4hrs

Biology for Remedial Program (4 credit hours)-2015 E.C

UNIT 1
THE SCIENCE OF BIOLOGY

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 1.1. The methods of science
Biology and science
Scientific methods
What is the science of biology? Scientific report writing

• Biology is also referred as life science or biological sciences

It is a systematic study of living nature, covering the minute

chemical substances inside living cells to the broad scale
concepts of ecosystems and biosphere.

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 Methods of science …cont’d
What is science?

 Science is a system of acquiring knowledge based on the

scientific method.
• Experimental science: the use of experiments to obtain
information = basic science (acquiring knowledge)
• Applied science: the use of scientific research to meet
certain human needs (solve problems).
• Both sciences are equally important and difficult to
separate
• Science is an ongoing effort to find new information and
principles to increase human knowledge and understanding

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• Methods of science
• It is the process for experimentation or investigation to
explore observations & answer questions.
• It is an empirical method of acquiring knowledge.
• It is also the technique used in the construction and testing
of a scientific hypothesis.

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 Methods of science …cont’d
What are the main steps of the
scientific method?
• The scientific method
has many common basic
stages (steps):

&

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 Methods of science …cont’d
Stage 1. Make an observation and ask a question What?
Why?
Who?
Observing behavior or other phenomena When?
and asking a question on that condition.
Where?

Example: The growth of a tomato seed: why How?

don’t tomato seeds grow inside tomatoes?
Tomato seeds don’t germinate inside
tomatoes. What’s stopping them?

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Stage 2. Do background research
• First check scientific magazines and the internet to see if
anyone else has looked into the problem.
• Understanding the background of the problem
– Example: For the tomato seeds growth, there are substances in plants
that control growth, called growth regulators.
Stage 3. Construct (formulate) hypothesis
• Hypothesis:
 An educated guess about what a biologist thinks the explanation
of an observation will be.
 A tentative answer or testable explanation for the
question/observation
• Prediction: an educated guess as to how the biologist thinks
his/her experiment will turn out. Testable prediction is
generated from the hypothesis.

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• Example: growth of the tomato seed:
 ‘There is something in tomatoes that stops seeds
germinating’ = too vague and couldn’t be tested by
experiment.
 ‘There are chemicals in tomatoes that stop the seeds from
growing inside the tomatoes.’ =testable by an experiment
• It is going to be tested by covering some seeds with tomato
juice and others with water to see if any germinate.

Seeds covered with tomato juice Seeds covered with water

• A prediction can be made from the hypothesis:

 ‘Seeds covered in tomato juice will not germinate as well
as seeds covered in water’.

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 Stage 4. Test the hypothesis/prediction= experimentation
• Design and carry out an experiment to test the hypothesis
• Making systematic, planned observations (data collection)
1. Put several tomatoes in a blender. 20 seeds 20 seeds
2. Filter (strain) the blended material through
muslin (cloth). B.
3. Collect the tomato seeds and wash them in A.
Covered with
distilled water. Covered with
water
4. Place 20 in a Petri dish on filter paper and tomato juice
cover them with the tomato juice obtained Experimental Control group
from filtering the tomatoes. group
5. Place 20 in a Petri dish on filter paper and
cover them with the same volume of distilled Both kept at the same conditions
water. The only difference is chemical. So
6. Place them in the same growth conditions any effect on result should be due to
(e.g. temperature and lighting). the chemical.
7. Leave them for four days. Repeat 50 times (replication):
8. Check the number that have germinated in A. 20x50 =1000 seeds
each condition. B. 20x50 = 1000 seeds
9. Repeat the experiment 50 times to confirm
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your results.
Control group and experimental group
Control group:
• The standard group in an experiment in which the
experimental groups are compared with = treatment B
• It is used to ‘isolate’ the factor we are investigating and show
that changes are due to this factor. In tomato experiment, the factor is
chemical (juice)
Experimental group
• The group in an experiment which is being experimented on in
order to compare with the control group = treatment A.
• The group where the effect of the factors is seen.
• Experimental group = a
In drug trials, tablet containing the drug
• Control group= a placebo
– a tablet containing no
drug.

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Stage 5. Analyze results and draw conclusions
• Evaluate (support, refute-disprove, or refine) the original
hypothesis based on the results
• Make new hypotheses or predictions based on the results
• Example of tomato seed:
Table 1. Results of tomato seed growth…
 Out of 1000 seeds sown in
each condition, many (668 Treatment Seeds Seeds
seeds) germinated in the germinated per germinated out
dish of total (1000)
distilled water.
 It seems that something in Covered with 5.30 265
the tomato juice is affecting tomato juice
the germination of the seeds Covered with 13.36 668
 It must be a chemical in the water
juice.

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 Stage 6. Accept or reject the hypothesis
• The tomato juice will only contain chemicals, not cells, that
reduce the amount of germination.
• So we accept the hypothesis. But inside the tomatoes
themselves, none of the seeds germinate (in experiment a few
germinated). So more work is needed to do.
Stage 7. Report results
• Communication or reporting the finding to other scientific
community by various means: reporting writing, oral
presentation, and poster presentation.
• This creates an opportunity to someone else to work further
and try to isolate a particular chemical from the juice to find
exactly chemical.
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 Scientific report writing
How do we write reports on scientific experiments?
• Biologists write report of their work with a view to having it
published in a scientific journal, such as Nature or Science
– This allows other biologists to understand their work, repeat the work
to check the results and challenge their results
• There must be:
 A title: states clearly what is being investigated
 A hypothesis
 Experimental procedures.
It must include:  The apparatus used
 Chemicals used
 The results obtained: often  Organisms used
summarized using graphs, charts and  Details of any control
tables experiments etc.
 The conclusions drawn from the
 An acknowledgement
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 1.2. Tools of the biologist
 What apparatus do biologists use?
• Biologists use various laboratory and field tools for
biological studies
I. Laboratory tools
• There are many, but some basic tools in the lab include:
 Microscopes
 Dissecting equipment
 Petri dishes
 Pipettes and syringes
 Measuring cylinders
 Centrifuges
 Balances

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• Measuring cylinders: for measuring volumes of liquid and
sometimes a gas
– Example: an upturned measuring cylinder can be used to
collect oxygen gas produced when yeast converts
hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen

Measuring cylinders of
different volume

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• Pipettes and syringes: used for measuring small volumes of
liquid. Some syringes are designed as ‘gas syringes’ and used as
an alternative way of collecting the oxygen when yeast
decomposes the hydrogen peroxide

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 • Balances: are apparatus used for measuring mass
 They are of various accuracy (precision):
some can measure the mass of very heavy objects but
with low degree of precision.
Others measure smaller masses = high precision.

Accurate to 0.01 g
• Used for measuring large
masses Accurate to 0.0001 g.
• Used for measuring smaller masses 17
 • Dissecting equipment: used to dissect specimens
– Students may dissect organs such as the heart or the
kidney, to observe their structure
– Biologists may dissect owl (bird) pellets, fish guts, frogs
etc. to study the food items they have eaten
Dissecting microscope

To dissect
small
specimens, e.g.
insects

A standard dissecting kit

Contains a magnifying glass,
scalpels, scissors, forceps
(tweezers) and mounted Dissecting a frog

needles. 18
 • Petri dishes: are round dishes made from glass or from
plastic, and have various uses mainly to culture organisms
• Bacteria culture
• Plants culture (to propagate= tissue culture)
• To show effectiveness of antibiotics against bacteria
• To show the effect of enzyme concentration
Clear zone = no bacteria

Bacteria culture on Plantlets or ‘explants grown

agar in a Petri dish from a few plant cells white discs with antibiotics
Bacteria cultured on agar in a Petri dish
Grow to big plants with several different antibiotic discs
Clear zone (no bacteria) shows effective antibiotics.
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 Microscopes
• The most vital tools in a biology laboratory and are used
for magnifying (look bigger) small organisms and cells
• Two main types:

1. Optical (light) microscopes: 2. Electron microscopes

• Use beams of light to produce • Use beams of electrons to produce
magnified images magnified images
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  Magnification & resolving power
• Microscopy is based on two major principles:
 Magnification:
• Increasing the size of an object
– Light microscopes magnify up to 2000 times
– Electron microscopes magnify around 2 000 000 times
• It is the ratio of image length to object length measured in
planes that are perpendicular to the optical axis.

