Introduction to Life Science

Learning objectives:

 Explain the evolving concepts of life

 Know the Classic experiments that may have explain how organism
evolved
 Understand the interconnectedness of the Unifying Themes in the
study of life
What Is Life?

 Biology – the study of living nature deals ultimately with 2 main

concepts:
1. Life
2. Organisms
 In nature, life manifest in highly complex organized entities called
organisms that has the capability to adapt in order to survive
Life can be defined by….

 Any system capable of performing functions such as:

 1. Eating
2. Metabolizing
3. Excreting
4. Breathing
5. Moving
6. Growing
7. Reproducing
8. Responding to external stimuli. (Irritability)
 Therefore, to define the concept of living would mean, any structure
that:
 Metabolizes
 Self-perpetuate
Origin of the first life forms

 The earliest life forms we know of were microscopic

organisms (microbes) that left signals of their presence in
rocks about 3.7 billion years old.
 Origin of the first life forms

Scene during the Early Paleozoic era

How did life begin on Earth?

 1. Primordial Soup Theory

 2. Electrical Discharge Experiment
 3. Thermal Synthesis
 4. The Protocell Experiment
Primordial Soup Theory

 -Proposed by Alexander Oparin and John Haldane.

 It is about how life started from a primordial soup of organic
molecules
 Chemicals from the atmosphere and some form of energy from
lightning combined to make amino acids which are the building
blocks of protein.
Chemicals from the atmosphere and some
form of energy from
lightning combined to make amino acids
which are the building
blocks of protein
Electrical Discharge Experiment

 1. Stanley Miller and Harold Urey verified the primordial soup theory
by simulating the formation of organic molecules on the early
Earth.
 2. They confined methane, ammonia, water, and hydrogen in a
closed system and applied continuous electrical sparks
 3. This triggered the formation and production of amino acids and
confirmed it after a week
 4. The purpose of this experiment was to explore the conditions of
the early Earth and what the naturally occurring results would be.
The Miller –Urey Experiment
Thermal Synthesis

 1.Sidney Fox demonstrated in his experiment the origin of life using a

specific mixture of pure, dry amino acids.
2. After heating the mixture, an aqueous solution was formed and
cooled into microscopic globules called protenoid microspheres.
3. The globules looked like coccoid bacteria and seemed to be
budding, which is a form of reproduction in some microorganisms.
4. He claimed that the protenoid microspheres constituted
protocells – almost true cells, and multiplied through division like
true cells.
 5.He believed that these cells were the link between the primordial
environment and the true living cells.
Protenoid microspheres
The Protocell Experiment
 1. Jack Szostak challenged the concept of how life formed in a
primordial chemical environment.
 2. He thought that the protocells just required two components to be
formed:
 a. nucleic acid genome - to transmit the genetic information
 b. lipid sac –encapsulated the genome and let itself grow and divide.
 2. He built lipid sacs made in fatty acids and a replicase – an RNA
molecule that catalyzes its own replication, in the test tube.
 3.He found out that lipid sacs with more RNA grew faster.
 4. He suggested that such test tube evolution was possible. The results suggested that
the early forms of life with just a single gene, an RNA gene, could have undergone
a Darwinian evolution.
A Protocell
Unifying themes in the study of life

 Life Science is unified by certain themes.

 These six general themes talks about the levels of organization, the
flow of energy, evolution, interacting systems, structure and function
 All living things maintain stable or balanced internal conditions or
equilibrium.
The 6 unifying themes of Life
Science
 1. Cell Structure & Function.
 2. Stability & Homeostasis.
 3. Reproduction & Inheritance.
 4. Evolution.
 5. Interdependence of Organisms.
 6. Matter, Energy, & Organization.
Bioenergetics
 The branch of biochemistry that focuses on how cells transform energy,
often by producing, storing or consuming Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)
 ATP is the primary carrier of energy in cells.
 Therefore, Bioenergetic processes, such as Cellular respiration or
Photosynthesis, are essential to most aspects of cellular metabolism,
therefore to life itself.
ATP-ADP conversion
Cellular Respiration
. Photosynthesis

