BIO NOTES

Mineral requirements in plants:

 Mineral are nutrients needed in small quantities by the living organisms
for healthy growth and development. Minerals are absorbed from the soil
by active transport.
 Potassium (k) – healthy growth of flavours and fruits
 Nitrates (NO3) – needed to make proteins which in turn help with growth
 Magnesium (Mg) – to make chlorophyll
 Phosphorus (p) – to make DNA and used in other metabolic processes.
Photosynthesis:
 It is a biochemical reaction that takes place in chloroplast containing
cells, during which glucose is produced using carbon dioxide and water
in the presence of light energy and chlorophyll.
 Equation : 6CO2 + 6H2O using light energy and chlorophyll - C6H12O6 +
6CO2
 Word equation : carbon dioxide + water  glucose + oxygen
 Requirements : Carbon dioxide from air, water from soil, chlorophyll in
the chloroplast, light energy (Sun)
 Chloroplast – site for photosynthesis
 All plant cells do not have chloroplast.
 Cells like palisade cells, spongy cells and guard cells have chloroplasts.

Structure of a chloroplast:
 Thylakoids – place where the reaction for photosynthesis occurs.
 Stroma – fluid ground substance in which the thylakoids are placed.
 Lamella – this connects to the stacks of thylakoids (granum).
 Double membrane – chloroplasts have double protective membrane and
selectively permeable.

Factors affecting photosynthesis:

 Light intensity - Photosynthesis begins at low intensities of light and
increases till it is maximum at the brightest time of the day. The amount
of light required varies for different plants. At high intensities, the
temperature of the plant increases which leads to increased
transpiration in the plant. This leads to the closing of the stomata which
leads to a reduced CO2 intake. Thus, leading to a reduction and finally
stoppage of photosynthesis. Therefore, excessive light inhibits
photosynthesis. The closer the lamp is to the plant , the rate of
photosynthesis increases.
 Carbon dioxide concentration: The atmosphere contains 0.04 % of
carbon dioxide amidst other gases. Plants take in carbon dioxide from
the air. It is seen that, when light and temperature are not the limiting
factors, increasing CO2 concentration leads to an increase in the rate of
photosynthesis. But, beyond a certain limit, CO2 starts accumulating in
the plant and this leads to slowing down of the process. So, excessive
CO2 inhibits photosynthesis especially when it starts to accumulate.
  Temperature : The temperature required is the optimum temperature
for the enzymes to work. It is commonly seen in all biological and
biochemical processes that they occur best in a certain optimum range
of temperature. This holds true for photosynthesis as well. It is
observed that, when CO2 and light are not limiting factors, the rate of
photosynthesis increases with increase in temperatures till the
optimum level for that plant. Beyond the optimum levels on both sides
of the normal range, the enzymes are deactivated or destroyed and
photosynthesis stops.
 Water : As long as there is enough water, the rate of photosynthesis
increases. Water is considered one of the most important factors
affecting photosynthesis. When there is a reduced water intake or
availability, the stomata begin to close to avoid loss of any water during
transpiration. With the stomata closing down the CO2 intake also stops
which affects photosynthesis.

Internal factors affecting photosynthesis :

 Number of stomata
 Size/surface area of the leaves
 Amount of chloroplast
 Number of leaves

Limiting factors:
 The factor which is in short supply and limits the process when all other
factors are in plenty.
 Eg: the rate of photosynthesis becomes stable as the limiting factor carbon
dioxide is acting.
 Limiting factors in nature : Desert (water), Deep ocean (light), forest
undergrowth (light), in the terrestrial environment (carbon dioxide)

Greenhouses:
  The factors for photosynthesis can be manipulated to optimise
photosynthesis.
 Paraffin lamps  heat + carbon dioxide. Nowadays they have modern
system.
 Monitors  to regulate the factors
 Artificial lighting

Carbon cycle :
 Carbon (compounds) are found in the different sinks in the environment.
 The carbon sinks are ocean, body of organisms (living/dead), atmosphere,
fossils, soil
 Carbon circulates from one sink to another by natural processes.
sink Process sink
Fossil fuels Combustion atmosphere
Dead matter decomposition atmosphere
atmosphere photosynthesis Plant’s body
Plants body nutrition Animals body
organism respiration atmosphere
Dead matter fossilisation fossils

Transport of water and minerals in plants:

 Soil (osmosis and active transport)  root hair cell (osmosis and active
transport)  inner cells (osmosis and active transport)  xylem leaves
by transpiration pull, goes to the shoot by cohesion and adhesion, goes to
branches by root pressure.
 Osmosis- Movement of water molecules from a region of high water
potential to low water potential through a selectively permeable
membrane, down the concentration gradient.
 Active transport – Movement of molecules or ions from a region of low
concentration to higher concentration, using energy from respiration.