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 Resolution (resolving power of a
microscope):
• Resolution is the ability to distinguish between
two separate points (perceiving them as two Two closely spaced
separate points rather than being one fused image) objects seen as one
with low resolution
• Greater resolution means more detail it can show

Minimum distance to be seen

as separate objects (limit of
resolution):
Eye Light M. Electron M.
0.1 mm 0.0002mm 0.0000001mm
200,000nm 200nm 0.1nm
• Objects closer than 0.1 mm are seen as one by human eyes. 22
  Light microscope VS electron microscope
1. Light microscope
• Uses light source • It may have one or two lenses
• Used to observe cells, tissues or  That with two lenses (the eyepiece lens
individual living organisms and the objective lens) is known as a
compound microscope. Produces much
• non-living materials need fixation, better magnification
while living materials are not fixed  The other with one lens-simple microscope
• Often chemicals (stains) are added
Main parts:
to the tissue on the slide to make it
easier to see
• For light microscopes staining is done
using colored dyes to reflect light

A compound microscope

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 How does a light microscope work?
Ocular (eye pieces)
• Specimen is placed on the stage→
illuminated (lit) from underneath→ light
passes through the specimen and then
through the objective lens→ an image
formed at the eyepiece lens (greatly
Objective lenses
magnified, upside down and right to left
image). 4x-100x
• The magnification of the specimen = objective lens x
eye pieces. E.g. if objective 10, and eye pieces 10,
then M = 10x10 = x100. specimen

Light source

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 2. Electron microscope
 Uses beam of electron (have shorter wavelength)
 Has a high magnification and can resolve detail down
to 0.3 nm
 It has 1000 time better resolution than light
microscopy
 Specimens are specially prepared for the electron
microscope: fixed, stained and sliced very thinly in a
similar way to the preparation of samples for the light
microscope but the materials and stains used are very
different.

• staining is done using heavy metals such as lead and uranium are used to
reflect electrons
• specimens are always fixed with electron microscopes.

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 How does an electron microscope work?
• The image is formed as electrons
scattered by the specimen, in much the
same way as light is scattered in the light
microscope. The electron beams are
focused by magnetic lenses.
• A series of magnifications gives us an
image.
• We do not simply look into an electron
microscope but the image is produced on a
television screen and recorded as a
photograph known as an electron
micrograph or EM.

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 Two types of electron
microscopy:
Transmission electron Scanning electron
microscopy (SEM)
Leaf of a tobacco plant microscopy (TEM) Head of butterfly
 Creates image by scanning over the
 Electron beams pass through a
specimen surface
specimen stained with heavy
 A specimen is coated with
metals = shows what is inside
vaporized gold or palladium ions

 Specimens are dehydrated and cut into

ultra-thin slices (to pass electrons)  Used to study the topography of
before imaging cells and other similar structure

 Used to visualize structures that are too small

 Has less resolution than TEM
like proteins and viral particles

Not suitable for studying live specimens

 Has better resolution
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• Centrifuges: machine that spins to separate solids from
liquids

• As the tubes spin, the gravitational forces on the solid

particles force them to the bottom of the tube

• Some centrifuges, called ‘ultracentrifuges’, can spin

really fast and cause extremely light particles to fall to
the bottom of the tube.=used to separate the various
components of animal and plant cells

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 II. Field tools
What do biologists use in the field?
• All these works involve:
 Taking measurements of the abundance of
organisms in the field
 Taking samples of the environment (for example,
soil, rocks, water) for analysis in the laboratory
Students recording the
 Collecting specimens for identification and contents of a quadrat
analysis in the laboratory
• Some of the tools are:
 Quadrats: used to estimate of the abundance of
organisms in an area. E.g. a metal square- the
simplest one
• Transect line: a straight line through an area. Made
Using a quadrat
from a long rope marked off every meter laid down underwater
across the area

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• To collect specimens for identification in the laboratory,
biologists use a range of equipment.
– plastic jars or plastic bags: small parts (e.g., leaves and
flowers)
– a plant press: used to preserve parts of plants

a plant press

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• For animal collection
 Nets: used to collect some insects

 pitfall traps: to collect insects nets used to collect

 E.g.. a plastic carton sunk into the soil

 light bulb: night-flying insects are attracted to light. light bulb

 settle. An ultraviolet light bulb will increase the catch markedly

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 • Some other instruments that biologists use in the
field are

A pH kit – this is used to measure the A flow meter – this is used to

pH of soil or water measure the rate of flow of water

GPS (Global Positioning System)

receiver. Used to record positions A theodolite – this
is used to measure the height of
trees or of slopes in the area
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 Unit 2 Biochemical Molecules
• Biomolecule/biological molecules are
numerous substances that are produced by
cells and living organisms.
• Biomolecules have a wide range of sizes and
structures and perform a vast array of
functions.
• The four major types of biomolecules are
carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and
proteins
 Characteristics of Biomolecules
• Most of them are organic compounds.
• They have specific shapes and dimensions.
• The functional group determines their chemical
properties.
• Many of them are asymmetric.
• Macromolecules are large molecules and are
constructed from small building block molecules.
 Biochemical molecules
2.1 Inorganic and organic molecules
• A biomolecule is a chemical compound found in living
organisms. These include chemicals that are
composed of mainly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus.
• Biological molecules can be classified into two main
types:
• inorganic molecules
• organic molecules
• The most common elements in many cells are:
Hydrogen (H) 59%, Oxygen (O) 24%, Carbon (C) 11%,
Nitrogen (N) 4% Others (such as phosphorus, (P) and
sulphur (S)) 2%
 Inorganic biomolecules
• organic molecules always contain both
carbon and hydrogen BUT, Inorganic
molecules may contain one or the other (or
neither), but not both.
• Inorganic – usually don’t contain carbon
except carbon dioxide E.g. water, minerals
•
• The elements that are highlighted are the ones that are
used to build nearly all biological molecules.
• What do you notice about their position in the periodic
table?

Figure The periodic table

• Atoms: the smallest particles of a chemical
element
• Bond: the energy that joins atoms together to
form a molecule
• Molecule: a number of atoms bonded
together
• Compound: a substance made from
molecules containing more than one kind of
atom in a fixed ratio
• Valency: the number of bonds an atom can
make with other atoms
 EX. Water
• most important and most abundant molecule in the body,
some animals up to 95% of body mass; average is 65-75%

• can live for several weeks or a month without food

but not more than a few days without water
its unique properties relate to its structure, strong
polar nature and hydrogen bonds it can form
• Solid water is ice, liquid water we call water
and gaseous water is steam.

