multicellular organisms, life begins as a single cell

http://www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/N100H/ch9meiosis.html
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 How does life begin in multicellular organisms?

csls-text2.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp

▪ The zygote undergoes mitotic division to form blastula, which is a hollow ball
of cells
▪ Ultimately, three germ layers are produced: ectoderm, mesoderm, and
endoderm
https://smartsite.ucdavis.edu/access/content/user/00002950/bis10v/week10/13z
ygoteembroyo.html 5
Cell as a Unit of Life
▪ Cells are the structural
and functional units of
life

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Unicellular vs. Multicellular Organisms
Unicellular: The activities within a single cell
cause it to move, take in or release energy,
reproduce and thrive

Multicellular: Cells develop differently, each with

their individual and independent tasks. Some cells
group together to form the brain, other forms the
bones. Each of the individual cell actions work
together for the good of the whole body to allow
it to function and live. Example: blood cells

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Unicellular vs. Multicellular Organisms
▪ All living forms must
have at least a cell
▪ All life forms are
grouped into two
categories: unicellular and
multicellular

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 Five Kingdom Classification
▪ Living systems can
also be classified into
following five groups:
moneran, protist,
fungi, plants, and
animals
▪ Another system
groups them into
three categories:
bacteria, archaea, and
Classification of all life forms is done to understand their positions in the hierarchy of eukarya
all life on the planet

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 Cell History
▪ English scientist Robert Hooke, used a
microscope to examine cork (plant)

▪ He remarked that it looked strangely

similar to cellula or small rooms, which
monks inhabited. What Hooke actually
saw was the dead cell walls of plant cells
(cork)?

▪ Study of cells is called cytology

Structure of cork draw by

Hooke in book
“Micrographia”
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 Cell History
▪ Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1705) was a
Dutch scientist and a tradesman by day

▪ A self-driven biology student, ached to

discover the secrets of the world around him

▪ Even though not formally educated, he ended

up contributing important discoveries to the
field of biology. Leeuwenhoek discovered
bacteria, protists, sperm and blood cells,
rotifers and microscopic nematodes, and other
microscopic organisms
Baker’s copy of AvL’s pepper water
illustration
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 Cell History
▪ Matthias Schleiden, a German botanist, discovered in 1838
that all plants are composed of cells

▪Theodor Schwann in the same year discovered that animals

were made of cells

Theodor Schwann
▪ They put forward following:
▪ The cell is the unit of structure, physiology, and organization
in living things
▪ The cell retains a dual existence as a distinct entity and a
building block in the construction of organisms
▪Cells form by free-cell formation, similar to the formation of
crystals (spontaneous generation), which of course turned out
to be incorrect
Matthias Jakob
Schleiden

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 Cell History
▪ Rudolf Virchow, a German physician in 1855, proposed
“Omnis cellulae cellula”, which implied that all cells only
arise from pre-existing cells

▪ His statement finally debunked the theory of spontaneous

generation
Rudolf Virchow

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 Cell History

▪ Key events (discoveries) that led to the current understanding of cellular

basis of life are summarized in the table above

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 Cell Theory
▪ Work done by the botanist, Matthias Jakob Schleiden (1804-1881),
physiologist Theodor Schwann (1810-1882), and pathologist Rudolf Virchow
(1821-1902) in Germany led to the development of cell theory

▪ All living things are composed of a cell or cells

▪ Cells are the basic unit of life

▪ All cells come from preexisting cells

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 Cell Theory
▪ The current understanding about cells is summarized below:
▪ All living organisms consist of one or more cells
▪ The cell represents the elementary unit of construction and function in
living organisms
▪ All cells come from the division of pre-existing cells
▪ Energy flow – metabolism and biochemistry – happens within cells
▪ Cells contain genetic information in the form of DNA passed on from cell to
cell during division
▪ In the organisms of similar species, all cells are fundamentally the same
▪ Some cells – unicellular organisms – consist of only one cell. Other living
entities are multicellular, containing multiple cells
▪ The living organism's activities depend upon the combined actions of
individual, independent cells
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 What About Viruses?

▪ Viruses exists as a capsid encased in a protein shell or as a simple protein

coat sometimes enclosed inside a membrane
▪ The capsid encloses and stores either RNA (retrovirus) or DNA (virus), which
contains codes of the virus. Viruses can be categorized as animal and plant
viruses, and viruses infecting bacterial cells are called bacteriophages
▪ Viruses don’t possess the capability to replicate and, therefore, not
considered as cells (living) 17
 What About Viruses?

▪ Virus enters a living organism, where it finds a cellular host in which it injects its genetic
material. Infected cells begin to produce more viral protein and reproduce the viruses'
genetic material. Once stimulated, the virus enters the lytic phase, where new viruses
replicate and self-assemble before killing the host cell as the virus bursts out to infect
other cells 18
 Examples of Cells

Amoeba Proteus

Plant Stem

Bacteria

Red Blood Cell

Nerve Cell

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