Properties of xylem:
 Conducts water and minerals (movement 15 cm away only).
 Composed of tracheids (all plants) and vessel elements (angiosperms).
 Walls composed of dead cells and are pitted (allows water exchange)
 Walls impregnated with lignin (spiral or annular arrangement)
 Water movement requires both cohesion and adhesion.

Upward movement in the xylem:

 Root pressure: In the root region, the cortex cell around the xylem
pump mineral ions into the xylem vessel. This lowers the water
potential inside the xylem vessel. The water moves into the xylem by
osmosis. This continuous movement of minerals and water is known
as root pressure.
 Cohesion and adhesion property of water : Water molecules cling to
each other because of their negative and positive charges at the two
ends. This property is called cohesion. This makes the water
molecules to form a continuous stream inside the xylem vessels.
Water molecules also stick to the walls of their container (xylem) due
to adhesion property. Cohesion and adhesion property forms a
continuous stream of water inside the xylem.
 Transpiration pull : When water evaporates from the stomata during
transpiration, this creates a pulling force called transpiration pull.
This force pulls the water up the xylem.
 Structure of the leaf:

Role of guard cells:

Guard cells regulate the opening and closing of the stomatal pore. During
the day, mineral ions move into the guard cells and lowers its water
potential. This causes it to absorb water by osmosis from the neighbouring
cells. This makes the guard cell turgid and more curved, increasing the
stomatal pore. During the night, mineral ions move out the guard cells and
increases its water potential. This causes it to release water by osmosis to
the neighbouring cells. This makes the guard cells flacid and less curved,
decreasing the stomatal pore.

Excretion :
 Excretion is the removal of metabolic waste products and substances
in excess of requirements.
 Metabolic waste products : urea, carbon dioxide
 Substances in excess of requirements : water, salts/minerals (not
always in excess)
 Buildup of metabolic waste products are toxic to the body.
 ‘Excretion’ is getting rid of products produced in the body as a result
of metabolism such as urea and CO2. ‘Egestion’ is the removal of
 undigested food. The molecules in the undigested food, such as
cellulose, could not be metabolised by the enzymes we have.
 Also, note that urea is produced in the body and is present in the
blood. It is excreted as urine which is made up of urea, excess salts
and water. Faeces, on the other hand, is mostly undigested materials
that were never absorbed into the blood and are egested.
 CO2: is a by-product of respiration, produced in almost all cells. It
diffuses into the bloodstream and is transported to the lungs where
it diffuses out during exhalation.
 Urea: is a by-product of amino acid metabolism in the liver
(deamination) and is also released into the bloodstream. It is
transported to the kidneys and is excreted along with water as urine.

Parts of the human excretory system:

 A pair of kidneys, each supplied by
 Renal artery and drained by
 Renal vein
 A pair of ureters that drain the urine from kidneys
 Into the urinary bladder which stores the urine &
 The urethra through which urine leaves the body

The urinary system:

Main parts:
Excretion:
 The colour and quantity of urine produced in the body can change quickly
 Large quantities of urine are usually pale yellow in colour because it
contains a lot of water and so the urea is less concentrated
 Small quantities of urine are usually darker yellow / orange in colour
because it contains little water and so the urea is more concentrated
 There are various reasons why the concentration of urine will change,
including:
 Water intake – the more fluids drunk, the more water will be removed
from the body and so a large quantity of pale yellow, dilute urine will be
produced
 Temperature – the higher the temperature the more water is lost in sweat
and so less will appear in urine, meaning a smaller quantity of dark yellow,
concentrated urine will be produced
 Exercise – the more exercise done, the more water is lost in sweat and so
less will appear in urine, meaning a smaller quantity of dark yellow,
concentrated urine will be produced
Kidney:
 Located at the back of the abdomen and has two important functions in
the body.
 They regulate the water and mineral content of the blood (vital for
maintaining blood pressure).
 They excrete the toxic waste products of metabolism (such as urea) and
substances in excess of requirements (such as salts).