• is made up of 2 hydrogen atoms joined to 1 oxygen atom

• makes up 60 - 95% of all living organisms
• is a universal solvent
Hydrogen bonds: bonds that join the oxygen in
one water molecule to the hydrogen in another
importance of water to living things
a place to live
a transport medium
a reactant in many chemical reactions
a place for other reactions to take place
water is a vital chemical constituent of living
cells
 The characteristics of water :
1. Physical Characteristics: temperature,
color, odor, turbidity and solids
2. Chemical Characteristics: pH,
conductivity, salinity, hardness, BOD,
3. Biological Characteristics: counts of
specific organisms and groups of
organisms
Water is a place to live in
 Water is transparent
• This means that light can pass through the
water and allow the plants and algae to
photosynthesise.
• It also means that animals can see where they
are going.
• Things that are transparent (things we can see
through) do not reflect, scatter, or absorb
light.
• Water, when it is pure water, absorbs no visible
light. So all white light (light from the sun), will
pass right through it, and will look transparent
to us.
Water has a high specific heat capacity.
• This means that it takes quite a lot of energy to
heat water up.
• Water also loses heat quite slowly.
• This has the overall effect that water stays more or
less the same temperature
• it absorbs a lot of heat before it begins to get hot.
• You may not know how that affects you, but the
specific heat of water has a huge role to play in
the Earth's climate and helps determine the
habitability of many places around the globe
 Ice is less dense than liquid water
• It is unusual for the solid form of a substance to
float on the liquid form of the same substance, but
ice floats on water.
• This is because water expands when it freezes.
So, in cold weather, water freezes from the top
down.
• The ice on the surface then acts as an insulator and
slows down the heat loss from the liquid water
underneath.
• So life can continue in relatively warm water
underneath the ice all through the cold weather.
 Water has a high latent heat of vaporisation
This means that it takes a lot of energy to turn
liquid water into water vapour (or steam).
In turn this means that water doesn’t vaporise
too easily and that ponds don’t dry up too
quickly in hot weather – and the organisms in
the pond have a better chance of survival.
This property is also important in temperature
control.
 Water has a high surface tension
• The water molecules in the main body of a mass
of water are hydrogen-bonded to other water
molecules on all sides.
• But at the surface, there is no hydrogen bonding
above.
• So the ‘pull’ from the sides is stronger than it
would otherwise be and the molecules at the
surface are held together more strongly.
• This is why some animals can ‘walk on water’ and
why others can attach themselves to the surface
of the water and live just below the surface.
surface tension: the tension at the surface of a liquid resulting
from unbalanced forces acting on the molecules at the surface
 Water as a reactant
• Many reactions in living things need water
as a raw material.
• Photosynthesis – the process which begins
the process of energy transfer between living things –
requires water as one of its reactants. No water, no
photosynthesis.
• Water is also involved in digesting large food
molecules into smaller ones.
• Reactions that use water to split large molecules are
called hydrolysis reactions.
• Hydro = water; lysis = splitting.
• Water molecules are used to split large food
molecules into smaller ones that can be absorbed into
the bloodstream.
 Water as a medium for chemical reactions
 Cells function because of the many chemical reactions
that are continually taking place in them.
 Many of these take place on the membrane systems of
the cell, but others take place in the liquid ‘cytosol’ of
the cytoplasm
 Water is an ideal medium for these reactions – for some
of the reasons already discussed:
• It can dissolve many substances – the reactions will
only take place effectively in solution.
• It has a low viscosity – the particles can move around
and come easily into contact with each other.
 2.2 Organic molecules
• Organic – contain the element carbon to
which mainly oxygen and hydrogen are
joined.
• Elements such as nitrogen, phosphorous,
sulphur may be added E.g.
carbohydrates, lipids, proteins,
vitamins, nucleic acids
 carbohydrate
• All carbohydrates contain the elements
carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
• The hydrogen and oxygen atoms in a
carbohydrate molecule are present in the
ratio of two hydrogen atoms to one oxygen
atom (for example, glucose, C6H12O6, and
maltose, C 12H22O11).
• Carbohydrates range from very small
molecules containing only 12 atoms, to very
large molecules containing thousands of
Carbohydrates have a range of functions:
• They are used to release energy in respiration – glucose is the
main respiratory substrate of most organisms.
• Carbohydrates are a convenient form in which to store
chemical energy; storage carbohydrates include:
– starch in plants
– glycogen in animals
• Some carbohydrates are used to build structures; structural
carbohydrates include:
– cellulose, which is the main constituent of the primary cell
wall of plants
– chitin, which occurs in the cell walls of fungi and in the
exoskeletons of insects
– peptidoglycan, which occurs in bacterial cell walls
 Types of carbohydrate
• Monosaccharides are the simplest carbohydrates. A
monosaccharide molecule can be thought of as a single
sugar unit. complex, carbohydrates have two or more
monosaccharide units joined together.
• Monosaccharides can be classified according to how
many carbon atoms are present in the molecule.
• • A triose monosaccharide has three carbon atoms –
formula
• A pentose monosaccharide has five carbon atoms .
• Ribose is found in RNA nucleotides.
• A hexose monosaccharide has six carbon atoms
• Glucose is the hexose produced in photosynthesis and
used in respiration.
Disaccharide carbohydrate molecules are
made by two monosaccharide molecules joining
together. For example, a molecule of:
• maltose is derived from two α-glucose
molecules
• sucrose is derived from an α-glucose
molecule and a fructose molecule
• lactose (milk sugar) is derived from a β-
glucose molecule and anα-galactose molecule.
Polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates. Their
molecules are built as many hundreds of
monosaccharide molecules join together by
forming condensation links.
Starch is a polymer of α-glucose
• Starch is not a single compound but a mixture of
amylose and amylopectin.
• Both are polymers of α-glucose, but the
arrangement of the α-glucose monomers in these
compounds is different.
• Amylose is a linear molecule containing many
hundreds of α-glucose molecules joined by α-1,4-
glycosidic bonds.
Glycogen
• Glycogen is a storage carbohydrate in animal
cells. It has a similar structure to that of
amylopectin – but there are more α-1,6 links,
making it much more highly branched.
• This is important because animals have a higher
metabolic rate than plants and need to release
energy more quickly to ‘drive’ their metabolic
processes.
Cellulose
• Cellulose is a polymer of β-glucose molecules
joined by β-1,4- glycosidic bonds, formed by
condensation reactions.
• However, because of the different position of the
H and OH groups on carbon atom 1 compared to
α-glucose, every other glucose unit in the
 lipids
• Like carbohydrates, nearly all lipids contain only
the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, but
they contain much less oxygen than
carbohydrates.
Lipids are a varied group of compounds that
include:
• triglycerides – formed from glycerol and three
fatty acids
• phospholipids – formed from glycerol, two fatty
acids and a phosphate group
• waxes – formed from fatty acids and long-chain
alcohols
 Triglycerides have several functions
• Respiratory substrate – a molecule of
triglyceride yields over twice as many molecules of
ATP (twice as much energy) as a molecule of
glucose
• Thermal insulation – the cells of adipose tissue
found under the
skin of many animals contain large amounts of
triglycerides, which give good thermal insulation
• Buoyancy – lipids are less dense than water (oil
floats on water), so the presence of large amounts
of lipid reduces the density of an animal, making it
more buoyant
• Waterproofing – the oils secreted by some
animals onto their skin are triglycerides
 Triglycerides
• A triglyceride molecule is an ester formed from
one molecule of glycerol and three fatty acid
molecules.
• A fatty acid molecule consists of a covalently
bonded hydrocarbon chain, at the end of
which is a carboxyl group, which has acidic
properties.
 Phospholipids
• Phospholipids are formed when two fatty acid
molecules are bonded to the glycerol and the
place of the third is taken by a phosphate group.
• Since the phosphate group is ionic and the
hydrocarbon chains of the two fatty acids are
covalently bonded, there are two distinct regions
to a phospholipid molecule:
• a hydrophilic (water-loving) region, consisting
of the phosphate ‘head’
• a hydrophobic (water-hating) region, consisting
of the hydrocarbon ‘tails’
The structure of a phospholipid bilayer
 Protein
• Proteins are extremely important substances
that are needed to form all living cells.
• Protein molecules are polymers of amino
acids and so are macromolecules also. But
they vary enormously in size; the smallest
protein molecules contain fewer than 100
amino acids, whilst the largest contain several
thousand.
• Proteins have a range of functions; they are
important in:
• the structure of plasma membranes – protein
molecules form ion channels, transport proteins and
surface receptors for hormones, neurotransmitters
and other molecules
• the immune system – antigen and antibody
molecules are proteins the control of metabolism by
enzymes – all enzymes are proteins
• the structure of chromosomes – DNA is wound
around molecules of the protein histone to form a
chromosome
All amino acid molecules are built around a carbon
atom to which is attached:
• a hydrogen atom
• an amino group (–NH2)
• a carboxyl group (–COOH)
• an ‘R’ group, which represents
the other atoms in the molecule, such as a single
hydrogen atom, a hydrocarbon
chain or a more complex structure

The general structure of an amino acid

 Proteins are polymers of amino acids :
– the primary structure is the sequence of amino acids
in a polypeptide chain
– the secondary structure is determined by the folding
of the primary structure into either an α-helix or a β-
pleated sheet; these structures are held in shape by
hydrogen bonds
– the tertiary structure is determined by the further
folding of the secondary structure into either a fibrous or
a globular shape; these structures are held in place by
further hydrogen bonds,
quaternary structure in which two or more polypeptide
chains, each with a tertiary structure, are bonded
together; a haemoglobin molecule consists of four
polypeptide chains bonded together
Proteins are classified into two main
groups, according to their molecular
shapes:
• fibrous proteins that have a tertiary
structure that resembles a long string or
fibre (for example, collagen and keratin)
• globular proteins that have a tertiary
structure that resembles a globule or ball
(for example, enzymes and receptor
proteins).
 NUCLEIC ACIDS
• two different types of nucleic acid :
• DNA or DeoxyriboNucleic Acid – DNA is the nucleic
acid found in chromosomes. Each gene is a short section
of DNA that codes for a specific protein and, as a result,
determines a particular feature. DNA is the genetic
material.
• RNA or RiboNucleic Acid – RNA is a nucleic acid
found both in the nucleus and the cytoplasm. Different
types of RNA are involved in allowing a specific gene
(DNA) to produce the protein it codes for.
• DNA was isolated from animal cells and RNA from
yeast cells.
• All nucleotides have the same three components:
• a phosphate group
• a pentose sugar (deoxyribose in DNA nucleotides
and ribose in RNA nucleotides), and
• one of four nitrogenous bases – Adenine,
Cytosine, Guanine and either Thymine (DNA) or
Uracil (RNA).
• DNA is a huge molecule made up of two strands
of nucleotides wound into a double helix.
• RNA is much smaller and is single-stranded.
The structures of DNA and RNA
structure of nucleic acids and their functions
Food Tests
 Unit 3
Cell Biology

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3.1. The cell theory
• .Discovery of cells is one of the remarkable advancements in the field of
science.
• Robert Hooke discovered the cell in 1665.
– Observed a piece of bottle cork under a compound microscope and
noticed structures that he named small rooms.
– Consequently, he named these “rooms” as cells.
– His compound microscope had limited magnification, and hence, he
could not see any details in the structure.
– His microscopic power was 30x

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 Con,d

 At first Owing to this limitation, Hooke concluded that

these were non-living entities

Robert Hooke's Tiny pores of hook observation

Robert Hooke's microscope

77
 Con,d
 Later Anton Van Leeuwenhoek observed cells under another compound
microscope
 He had noted that the cells exhibited some form of movement
(motility).
 Leeuwenhoek concluded that these microscopic entities were “alive.”
 Eventually, after other observations, these entities were named as
animalcules.

