CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE

Beginning of LIFE
 Viewed from space, Earth offers no clues about the diversity of life forms that reside on it.
 The first forms of life on Earth are thought to have been MICROORGANISMS that existed for billions of years
in the ocean before plants and animals appeared.
 The mammals, birds and flowers so familiar to us are all relatively recent, originating 130 to 200 million
years ago.
 Humans have inhabited this planet for only the last 2.5 million years, and only in the last 200,000 years have
humans started looking like we do today.

What is BIOLOGY?
 In simple terms, BIOLOGY is the study of living organisms and their interactions with one another and their
environments.
 Biology = the study of life
 How can you tell if something is alive?

History
Spontaneous Generation or ABIOGENESIS
 1st proposed by Aristotle
 He believed that complex, living organisms are generated by decaying organic substances
 That mice spontaneously appear in stored grain
 That maggots spontaneously appear in meat.
 Was widely believed until the 19th century.
 Several scientists performed experiments that disproved spontaneous generation :
1. Francisco Redi
2. Lazzaro Spallanzani
3. Louis Pasteur

BIOGENESIS - the process of life forms producing other life forms

 e.g. a spider lays eggs, which form into spiders.
 The term is also used for the assertion that life can only be passed on by living things.

8 CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE

1. CELLULAR ORGANIZATION
 Organisms are highly organized, coordinated structures that consist of one (unicellular) or more
(multicellular) cells.
 There are 6 levels of structural organization in living organisms.

6 LEVELS OF STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION

1. CHEMICAL – atoms combine to form molecules
2. CELLULAR – molecules combine to form cells
3. TISSUE – similar types of cells combine to form tissues
4. ORGAN – organs are made up of different types of tissues
5. SYSTEM – organ systems consist of different organs that work together closely
6. ORGANISMAL – human organisms are made up of many organ systems

CHEMICAL LEVEL
 Basis of life – the simplest level within the structural hierarchy.
 ATOMS – tiniest chemical building blocks of nature.
  Tiny spheres of matter – invisible to the naked eye
 There are more than 100 types of atoms
 Combination of atoms form a larger chemical groupings called MOLECULES
 Molecules + other atoms & molecules= MACROMOLECULES
 Atoms + molecules + macromolecules= form a gel-like material made of fluids, particles and membranes
called CYTOPLASM (CELL) which is an essential material of human life.

CELLULAR /ORGANELLE LEVEL

 ORGANELLE – a structure made of molecules organized in such a way that it can perform a specific function
 “tiny organs” that allow each cell to live
 Organelles CANNOT survive OUTSIDE the cells
 Cells CANNOT survive WITHOUT organelles
 EXAMPLES OF ORGANELLES
 MITOCHONDRIA - “power houses of cells
o Provide the energy needed by the cell to carry on day-to-day functioning,
growth and repair.

 GOLGI (gol-jee) APPARATUS - Provides a “packaging” service to the cell.

o Like a “baggage counter” that stores materials for future internal use or for
export from the cell.

 ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM - “cellular highways”

o Network of transport channels for the movement of chemicals in the cell.

 CELLS - Smallest and most numerous structural units that possess and exhibit the basic characteristics of
living matter.
 How many cells are there in the body?
 150lbs or 68kg adult human body= 100,000,000,000,000 cells!
o 100 trillion
o 100,000 billion
o 100 million million
 All cells have common features
 They specialize or differentiate to perform unique functions.
- Fat cells – structurally modified to permit storage of fats.
- Cardiac muscle cells – able to contract with great force
- Other unique cells – muscle cells, bone cells, nerve cells and blood cells

TISSUE LEVEL
 A tissue is a group of similar cells that perform a certain function.
 “fabric” of the body
 4 MAJOR TISSUE TYPES:
1. Epithelial tissue – covering
2. Connective tissue – support
3. Muscle tissue – movement
4. Nervous tissue - control

ORGAN LEVEL
 An organ is a structure made up of several different kinds of tissues arranged so that together they can
perform a special function.
 Each organ has a unique shape, size, appearance and placement in the body.
 E.g. HEART
o Muscle and connective tissue give it SHAPE
 o Epithelial tissue lines the heart cavities
o Nervous tissue permits the pumping contractions of the heart.
SYSTEM LEVEL
 Most complex of the organizational units of the body
 Involves varying numbers and kinds of organs arranged so that together they can perform complex functions
for the body.
 There are 11 major systems of the human body.