 Photosynthesis, the process by which green plants and certain other

organisms transform light energy into chemical energy.
 During photosynthesis, light energy is captured to convert water,
carbon dioxide and minerals into oxygen and energy-rich organic
compounds.
The Chemical process during Photosynthesis
How organisms obtain and utilize
energy?
 Organisms obtain energy from the food they consume. The food
consumed by the organisms undergo cellular respiration as a result
of which energy is released.
 Mitochondria are called power houses of the cells.
 Cellular respiration is a set of metabolic reactions and processes
that take place in the cells of organisms to convert chemical energy
from oxygen molecules or nutrients into adenosine triphosphate,
and then release waste products
Mitochondria
The Cell – Basic unit of life

 Cells are considered the basic units of life in part because they
come in discrete and easily recognizable packages.
 All cells are surrounded by a structure called Cell membrane
 Cell membrane — which, much like the walls of a house, serves as a
clear boundary between the cell's internal and external
environments
 It was discovered after the invention of the Light Microscope
 Cells can only be seen with a microscope ( with a few exceptions )
Cell size
What is the unit of microscopic
measurement?
 Micron is a metric unit of measurement which is
equivalent to one one-thousandth of a millimetre [1
micron (1μ) = 1/1000 mm]
 Human red blood cell is 5 microns.
 Average human hair has a diameter of 100 microns.
 Symbol is mu or
Measurement
The Cell
Animal and Plant Cells
Important Cellular components

 Cell membrane
 Cytoplasm/Protoplasm
 Nucleus
 Nucleolus
 Ribosomes
 Endoplasmic reticulum
 Mitochondria
 Golgi Bodies
 Lysosomes
 Vacuole
 Centriole
 Chloroplast
 Cell Wall
Cell membrane

 Regulates the transport of materials into and out of the Cell

Cytoplasm/Protoplasm
 Fluid-like environment in which organelles are suspended
Cytoplasm/Protoplasm
 Protoplasm is the fluid medium
consisting of the
Cytoplasm and the
Nucleus
Nucleus and Nucleolus

 Control center of the Cell

 Directs all the activities of the cell
 Contains the molecules known to transmit genetic information
called Nucleic acids
 DNA ( Deoxyribo Nucleic Acids ) chromosomes can be found here
 Nucleolus makes or synthesizes Ribosomes
Nucleus and Nucleolus
Ribosomes

 Site of Protein Synthesis

 Creates the enzymes
 Maybe free in the cytoplasm or attached to a membrane, the
Endoplasmic reticulum
Endoplasmic reticulum

 Interconnection channels associated with storage an transport of

material throughout the cell
 There are 2 types:
 1. Smooth Endoplasmic reticulum
2. Rough Endoplasmic reticulum
 1. Smooth Endoplasmic reticulum

 2. Rough Endoplasmic reticulum

Mitochondria

 The “Power house ” of the cell

 Site of cellular respiration
 Golgi Bodies or Apparatus

 For the secretion of cellular products

 Helps process and package proteins and lipid molecules, especially
proteins destined to be exported from the cell
 Synthesis, Packaging and getting
rid of cellular wastes
Lysosomes

 It contains digestive enzymes that can kill a cell if breaks

 Also called the “ Suicide bag”
Vacuole
 Space that holds water and other materials
 Bigger in Plant Cells and smaller in Animal Cells
Centriole
 Cylinder-shaped structure that helps in cell division in Animal cells
 Absent in Plant Cells
 Found in Centrosomes
Chloroplast
 Contains the green pigment called Chlorophyll
 Chlorophyll is needed in the process of Photosynthesis
Cell Wall
 Non-Living structural layer surrounding the Plant Cell
 It is responsible for support, structure and protecting the Cell.
 Found only in Plant Cells
How Cells move?

 Cilia- these are hair like projections powered by centrioles which

helps in providing motility for a cell
 Flagella- whip like projections
How do cells absorb materials from
its surroundings?
 Phagocytosis- is the
process by which a cell uses
its plasma membrane to engulf
a large particle
How do cells absorb materials from
its surroundings?
 Active transport
 It is the process of moving molecules across a cellular membrane
through the use of cellular energy
End Of Presentation