78
 Con,d
 Leeuwenhoek described many forms of
microorganisms -protozoa and bacteria.
 His microscopic power was 300x

Anton van Leeuwenhoek's

microscope

Leeuwenhoek's

79
 In 1883, Robert Brown, a Scottish botanist, provided the very first
insights into the cell structure.
o He was able to describe the nucleus present in the cells of orchids.

80
1.1.2. Formulation of the Cell theory

 Robert Hooke began the scientific study of cells, known as cell

biology
 With continual improvements made to microscopes over time,
magnification technology advanced enough to discover cells.
 The theory was once universally accepted, but now some biologists
consider non-cellular entities such as viruses living organisms, and thus
disagree with the first tenet.

81
 con,d
 . By the late 1830s, German scientists, Theodor Schwann, Matthias
Schneider, and Rudolf Virchow.
 were studying tissues and proposed the unified cell theory
 All living species on Earth are composed of cells.
 A cell is the basic unit of life.

 All cells arise from pre-existing cells

AGerman zoologist famous

82
3.2. Types of cells

Differentiate animal cell and plant cell

83
Comparison of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
 Prokaryotic Cells
 A prokaryote is a simple, single-celled (unicellular) organism
 believed that prokaryotic cells were the first typeof cells to be formed when
life first evolved.
 Lack a nucleus, and other highly organized membrane-bound organelle


84
 Con,d
 Prokaryotic DNA is found in a central part
of the cell called the nucleoid
 Eg.
 The prokaryotes, which include
bacteria and archaea, are mostly single-
celled organisms
 A bacterial chromosome is a covalently
closed circle that, unlike eukaryotic
chromosomes, is not organized around
histone proteins.

85
 Con,d
 In addition, prokaryotes often have abundant plasmids, which are
shorter circular DNA molecules that may only contain one or a few
genes.
 Plasmids can be transferred independently of the bacterial
chromosome during cell division and often carry traits such as
antibiotic resistance.
 Most prokaryotes have a peptidoglycan cell wall and many have a
polysaccharide capsule
 The cell wall acts as an extra layer of protection, helps the cell
maintain its shape, and prevents dehydration.
 The capsule enables the cell to attach to surfaces in its
environment/host/.

86
 Con,d
 Eukaryotic Cells
 Eukaryotic cells have a membrane-bound nucleus, numerous
membrane-bound organelles.
 They have a more complex structure than prokaryotic cells.
 They are characterized by a true nucleus.

 The size of the cells ranges between 10–100 µm in diameter.

 This broad category involves plants, fungi, protozoans, and animals.

 They reproduce sexually as well as asexually.

 There are some contrasting features between plant and animal cells. e.g.
the plant cell contains chloroplast, central vacuoles, and other plastids,
whereas the animal cells do not.

87
Some of eukaryotic cells

88
 The difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
 Prokaryotes are always unicellular, while eukaryotes are often
multi-celled organisms.
 a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles are only present
in eukaryotic cells.
 eukaryotic cells are much more complex than prokaryotic cells .
 The DNA in eukaryotes is stored within the nucleus, while DNA
is stored in the cytoplasm of prokaryotes.
 DNA in eukaryotic cells is stored in double-stranded
chromosomes that are condensed by histones.
 In contrast, prokaryotic cells have one primary circular
chromosome and various plasmids, which are small rings of
DNA.

89
 How are prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells similar?
 All prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells have some similar features

 they both contain ribosomes, genetic material, a cytoplasm,

and plasma membranes.
 the cytoplasm is made up of cytosol, which is the intracellular fluid
in which the organic material is suspended and the place where
most cellular activity occurs.

 Plasma membranes protect the cell and allow for transportation of

materials in or out of the cells.

90
3.3. Parts of a cell and its function

 The cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells is highly

compartmentalized into structures called organelles.

 Each type of organelle has a specialized function.

 The organelles and other cellular structures found in typical

animal

91
1. Nucleus
 the nucleus is the most prominent organelle
in a cell.
 directs the synthesis of ribosomes and
proteins.
The nucleus
 nuclear envelope is a double-membrane
structure that constitutes the portion of the
nucleus
 The nuclear envelope is punctuated with
pores that control the passage of ions,
molecules, and RNA between the
nucleoplasm and cytoplasm
 DNA in the nucleus is organized into a
single circular chromosome. Chromatin is composed of DNA and protein.

92
 Chromosomes are only visible when the cell is getting ready to divide.
 The unwound protein-chromosome complexes are called chromatin
• Chromatin consists of DNA molecules bound with proteins called
histones.
• For most of the cell cycle, the chromatin fibres are loosely dispersed
throughout the nucleus.
• Just before a cell is about to divide, the chromatin condenses into
distinct, recognisable structures called chromosomes.
The Nucleolus
 The nucleus directs the synthesis of ribosomes
 It is darkly staining area within the nucleus

93
 2. Mitochondria
 Mitochondria are called the “powerhouses”
or “energy factories” of a cell
 because they are responsible for making ATP, the cell’s
main energy-carrying molecule.
 ATP is made using the chemical energy found in glucose and
other nutrients by the process of cellular respiration.
 Mitochondria uses oxygen and produces carbon dioxide
as a waste product in cellular respiration..
 Mitochondria are oval-shaped, double membrane organelles Fig; Mitochondria,
that have their own ribosomes and DNA..
.
 Some of the reactions of aerobic respiration take place in the
fluid matrix.
 The folded inner membrane provides a large surface
area for the electron-transport system, which produces most of the
ATP.

94
3. Chloroplasts
 Like mitochondria, chloroplasts have outer and inner membranes
unlike mitochondria, the inner membrane is not folded.

 There are two main regions in chloroplasts that are linked to he

stages of photosynthesis:

 membranous regions called grana (each of which is a stack of

thylakoids) where the light-dependent reactions occur

 a fluid stroma – where the light-independent reactions occur.
 The fluid enclosed by the inner membrane that surrounds the grana
is called the stroma.

Figure: Structure of a
chloroplast
95
 Con,d

 The fluid inside the thylakoids is called the thylakoid space.

 The thylakoids contain the light-harvesting complex, including

pigments such as chlorophyll, as well as the electron transport chains used

in photosynthesis

96
5. Endoplasmic reticulum
 The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a
series of interconnected membranous sacs
and tubules
 it modifies proteins and synthesizes lipids.
 The hollow portion of the ER tubules is
called the lumen or cisternal space.
 has a network of membranes in the form of
flattened sac or tubules called cisterns.
 The rough endoplasmic reticulum is
covered with granulated ribosomes.
 The smooth endoplasmic reticulum doesn’t
contain ribosomes but instead enzymes that
allow for diverse functions

97
 5a. Rough ER

 So named because ribosomes are bound

ribosomes on the its membrane .
 It synthesize proteins and it dispatch to the
Golgi apparatus

98
 5b. Smooth ER
 The smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) is
continuous with the RER but has no ribosomes on its
surface
 Functions of the SER include synthesis of
carbohydrates, lipids, phospholipids, and steroid
hormones and detoxification of medications and
poisons.

 In muscle cells, a specialized SER stores calcium ions Structure of endoplasmic reticulum (a)
that are needed to trigger the coordinated contractions
of the muscle cells.
SER and (b) RER
 Cells that make a lot of lipids have a large amount of
SER.
 For example, Leydig cells in mammalian testes
produce steroid hormones such as testosterone and
therefore have abundant SER.
 SER is also an essential site for cholesterol synthesis.

99
6. Ribosomes

 Ribosomes are the cellular structures responsible for protein

synthesis.
 They are large complexes of protein and rRNA
 Ribosomes appear as tiny dots that float freely in the cytoplasm.
 Ribosomes bind to mRNA and translate the code provided by the
sequence of the nitrogenous bases in the mRNA into a specific
order of amino acids in a protein.
 Ribosomes are found particularly abundant in cells that synthesize
large amounts of protein.

 For example, the pancreas cells that produce enzymes contain

many ribosomes

100
 7. Golgi apparatus

 Consists of small, flattened and curved membranous.

 Modifies, sorts, packages and adds carbohydrate moieties to

proteins (glycoproteins)
 Forms secretory vesicles that discharge processed proteins
via exocytosis into ECF
 Forms transport vesicles that become lysosomes
 In the GA, proteins and lipids are sorted, packaged, and
tagged so that they wind up in the right place.
 Many of the modifications added in the Golgi apparatus act
as a kind of ‘tag’,
 which determine the final destination of the molecule.
 Golgi apparatus is a cellular post office that labels and then
distributes molecules!