 Each kidney contains around a million tiny structures called nephrons,

also known as kidney tubules or renal tubules.

 The nephrons start in the cortex of the kidney, loop down into

the medulla and back up to the cortex.
 The contents of the nephrons drain into the innermost part of the
kidney and the urine collects there before it flows into the ureter to be
carried to the bladder for storage.
Urine is formed in two steps:
Ultrafiltration:

 In Bowman's capsule, some of the fluid is forced out of the

glomerulus into the Bowman's capsule.
 Blood cells and large proteins are too large to leak out of the
capillaries, and leave the Bowman's capsule in the efferent arteriole.
 Water and smaller molecules pass into the Bowman's capsule, like
glucose, salts and urea , amino acid.
 This process is called ultrafiltration, and the fluid formed that enters
the Bowman's capsule is called the filtrate.
 Filtrate is a mixture of water, glucose, salts, urea.

Selective reabsorption:
 Useful substances in the filtrate are reabsorbed in the blood stream as the
it passes through the tubule : all glucose, some salt, some water.

Homeostasis:

 Detection: By the hypothalamus in the brain

 Action: Secretion /no secretion of Anti-Diuretic-Hormone. Hormone taken
to kidney tubules by blood
 Correction: Water and salt reabsorbed / Not absorbed
 Urine: Concentrated/Dilute
 The collecting ducts are regulated by hormones such as ADH (anti-diuretic
hormone) which control the amount of water reabsorbed by this region.
 High levels of ADH cause high levels of water to be reabsorbed, producing
small volumes of concentrated urine.
 Low levels of ADH cause low levels of water to be reabsorbed, producing
large volumes of dilute urine

What does glucose in the urine indicate:

 In a person with a normal blood glucose level, there are enough gates
present to remove all of the glucose from the filtrate back into the
blood
 People with diabetes cannot control their blood glucose levels and they
are often very high, meaning that not all of the glucose filtered out can
be reabsorbed into the blood in the proximal convoluted tubule
 As there is nowhere else for the glucose to be reabsorbed, it continues
in the filtrate and ends up in urine
 This is why one of the first tests a doctor may do to check if someone is
diabetic is to test their urine for the presence of glucose

DNA structure:

 DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the molecule that contains the

instructions for growth and development of all organisms
 It consists of two strands of DNA wound around each other in what is
called a double helix
 The individual units of DNA are called nucleotides.
 All nucleotides contain the same phosphate and deoxyribose sugar, but
differ from each other in the base attached
 There are four different bases, Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Thymine (T) and
Guanine (G)
 The bases on each strand pair up with each other, holding the two strands
of DNA in the double helix
 The bases always pair up in the same way:
 Adenine always pairs with Thymine (A-T)
 Cytosine always pairs with Guanine (C-G)
 The phosphate and sugar section of the nucleotides form the ‘backbone’
of the DNA strand (like the sides of a ladder) and the base pairs of each
strand connect to form the rungs of the ladder.
 The DNA helix is made from two strands of DNA held together by
hydrogen bonds.

 It is this sequence of bases that holds the code for the formation of
proteins.

Variation and inheritance:

 Traits are features of organisms. They can be structural - morphological,
anatomical or even cellular or protein level. These features can be
observed. These traits are referred to as the organism’s phenotype.
 Note: Morphology - external physical features/appearance.
 Anatomical - internal organ/tissue structure
 Cellular - cell shape or type
 Protein - protein structure/shape
 Inherited traits are those that are passed on from parents to offspring,
from one generation to the next. These traits are passed on by genes.
Example: hair colour, eye colour, blood group etc. This is possible by
reproduction.
 Acquired traits are those that one acquires in one’s lifetime and are not
inherited from parents and will not be passed on to the offspring. Ex: loss
of limb, disease related damages, colouring your hair, physical changes
that happen with sports or dance practice etc.
 Variation is the differences in the traits or phenotypes among the
organisms in a population of the species. Example: differences in height,
weight, eye colour, skin colour, hair colour, hair texture, blood group etc.
 Discontinuous variation is where there are distinct and well defined types
of trait into which the organisms can be classified into. Example: blood
group (A/B/AB/O), ear lobe attachment (free or attached), tongue rolling
ability etc. Such variation arises because these traits are controlled by
genes.
 Continuous variation is where there is a large range of the trait types and
there are no distinct or discrete values. There is almost an infinite number
of intermediate values between the extremes. This occurs in traits which
are influenced both by genes and the environment. Ex: height, weight, hair
length etc.

