BT20204: Cell Biology

Abhijit Das
School of Bioscience
Email: abhijit.das@iitkgp.ac.in
Tel: 03222-284572
 Topics
1. A) Cell Theory,
B) Methods in Cell Biology: Microscopy
2. Membrane Structure
3. Membrane Function, electrical properties of membrane
4. Cellular organelles and intracellular protein transport
5. Cytoskeleton
6. Nucleus, Chromosome, Chromatin
7. Cell Signalling
BT21002: Cell Biology

Cell Theory,
Origin & Evolution
of Cell

Abhijit Das
School of Bioscience
Email: abhijit.das@iitkgp.ac.in
Tel: 03222-260511
 Early history of studies on Cell
• Antonie van Leeuwenhoek – pioneer in
microscopy and microbiology
• Robert Hooke – discovered cells (1665)

Cell theory
• Matthias Schleiden and Theodor
Schwann (1839) proposed a cellular
basis of animal life:
1. All organisms are composed of one
or more cells.
2. The cell is the structural unit of life.
• Rudolf Virchow (1855) proposed a third
tenet of cell theory:
3. Cells can arise only by division from
a pre-existing cell.
 Fundamental properties of cells

• Cells Are Highly Complex and Organized

• Cells Possess an inherent Genetic Program
• Capacity for precise self-replication
• Capacity for extracting, transforming and using energy
• Cells Carry Out a Variety of Chemical Reactions
• Cells Engage in Mechanical Activities
• Cells Are Able to Respond to Stimuli
• Capable of robust self-regulation
• Capable of evolution
Origin and
Evolution of Cells
Spontaneous formation of organic
molecules: Stanley Miller’s experiment

• Reducing environment in primitive world

• CO2, N2, H2, H2S, and CO
• Source of energy- sunlight or electrical
discharge
• Simple organic molecules could form and
spontaneously polymerize into
macromolecules
• Stanley Miller showed that the discharge
of electric sparks into a mixture of H2,
CH4, and NH3, in the presence of water,
led to the formation of a variety of
organic molecules, including amino acids-
alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, and
glycine
Self-replication of RNA: towards RNA world hypothesis

• In 1980s it was discovered by Sid Altman and Tom Cech that RNA is capable of
catalyzing chemical reactions, including the polymerization of nucleotides.
• RNA is thus uniquely able both to serve as a template for and to catalyze its own
replication.
• RNA is generally believed to have been the initial genetic system, and an early
stage of chemical evolution is thought to have been based on self-replicating
RNA molecules—a period of evolution known as the RNA world
Enclosure of self-replicating RNA in a
phospholipid membrane
A Prokaryotic (bacterial) cell
 Evolution of Cells
• Present-day cells
evolved from a common
prokaryotic ancestor
along three lines of
descent, giving rise to
archaebacteria,
eubacteria, and
eukaryotes.
• Mitochondria and
chloroplasts originated
from the endosymbiotic
association of aerobic
bacteria and
cyanobacteria,
respectively, with the
ancestors of eukaryotes.
First Cell
 Prokaryotic vs Eukaryotic cells
Prokaryotic cells Eukaryotic cells
No membrane-enclosed Have well defined nucleus (membrane-
intracellular compartment to house enclosed intracellular compartment) to
genetic material (DNA) house genetic material (DNA)
Prokaryotic cells lack most of the Eukaryotic cells have well defined and
complex membrane bound internal complex membrane bound internal
organelles organelles
Prokaryotic cells have a single
Eukaryotic cells have paired chromosomes
circular chromosome
Prokaryotic cells lack histone
Eukaryotic cells have histone proteins
proteins
Plant and fungal cells have both cellulose and
Prokaryotic cell wall has
chitin in cell wall. No such cell wall in animal
peptidoglycan
cells
Anatomy of an animal cell
Anatomy of a plant cell
 Reading

• The Cell: A Molecular Approach. Cooper GM. Sunderland (MA):

Sinauer Associates; 2000.

• Online version of the 2nd edition of the book:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9841/