101
A simplicity are nothe 8. Lysosomes
 It is Single spherical membrane bound sac bounded
by membrane.
 it is animal cells organelles not found in plant cells
 Lysosomes are the cell’s “garbage disposal.”
 It breaks down
 proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, nucleic acids, and
A macrophage has engulfed (phagocytized) a
potentially pathogenic bacterium and then
even worn- out organelles.
fuses with a lysosomes within the cell to  Cellular proteins into simple molecules .
destroy the pathogen. Other organelles are
present in the cell but for simplicity are not  Breakdown dead cellular material though autolysis
 bacteria and foreign materials by phagocytosis.
 In plant cells, digestive processes take place in
vacuoles

102
 9. Vacuoles

 The vacuole in a plant cell is a fluid-filled

sac that stores a range of
solutes.
 It is also important in maintaining the
turgidity, or turgor ,of a cell.
 When the vacuole is full of liquid (mainly
water), it exerts pressure on the cytoplasm
and, in turn, on the cell wall.
 If the vacuole loses water by osmosis, the
pressure reduces and turgor is lost. The
cell becomes flaccid (see the section on
osmosis).

103
10. The cell wall

 The cell wall is a rigid covering ;mostly made up of cellulose

 protects the cell, provides structural support, and gives shape to the
cell.
 provides tensile strength and protection against mechanical and osmotic
stress.
 It also allows cells to develop turgor pressure, which is the pressure
of the cell contents against the cell wall.
 the cell wall is freely permeable
 It is present in Bacterial cell ,plant cell and fungal cell
 With a healthy supply of water, turgor pressure keeps a plant from
wilting.
 In drought, a plant may wilt, but its cell walls help maintain the
structural integrity of its stems, leaves, and other structures

104
11. Cell surface membrane

 The membrane that surrounds and encloses a cell

 has little mechanical strength to support the cell,
 it plays a crucial role in:
 controlling what enters and leaves the cell; the plasma membrane moves
substances in and out of the cell by:
 simple diffusion
 Facilitated diffusion
 osmosis
 active transport
 endocytosis
 exocytosis
 Cell signaling-molecules in the membrane allow the cell to be recognised by
hormones and the immune system (in animals) and (in plants) growth
regulator substances, such as auxins.
 The plasma membrane has a vital role in isolating the cell from its
environment, whilst allowing necessary exchanges with that environment.

105
 There are three main types of these transport proteins:
 Channel proteins – these proteins have a channel
through them along which a specific ion can pass; there
are different channel proteins for different ions
 Carrier proteins – these proteins move larger
molecules through the membrane by facilitated
diffusion or active transport; the ones involved in
active transport are often referred to as pumps
 Peripheral proteins (also known as extrinsic
proteins) that span only one layer (or sometimes less)
of the membrane. They have a range of functions; some
are enzymes, others anchor integral proteins to the
cytoskeleton
 Glycoproteins and glycolipids – protein and lipid
molecules that have carbohydrate chains -often serve as
signals to other cells. They also act as receptor sites for
hormones and drugs. The carbohydrate component of
each can be cell specific and so allow identification of
the cell by the immune system.
 Cholesterol – reduces the fluidity of the membrane.

106
 Con,d
 How do substances cross the plasma membrane?
• Not all particles can actually pass through a plasma membrane unaided.
• This is because of the largely lipid nature of the membrane.
• To pass through the plasma membrane by simple diffusion particles must
be:
 small
 lipid soluble
 non-charged
• This excludes particles such as
 ions (they are charged), sugars and amino acids (they are not lipid soluble
and are not small particles)
 large particles, such as proteins

107
3.4. The cell and its environment
• Living cells are known to be surrounded by a watery environment.

• This may include: Fresh/salt water in which the unicellular organisms

live, Intercellular fluid that bath the bodies of cells of higher animals.

• Cells may be self-sustaining units of life, but they don't live in isolation.
• The nature of states of matter makes diffusion and osmosis possible.

• Cell survival depends on exchanging and integrate cues from the outside
environment

– Gas ,nutrients, changes in temperature, or variations in light levels .

– We can group the exchange processes of substances cross
plasmamembranes into two main types:
– Passive and active process

108
3.4 The cell and its environment

1. passive processes
 these processes rely only on the kinetic energy of the particles of the
substances and on concentration gradients
 they need no extra energy from the cell’s metabolism
 Passive diffusion includes
 Simple diffusion
 Facilitated diffusion
 Osmosis

109
a. Simple diffusion
 When particles diffuse across a plasma membrane, there must be a
 there will be concentration difference between the two sides of the
membrane (aconcentration gradient) to drive the process.
 When particles will move equally in both directions, so there will be no
overall effect.
 We say that the concentrations are in equilibrium.
 Diffusion is the process by which molecules of substances move from a
region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration (through
the medium of air or liquid) until equilibrium is reached.

110
 Con,d
 The rate at which diffusion across a membrane takes place isinfluenced by :
 the concentration gradient
 a bigger difference in concentration results in faster diffusion than a
smaller gradient the thickness of the membrane
 a shorter distance results in faster diffusion
 the surface area of the membrane
 clearly if there is more membrane where diffusion can take place, diffusion
will happen faster
 These features are all related in an equation called Fick’s law of
diffusion:
Rate of diffusion ∝ Surface area of membrane × Concentration difference
Diffusion distance

111
 Con,d
• The rate of diffusion is also influenced by ;
– Temperature-diffusion occurs faster at higher temperatures because the
particles have more kinetic energy and so move faster
b. Facilitated diffusion
 it depends on a concentration gradient to allow particles to cross the
membrane.
 But , particles here, must be helped to diffuse across the membrane (their
diffusion must be‘facilitated’) by a carrier protein or a channel protein with an
ion pore.

112
 Con’d.

 Ions can simply move straight through the ion pore of a channel protein,
 But the carrier protein must undergo a conformational change (change in
shape) to move particles through the membrane.
 The rate of facilitated diffusion is affected by the same factors that affect
simple diffusion
 but it is not the actual surface area of the membrane that determines the rate
of facilitated diffusion , but the number of carrier proteins (or channel proteins)
present.

113
 Con,d
c. Osmosis
 Osmosis is the process or the diffusion by which water moves across a partially
permeable membrane.
 we do not refer to the concentration of water molecules, but to water potential.
 All Osmosis is the movement of water from a system with a high (less negative) water
potential to one with a lower (more negative) water potential, across a partially permeable
membrane.
 The rate at which osmosis proceeds is influenced by the same factors as simple
diffusion:
When comparing the water potential of a solution outside a cell to that of a cell,
– Isotonic – having the same water potential as the cell the cell get no change in its shape and
mass
– hypertonic – having a lower (more negative) water potential than the cell if the cell is get
shrink after the osmotic process
– Hypotonic – having a higher (less negative) water potential than the Cell
• The cell develop turgor pressure and turgid in the case of plant cell and brush out
in the case of animal cell

114
 Con’d
2. Active processes
 substances must be moved against a concentration
 Gradient – from a low concentration to a higher one.
 This cannot happen by diffusion, since it would tend to concentrate particles
rather than spread them out.
 It can only happen if metabolic energy is used to drive the process.
 In living organisms, this energy is released from the ATP produced in
respiration.
 The proteins used to actively transport substances across plasma membranes are
called pumps.
 It includes – endocytosis and exocytosis

115
 Con’d
a. Endocytosis
 Endocytosis is a cellular process by which a cell internalizes any
material (liquid as well as solid) from the external environment.
 In this process, large particles are engulfed by a cell.
 the ingestion of large particles (such as bacteria) and the uptake of fluids or
macromolecules in small vesicles.
 Among the several ways in which it can happen, the plasma membrane
surrounds the particles to form a vesicle and then process is the common
one
 Endocytosis require ATP to move the membrane around the particles to
form the vesicle.
 Includes phagocytosis, pinocytosis, receptor-mediated endocytosis

116
 Con’d
 Phagocytosis
 This involves the creation of pseudopodia (extensions of the plasma
 membrane) to enclose large particles or even whole organisms outside
the cell.
 Once enclosed by the pseudopodia, they form an internal vesicle which
is then moved further inside the cell.
 Pinocytosis
 This differs from phagocytosis only in scale.
 It involves the ingestion of smaller particles (but particles that are still
too large to cross the membrane by other methods)
 And does not require the formation of large pseudopodia to engulf the
particles.
 Receptor-mediated endocytosis
 The membrane infolds to form vesicles is only in regions where
Particles have bound to specific receptors.
 The binding stimulates the infolding of cell membrane

117
 Con,d
II. Exocytosis
 In this process, substances are moved from the inside to the outside of
the cell in what is, effectively, the reverse of endocytosis.
 It is the process by which enzymes and hormones are secreted.
 Again, ATP is used to alter the configuration of the membrane

118
The transport processes compared

119
3.5. Cellular Respiration

 ATP ( Adenosine Tri-Phosphate) ATP, a molecule is used to transfer the

energy to the relevant cellular process.
 ATP is sometimes described as a phosphorylated nucleotide.
 I t is formed in both photosynthesis and in cellular respiration
 ATP contains:
 a nitrogenous base (this one contains adenine)
 a pentose sugar or ribose
 a phosphate group
 3 phosphate molecules

The structure of ATP

120
 Con,d

• ATP adaptation to its role as an energy transfer molecule

in cells
 releases energy in relatively small amounts that matched to the
amounts of energy required inside cells
 releases energy in a single-step hydrolysis reaction, so the energy
can be released quickly
 able to move around the cell easily, but cannot escape from the cell
• The following processes are examples of processes that
require energy from ATP:
• the synthesis of macromolecules – such as proteins
 active transport across a plasma membrane muscle
contraction
 conduction of nerve impulses
 the initial reactions of respiration

121
 Con,d
 There are two main pathways by which respiration can
produce ATP:
 aerobic pathway (aerobic respiration)
 this requires the presence of oxygen
 anaerobic pathway (anaerobic respiration and fermentation)
 this can take place in the absence of oxygen

122
A. aerobic respiration
 Stages of aerobic respiration
I. Glycolysis
II. the link reaction,
III. Kreb cycle
IV. Electron transport chain

Stages of aerobic respiration

123
I. Glycolysis

 Glycolysis the splitting of glucose into pyruvate.