 Chromosomes are long molecules of DNA found inside the nucleus of the
cell. Each chromosome is one molecule of DNA.
 DNA is a complex nucleic acid made up of simple units called nucleotides.
Or, you can say DNA is polymer made of the monomers nucleotides. It has
a double stranded helical structure
 Each molecule of nucleotide is made of three subunits:
 a phosphate group,
 a pentose or 5 carbon or ribose sugar
 A nitrogenous base, which can be Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C)
or Guanine (G)
 Genes are segments/sequences of DNA that code for a specific trait or
characteristic. They do so by coding for proteins.
 Chromosomes are long molecules of DNA which comprise many genes.
They exist in pairs in diploid cells and singly in haploid cells. A
chromosome has several genes in it which control even unrelated traits.
 For example, the diploid human cell nucleus has 46 chromosomes as 23
pairs. In each pair, one chromosome is maternal and the other is paternal.
There are over 20,000 genes in the 23 chromosomes found in a haploid
gamete nucleus. This obviously means one chromosome has several
hundreds of genes in it.
 The human cell chromosomes are divided into 22 pairs of autosomes and
one pair of sex chromosomes. Sex chromosomes determine the sex of the
individual. If it is XX, the zygote is female and if it is XY, the zygote is male.
 As said before, a gene is a stretch of DNA that codes for a specific trait. For
example, there is a gene which codes for the colour of the pea plant seed.
There are two possible pea seed colours - green and yellow. This means
that there are two forms of the seed colour gene and these two forms of
the gene are called alleles. Alleles are therefore, variations of genes coding
for different forms of the trait. They differ in their nucleotide sequence.
 If a group of organisms of a species produce offspring with the same trait
repeatedly over many generations, that population is said to be true
breeding.
 For example, if a population of pea plants that only produce green
coloured seeds over and over again, they are true breeding. There are also
true breeding yellow seed varieties.
 In our body cells, our chromosomes are arranged in pairs where one is
from each parent (except gametes).
 Paired chromosomes carry the same genes with same or different alleles.
 This means that for every trait, we have two alleles - one each in maternal
and paternal chromosomes.
 Genotype is the genetic make-up of an organism in terms of the alleles
present.
 Phenotype is the observable feature/trait exhibited by the organism.
 Genotype determines the phenotype partially or completely.
 Gregor Mendel crossed true breeding yellow seed producing pea plants
with true breeding green seed producing pea plants.
 All the seeds produced were yellow in colour. There were no green or
partially green-yellow seeds!
 This indicates that the yellow seed colour is the dominant trait whereas
the green seed coat colour is the recessive trait.
 This also means that the yellow seed colour allele is dominant over the
green seed colour allele.
 How to represent genotype, phenotype, dominant and recessive alleles
etc.? There are some rules:
 Choose the first letter of the dominant trait.
 The uppercase form of this letter is the dominant allele.
 The lowercase form is the recessive allele.
 Diploid cells will have two alleles, so there will be two letters.
 Gametes are haploid and will have only one allele, so only one letter.
 If both the alleles in a genotype are identical, it is said to be homozygous.
For example: AA or aa.
 True breeding varieties are homozygous, which is why they always yield
the same trait when they are crossed within themselves.
 If both the alleles in a genotype are different, it is said to be
heterozygous. For example: Aa
Example question : There are two varieties of pea plants - tall and dwarf. A true
breeding tall plant is crossed with a true breeding dwarf plant. All offspring were
tall.
Using a genetic diagram, depict the genotypes and phenotypes of the F1
offspring. [4]
If 2 F1 offsprings are crossed, predict the genotypic and phenotypic ratios of the
F2 offspring. [5]
Answers- (i)
 (ii)

 Mutation is change in the genetic information.

 Gene mutation is a change in the nucleotide sequence of the gene.
Mutations can be caused randomly in nature or artificially by radiation (X-
ray, UV-rays, gamma rays etc.) or chemicals (nitrosamines).
 Gene mutations give rise to new alleles. These alleles might be beneficial
or disadvantageous to the organism. Example: Sickle cell anaemia is
caused by a gene mutation.
 Chromosomal mutations: when there are extra or less number of
chromosome copies. Example: Trisomy in Down’s Syndrome where there
is an extra copy of the 21st chromosome. Monosomy in Turner’s
Syndrome where a female has only one X chromosome.