ORGANISMAL LEVEL
 Organ systems are structurally integrated to function as a whole organism.

2. REPRODUCTION
 Living things reproduce, grow, and develop
 Organisms produce offspring similar to themselves that are capable of increasing in size and changing over
time.
 They transmit their characteristics to offspring by heredity or genetically through their DNA.
 All living things reproduce to carry on their species.

 Some plants and bacteria reproduce individually via asexual reproduction.

 Upon maturity split into two organisms (budding).
 Offspring are genetically identical to parent.

 Some plants and animals reproduce through another member of their species via sexual reproduction.
 Offspring are not genetically identical to parent/s: a unique blend of recombined DNA

3. METABOLISM
 Living things acquire and use energy & produce wastes = (respiration, digestion, & excretion)
 Transform matter and energy to live.
 Organisms maintain a high degree of organization with the input of energy
 Living organisms require energy; in the most basic form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate)
 Obtained through the breakdown of food and nutrients.
 Obtained through inorganic sources (Photosynthesis)
 Obtained through “stealing” ATP from other organisms. (Microorganisms)
 This energy is used to carry out cell/life functions: metabolism, locomotion, growth/development or cell
division, etc.

4. HOMEOSTASIS
 The tendency of the body to seek and maintain a condition of balance or equilibrium within its internal
environment, even when faced with external changes. 

 e.g. FLUID VOLUME

 The body has to maintain a constant internal environment, which means it must regulate the loss
and gain of fluid. Hormones help to regulate this balance by causing the excretion or retention of
fluid.
 If the body does not have enough fluid, antidiuretic hormone signals the kidneys to retain fluid and
decrease urine output.
 If the body has too much fluid, it suppresses aldosterone and signals the excretion of more urine.

 e.g. BODY TEMPERATURE

 In human beings, the homeostaticregulation of body temperature involves such mechanisms as swe
atingwhen the internal temperature becomes excessive and shivering to produce heat.
 5. HEREDITY
 Living organisms inherit traits from their parent(s) via DNA and/or RNA.
 DNA/RNA are the codes or sequences that get translated into all types of proteins.
 These are found in the nucleus of eukaryotic organisms.

6. RESPONSE TO STIMULI
 Living things respond to changes in light, heat, sound, and chemical and mechanical contact.
 Living systems detect and respond to the internal and external environment
 To detect stimuli, many organisms have means for receiving information, such as skin, eyes, ears, and taste
buds (the sensory organs)
 Once a stimulus has been received by the organism, that triggers a response.

7. GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

 Living Things Grow: 
 Cell division - the orderly formation of new cells.
 Cell enlargement - the increase in size of a cell.
 Cells grow to a certain size and then divide.
 An organism gets larger as the number of its cells increases.

 Growth is a quantitative measurement.

 Growth simply shows an increase in something you can see or count.
 A tree can grow. 

 Development is a qualitative measurement.

 It is the qualitative improvement of circumstances in the context of people’s sense
of maturity.
 This means that as something develops the quality of the whole improves.
 As a tree develops, it not only grows, but also bears fruit and continues growing. 

8. ADAPTATION THRU EVOLUTION

 Living things evolve.
 Inherited changes take place over many generations; permitting organisms to change as the environment
changes.
 All organisms as a population (not individually) evolve to the changing environment over time.
 Occurs via changes in DNA sequences (mutations) that code for proteins (known as traits)
o Those with beneficial mutations will survive and reproduce in the changing environment and pass
them on to future offspring.
o Those without beneficial mutations will not survive and not reproduce in the changing environment.
 Example: Antibiotic resistant bacteria!

 Adaptation, in evolutionary terms, is the process a living thing goes through in order to become accustomed to
an environment.
 It is linked to evolution because it is a long process, one that occurs over many generations.
 The result of successful adaptation is always beneficial to an organism.

example: Before snakes slithered, they had limbs similar to those of lizards. To better adapt to their environment of
small holes in the ground, they lost their legs. This allowed them to fit into a tighter space, in which they could hide from
predators. This was true mostly for the first species of snakes, at a time when most reptiles didn't go above the ground
for their prey but burrowed around in search of food. Modern boas and pythons actually still have a small stub where
their legs used to be millions of years ago.