 A single glucose molecule can be converted into 2 pyruvate
molecules
 Takes place in the cytoplasm in the absence of oxygen
 not take place inside the mitochondria because: the glucose molecule cannot
diffuse through the mitochondrial membranes
 no carrier proteins to transport the glucose
 A small amount of ATP is produced in a way- net 2 ATP
 not involvement of the ATP synthase molecule; this method is called
substrate level phosphorylation.
 molecule such as phosphoenol pyruvate is able to transfer a phosphate
group directly to ADP. There is no ATP synthase involved and no Pi.
 A summary of the overall reaction of glycolosis:
C6H1206 + 2ATP + 4ADP + 2Pi +2NAD ➞ 2C3H603 + 2ADP + 4ATP +2NAD
reduced + 2H+ +2H20

124
 Reaction in glycolysis
 the first reaction is phosphorylation of glucose to give
glucose 6-phsphate in which a molecules of ATP are used
to phosphorylate’ each molecule of glucose.
 the next reaction is the change of glucose 6-phosphate
to fructose 6-phosphate by isomerization reaction
 Then the phosphorylation process, it is converted to
fructose 6-phosphate
 sugar to (fructose 1,6-bisphosphate) where again a
molecule of ATP is consumed
 the fructose 1,6-bisphosphate is split into two
molecules of the three-carbon sugar glyceraldehyde-3
phosphate (GP)
 each molecule of GP is then converted into pyruvate,
with the production of two molecules of ATP (by
substrate level phosphorylation) and one molecule of
reduced NAD Steps of glycolysis reaction
 two molecules of pyruvate are produced from one
molecule of glucose
125
 Con,d

 At the end of glycolysis, there is a net gain of two ATP molecules per
molecule of glucose (two molecules are used initially and then four are
produced).
 Two molecules of reduced NAD are also produced (per molecule of
glucose).
 The molecules of pyruvate pass into the mitochondria through carrier
molecules in the mitochondrial membrane.

126
II. the link reaction
 One fate of pyruvate is that it enters to TCA cycle for complete oxidation.

 So Pyruvate reacts with a molecule of coenzyme A is then converted into

acetyl coenzyme A

 Oxidation of Pyruvate to form Acetyl CoA enables Entry Into the

Krebs Cycle
 During link reaction

 2 NADH's are generated (1 per pyruvate)

 2 CO2 are released (1 per pyruvate(acetyl CoA).

127
 Con,d
 In link reaction: Dehydrogenation and decarboxylation are the basic
reactions
 Dehydrogenation- hydrogen is lost and reduced NAD is formed; removing
hydrogen from a molecule pyruvate
 Decarboxylation- is a carbon atom is lost to form carbon dioxide; removing
carbon from a pyruvate molecule

 Both the link reaction and Krebs cycle take place in the fluid matrix of the
mitochondrion,

128
III. Kreb cycle

 The acetyl coenzyme A then reacts with

oxaloacetate to form a C6 compound called citrate
Carboxylic acid
 Citrate then loses a carbon atom (is decarboxylated)
to form a five-carbon compound and CO2 is
produced
 the five-carbon compound is then further
decarboxylated to form a four-carbon compound and
CO2 is again produced; a molecule of ATP is also
produced by substrate level phosphorylation

• 6 NADH's are generated (3 per Acetyl CoA that

enters)
• 2 FADH2 is generated (1 per Acetyl CoA that enters)
• 2 ATP are generated (1 per Acetyl CoA that enters)
• 4 CO2's are released (2 per Acetyl CoA that enters)

129
Reaction in Krebs cycle
 The two-carbon group from acetyl coenzyme A reacts with
 the four-carbon compound oxaloacetate to form a six-carbon compound
called citrate or tricarboxylic acid
 Citrate then loses a carbon atom (is decarboxylated) to form a five-carbon
compound and CO2 is produced
 the five-carbon compound is then further decarboxylated to form a four-
carbon compound and CO2 is again produced; a molecule of ATP is also
produced by substrate level phosphorylation
 The four-carbon compound undergoes several molecular transformations
to regenerate the original four-carbon compound (oxaloacetate)
 the cycle is complete and can begin again with oxaloacetate reacting with
another molecule of acetyl CoA

130
IV. Electron transport chain and chemiosmosis

 The electrons pass along a series of

molecules called an electron transport chain.
 The protons are used in the chemiosmotic
synthesis of ATP as they spin the rotor of the
ATP synthase enzyme located in the inner
membrane of the mitochondrion.
 Eventually, the protons (hydrogen ions) and
electrons will combine with oxygen to form
water.
 Without the oxygen, this cannot happen as
there is nothing at the end of the electron
transport chain to accept the electrons.
 Because it is oxygen-dependent, this
method of production of ATP is called
oxidative phosphorylation

131
 Con,d
 The oxidation of one molecule of reduced FAD results in four
protons passing through ATP synthase and so leads to the synthesis of
just two molecules of ATP.
 By adding up the number of molecules of ATP produced, the model
of aerobic respiration net yield of 32 molecules of ATP per molecule of
glucose.

132
 Con,d

 A summary of the overall reaction of the electron transport

system:
 6 reduced NAD (from Krebs’ cycle) + 2 reduced NAD (from
glycolysis) + 2 reduced FAD (from
 Krebs’ cycle) + 30 ADP + 30 Pi – 2ATP (used in proton
pumps) ➞ 36 ATP + 8 NAD + 2FAD
 In practice, this is not achieved because some energy (the
equivalent of just over two molecules of ATP) is used to
drive the proton pumps.
 The actual yield is about 36 molecules of ATP per molecule
of glucose.

133
Chemiosmosis

• The diffusion of hydrogen ions through the ATP synthase is chemiosmosis.

 The electron transport chain and chemiosmosis together make up the
process of oxidative phosphorylation.
 the reactions of the electron transport chain and chemiosmosis take place on
the inner mitochondrial membrane
 the hydrogen atoms carried by reduced NAD and reduced FAD are released
and split into protons (hydrogen ions) and electrons

134
 Con,d
 The electrons pass along a series of electron carriers that form the
transport chain; they lose energy as they pass from one carrier to
the next
 three of the electron carriers are proton pumps that move protons
from the matrix of the mitochondrion to the inter-membrane
space
 as the electrons are transferred through these three proton pumps,
the energy they lose powers the pumps which move the protons into
the inter-membrane space
 The pumps molecules act as electron carriers in the electron
transport chain are
 reduced NAD dehydrogenase (also a proton pump)
 ubiquinone
 cytochromes (these are proteins that contain iron); form a
complex that acts as the third proton pump.

135
 Con,d
 At the end of the electron transport chain, the electrons combine with
protons and with oxygen to form molecules of water.
 oxygen is known as the terminal electron acceptor.
 Whereas
 reduced NAD is dehydrogenated by the NAD dehydrogenase
complex,
 reduced FAD is dehydrogenated by ubiquinone.
 So electrons from reduced FAD/after dehydrogenation/only
operate two of the three proton pumps.

136
 Con,d
 Because of the action of the proton pumps, protons accumulate in the inter-
membrane space creating a higher concentration than in the matrix (on the
other side of the membrane).
 This proton gradient results in protons diffusing through the ATP synthase
molecule (down the concentration gradient) making the synthase rotor ‘spin’
and produce ATP from ADP and Pi.

 The diffusion of hydrogen ions through the ATP synthase is chemiosmosis.

 The oxidation of one molecule of reduced NAD results in six protons
passing through ATP synthase and so leads to the synthesis of three
molecules of ATP.
 The oxidation of one molecule of reduced FAD results in four protons
passing through ATP synthase and so leads to the synthesis of just two
molecules of ATP.

137
 Con,d
 A summary of the overall reaction of the electron transport system:
 6 reduced NAD (from Krebs’ cycle) + 2 reduced NAD (from glycolysis) + 2
reduced FAD (from Krebs’ cycle) + 30 ADP + 30 Pi – 2ATP (used in proton
pumps) ➞ 36 ATP + 8 NAD + 2FAD
 In practice, this is not achieved because some energy (the equivalent of just
over two molecules of ATP) is used to drive the proton pumps.
 The actual yield is about 36 molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose

138
B. Anaerobic respiration

 happens in environments where there is no oxygen

 pyruvate is reduced to lactic acid and alcohol and other products
 the final reaction of oxidative phosphorylation, where electrons and protons
react with oxygen to form water, cannot take place.
 So the other fate of pyruvate is fermentation( alcohol or lactic acid)
 Different organisms produce different fermentation end products.
 Animal cells produce lactate (lactic acid) when they ferment glucose.
 Yeast cells produce ethanol (ethyl alcohol). But both only produce two
molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose.

139
 Con,d
 Lactate formation
 During exercise, the energy demand of muscle cells increases greatly.
 More glucose is respired to meet the demand.
 However, sometimes, aerobic respiration is insufficient to meet this energy
demand.
 So Fermentation of glucose supplies the extra energy.

 But it also forms lactate and as this accumulates, it leads to muscle fatigue.
 Lactate dehydrogenase catalyzes the inter-conversion of pyruvate and
lactate with concomitant inter-conversion of NADH and NAD+
 only yields 2 molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose.

140
 Con,d
 The ATP used in short-distance runs is
nearly all generated anaerobically.
 But, due to muscle fatigue, this cannot be
sustained. Longer races must be run slower to
allow aerobic respiration to produce the ATP at
its slower rate.
 Lactate, once formed, can be used to
regenerate glucose or be metabolised as an
energy source by the liver.
 These is shown in Cori cycle in liver

 Cori cycle in liver

141
 Con,d
Alcoholic Fermentation
• is a much faster process and can produce a lot of ATP quickly, over a short
period of time.
• Pyruvate under goes alcoholic fermentation via yeast cell
 Pyruvate alcohol +carbon dioxide + ATP

142
• END UNIT -3
• THANK YOU

143
Unit 4 Microorganisms
• Microorganisms are living things that are too small to be
seen with the naked eye.
• They can be measured in micrometers (one millionth of a
meter) or nanometers (one billionth of a meter), and some
of them can only be seen with special instruments such as
electron microscopes.
• Microorganisms are very diverse and include bacteria,
archaea, algae, protozoa, and microscopic animals.
• They can be found in almost every environment on Earth,
from the poles to the equator, from deserts to geysers,
from rocks to the deep sea.
• They can also live inside and on other living organisms,
forming complex interactions and relationships.
• They can also live inside and on other living organisms,
forming complex interactions and relationships.
• Microorganisms play important roles in nature and human
society.
• They are involved in various biogeochemical cycles that
transform organic matter into different forms.
• They are essential for plant growth by forming symbiotic
relationships with roots or leaves.
• They are important for animal health by forming
mutualistic associations with digestive systems or skin.
• They are useful for human activities such as food
production, medicine production, biotechnology,
bioremediation, etc.
 What are the different types of
microorganisms?
• Microorganisms can be classified into different
domains of life based on their cellular structure
and genetic makeup: bacteria, archaea, eukarya.
• Bacteria and archaea are prokaryotes, meaning
that they lack a nucleus and other membrane-
bound organelles in their cells.
• Their DNA (the genetic material of the cell),
instead of being contained in the nucleus, exists
as a long, folded thread with no specific location
within the cell.
 Cont`d
• Bacteria and archaea are always unicellular,
meaning that they consist of only one cell.
• Eukarya are eukaryotes, meaning that they have
a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles
in their cells.
• Their DNA is organized into chromosomes within
the nucleus.
• Eukarya can be unicellular or multicellular,
meaning that they can consist of one or more
cells.
 Bacteria
• Bacteria are the most abundant and diverse
group of microorganisms on Earth.
• They can have various shapes such as rods,
spheres, spirals, etc., and sizes ranging from
0.2 to 10 micrometers.
• They can live in almost any environment,
including extreme conditions such as high
temperature, high pressure, high salinity, high
acidity, etc.
 Some examples of bacteria are:
• Escherichia coli: A common bacterium found in
the human gut that helps digest food.
– Some strains can cause diarrhea or urinary tract
infections.
• Streptococcus pyogenes: A bacterium that causes
strep throat,
• Lactobacillus: A bacterium that produces lactic
acid from sugar.
– It is used to make yogurt, cheese, sourdough bread,
etc.
 Cont`d
• Cyanobacteria: A group of bacteria that perform
photosynthesis like plants.
– They produce oxygen and organic matter from carbon
dioxide and water.
– Some cyanobacteria form colonies.
• Nitrosomonas: A bacterium that converts
ammonia into nitrite as part of the nitrogen cycle.
• Bacillus anthracis: A bacterium that causes
anthrax, a deadly disease affecting animals and
humans.
 What are the roles and functions of
microorganisms?
• Microorganisms play important roles in nature
and human society.
• They are involved in various biogeochemical
cycles that transform organic matter into
different forms.
• They are essential for plant growth by forming
symbiotic relationships with roots or leaves.
 Cont`d
• They are important for animal health by
forming mutualistic associations with digestive
systems or skin.
• They are useful for human activities such as
– food production,
– medicine production,
– biotechnology,
– bioremediation, etc.
 Biogeochemical cycles
• Microorganisms are involved in various
biogeochemical cycles that transform organic
matter into different forms.
– These cycles include
• the carbon cycle,
• the nitrogen cycle,
• the sulfur cycle,
• the phosphorus cycle, etc.
• The carbon cycle is the process by which carbon
is exchanged between living organisms and the
environment.
 Cont`d
• Microorganisms play a key role in this cycle by
performing photosynthesis and respiration.
• Photosynthesis is the process by which some
microorganisms (such as cyanobacteria and
algae) use light energy to convert carbon dioxide
and water into organic matter and oxygen.
• Respiration is the process by which most
microorganisms use oxygen to break down
organic matter into carbon dioxide and water,
releasing energy.
 Nitrogen
• The nitrogen cycle is the process by which nitrogen is
converted between different forms in living organisms
and the environment.
– Microorganisms play a key role in this cycle
• by performing nitrogen fixation,
• nitrification,
• denitrification, and
• ammonification.
• Nitrogen fixation is the process by which some
microorganisms (such as rhizobia and cyanobacteria)
convert atmospheric nitrogen into Nitrate or Amonium
ion, which can be used by plants.
 Cont`d
• Nitrification is the process by which some microorganisms
(such as nitrosomonas and nitrobacter) convert ammonia
into nitrite and then nitrate, which can be used by plants or
leached into waterways.
• Denitrification is the process by which some
microorganisms (such as pseudomonas and paracoccus )
convert nitrate into nitrogen gas, which returns to the
atmosphere.
• Ammonification is the process by which some
microorganisms (such as fungi and bacteria ) decompose
organic matter containing nitrogen into ammonia, which
can be reused or lost to the environment.
 Sulfur
• The sulfur cycle is the process by which sulfur
is converted between different forms in living
organisms and the environment.
• Microorganisms play a key role in this cycle by
– performing sulfide oxidation, sulfate reduction,
sulfur oxidation, and sulfur reduction.
• Sulfide oxidation is the process by which some
microorganisms (such as thiobacillus) oxidize
hydrogen sulfide or elemental sulfur into sulfate,
which can be used by plants or leached into
waterways.

• Sulfate reduction is the process by which some

microorganisms (such as desulfovibrio ) reduce
sulfate into hydrogen sulfide, which can be used
by other microorganisms or released into the
atmosphere.
 Phosphorus cycle
• The phosphorus cycle is the process by which
phosphorus is converted between different forms
in living organisms and the environment.
• Microorganisms play a key role in this cycle by
performing phosphate solubilization, phosphate
mineralization, and phosphate immobilization.
• Phosphate solubilization is the process by which
some microorganisms produce organic acids that
dissolve insoluble phosphate minerals into
soluble phosphate ions, which can be used by
plants.
• Phosphate mineralization is the process by
which some microorganisms decompose
organic matter containing phosphorus into
inorganic phosphate ions, which can be
reused or lost to the environment.
• Phosphate immobilization is the process by
which some microorganisms incorporate
inorganic phosphate ions into their biomass,
making them unavailable for other organisms.
 Symbiotic relationships
• Microorganisms are essential for plant growth
by forming symbiotic relationships with roots
or leaves.
• Symbiosis is a close and long-term interaction
between two different species that benefits at
least one of them.
• There are different types of symbiosis, such as
mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.
• Mutualism is a type of symbiosis where both
species benefit from each other.
• Commensalism is a type of symbiosis where
one species benefits from another without
affecting it.
• Parasitism is a type of symbiosis where one
species benefits from another at its expense.
• Some examples of symbiotic relationships between
microorganisms and plants are:
• Rhizobia: A group of bacteria that form mutualistic
associations with legumes (such as beans, peas, clover,
etc.).
• Mycorrhizae: A group of fungi that form mutualistic
associations with most plants.
– They colonize the roots of the plants and extend their
hyphae into the soil.
– They help the plants absorb water and minerals, especially
phosphorus, from the soil.
– In return, they receive organic matter from the plants.
• Cyanobacteria: A group of bacteria that perform
photosynthesis and produce oxygen and organic
matter from carbon dioxide and water.
– Some cyanobacteria form mutualistic associations
with plants such as ferns, liverworts, etc.
– They live in specialized structures called coralloid
roots or thalli where they fix nitrogen from the air into
ammonia that can be used by the plants.
– In return, they receive organic matter from the
plants.
 Mutualistic associations with animal
• Microorganisms are important for animal health by forming
mutualistic associations with digestive systems or skin.
– These associations help the animals digest their food, synthesize
vitamins, prevent infections, modulate immunity, etc.
• Some examples of mutualistic associations between
microorganisms and animals are:
– Rumen microbes: A group of microorganisms that live in the
rumen, a specialized chamber in the stomach of ruminant
animals such as cows, sheep, goats, etc.
• They help the animals digest cellulose and other plant materials that
they cannot break down by themselves.
• They produce volatile fatty acids that can be absorbed by the animals
and used as energy sources.
• Gut microbiota: A group of microorganisms that live in
the gastrointestinal tract of humans and other animals.
– They help digest food, synthesize vitamins (such as vitamin
K and B12), prevent infections by competing with
pathogens, modulate immunity by interacting with
immune cells, etc.
• Skin microbiota: A group of microorganisms that live
on the skin of humans and other animals.
– They help protect the skin from environmental factors,
prevent infections by competing with pathogens, modulate
immunity by interacting with immune cells, etc.
 Human activities
• Microorganisms are useful for human activities such as
food production, medicine production, biotechnology,
bioremediation, etc.
• These activities involve exploiting or manipulating
microorganisms for various purposes.
• Some examples of human activities involving
microorganisms are:
– Food production: Microorganisms are involved in many food
products such as yogurt, cheese, bread, wine, beer, vinegar, soy
sauce, etc.
• These products result from fermentation, a process by which
microorganisms convert sugars or other organic compounds into acids,
alcohols, gases, or other products.
– Fermentation can enhance the flavor, texture, preservation, or nutritional
value of food.
• Medicine production: Microorganisms are
involved in many medicines such as
antibiotics, vaccines, hormones, enzymes,
etc.
– These medicines result from isolation,
cultivation, extraction, modification, or
synthesis of microorganisms or their products.
• Medicines can prevent or treat diseases caused by
pathogens or other factors.
• Biotechnology: Microorganisms are involved
in many biotechnological applications such as
genetic engineering, biofuels, biosensors,
bioplastics, etc.
– These applications result from manipulation or
modification of microorganisms or their genes to
produce desired traits or products.
– Biotechnology can improve agriculture, industry,
environment, health, etc.
• Bioremediation: Microorganisms are involved in
many bioremediation processes such as
composting, biodegradation, biomining,
bioleaching, etc.
– These processes result from utilization or
enhancement of microorganisms to degrade or
transform pollutants or wastes into harmless or useful
substances.
– Bioremediation can restore contaminated sites,
recover valuable metals, reduce greenhouse gases,
etc.
What are some examples of beneficial
microorganisms?
• There are many examples of beneficial
microorganisms that have positive effects on
humans, animals, plants, or the environment.
Here are some of them:

• Lactobacillus: This is a group of bacteria that

produce lactic acid from sugar.
– They are used to make yogurt, cheese, sourdough
bread, etc.
– They also help maintain a healthy gut microbiota that
can prevent infections and aid digestion.
• Streptomyces: This is a group of bacteria that
produce antibiotics such as streptomycin,
tetracycline, erythromycin, etc.
– They also produce other bioactive compounds such as
antifungals, antivirals, anticancer agents, etc.

• E.coli: This is a common bacterium found in the

human gut that helps digest food.
– Some strains can also produce insulin, human growth
hormone, interferon, etc., by genetic engineering.
• Saccharomyces: This is a group of yeast that perform
alcoholic fermentation.
– They are used to make wine, beer, bread, etc.
– They also produce ethanol, carbon dioxide, and other
metabolites.
• Rhizobia: This is a group of bacteria that form nodules
on legume roots where they fix nitrogen from the air
into ammonia that can be used by the plants.
– They also receive organic matter from the plants.
• Mycorrhizae: This is a group of fungi that colonize plant
roots and extend their hyphae into the soil.
 Pathogenic microorganisms
• Pathogenic microorganisms are
microorganisms that have negative
effects on humans, animals, plants, or
the environment.
– They can cause various diseases such as
infections, inflammations, intoxications, etc.
• Pathogenic microorganisms can be classified
into different groups based on their types or
modes of action:
• Virulent microorganisms: These are
microorganisms that can cause disease in
healthy hosts with normal immune systems.
– They have specific mechanisms to invade,
evade, damage, or manipulate host cells and
tissues.
– Some examples of virulent microorganisms are
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Vibrio cholerae,
Plasmodium falciparum, etc.
• Opportunistic microorganisms: These are
microorganisms that normally do not cause
disease in healthy hosts but can take
advantage of weakened immune systems or
compromised barriers to cause disease.
– They may be part of the normal microbiota or
environmental contaminants.
– Some examples of opportunistic microorganisms
are Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans,
Toxoplasma gondii, etc.
• Intracellular microorganisms: These are
microorganisms that can only grow and
replicate inside host cells.
– They use various strategies to enter, survive, and
multiply within host cells.
– They may escape from host immune responses or
trigger host cell death.
– Some examples of intracellular microorganisms
are Chlamydia trachomatis, Salmonella
typhimurium, Rickettsia rickettsii, etc.
• Extracellular microorganisms: These are
microorganisms that can grow and replicate
outside host cells.
– They use various factors to adhere, colonize,
invade, or damage host tissues.
– They may produce toxins or enzymes that harm
host cells or interfere with host functions.
– Some examples of extracellular microorganisms
are Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus
pyogenes, Clostridium botulinum, etc.
 How do pathogenic microorganisms
cause disease?
• Pathogenic microorganisms cause disease by
interacting with host cells and tissues in
different ways.
– These interactions can be classified into different
stages or steps:
• Transmission: This is the process by which pathogenic
microorganisms enter a new host.
– This can occur through various routes such as skin contact,
bodily fluids, airborne particles, fecal-oral route, vector-borne
route, etc.
• Adhesion: This is the process by which pathogenic
microorganisms attach to host cells or surfaces.
• Colonization: This is the process by which
pathogenic microorganisms multiply and form
populations on host surfaces or tissues.
– This can involve various factors such as biofilms,
quorum sensing, nutrient acquisition, etc.
• Invasion: This is the process by which pathogenic
microorganisms penetrate into deeper tissues or
enter host cells.
– This can involve various mechanisms such as motility,
invasins, hemolysins, etc.
• Evasion: This is the process by which
pathogenic microorganisms avoid or resist
host immune responses.
– This can involve various strategies such as
antigenic variation, capsules, intracellular survival,
immunosuppression, etc.
• Damage: This is the process by which
pathogenic microorganisms harm host cells or
tissues.
– This can involve various outcomes such as cell
 What are some examples of
pathogenic microorganisms?
• There are many examples of pathogenic
microorganisms that have negative effects on
humans, animals, plants, or the environment.
• Here are some of them:
– Mycobacterium tuberculosis: This is a bacterium that
causes tuberculosis (TB) in humans and other animals.
• It infects the lungs and other organs and forms granulomas
(nodules) that impair organ function.
• It can spread through respiratory droplets and remain
dormant for years before becoming active.
• Vibrio cholerae: This is a bacterium
that causes cholera in humans.
–It infects the small intestine and
produces a toxin that causes severe
diarrhea and dehydration.
–It can spread through contaminated
water or food and cause outbreaks in
areas with poor sanitation.
• Plasmodium falciparum: This is a protist
that causes malaria in humans and
other animals.
– It infects red blood cells and liver cells and
causes fever, chills, anemia, organ failure,
etc.
– It can spread through mosquito bites and
affect millions of people worldwide.
• Chlamydia trachomatis: This is a
bacterium that causes chlamydia in
humans.
– It infects the genital tract and causes
inflammation, discharge, pain, infertility,
etc.
– It can spread through sexual contact and
affect millions of people worldwide.
• Salmonella typhimurium: This is a
bacterium that causes food
poisoning in humans and other
animals.
–It infects the gastrointestinal tract and
causes diarrhea, vomiting, fever
 UNIT 4

GENETICS
By Adelegn B (MSc in Botany)
 Chapter outlines
• Genetic Cross and Mendelian inheritance

• DNA and chromosome structure

• DNA replication

• Protein Synthesis

• Cell division(mitosis and meiosis)

• Mutation

• Summary and review questions

 What is Genetics
 Genetics is a field of biology that studies how traits are passed from parents to

their offspring.

 Gregor Mendel is the “Father of Modern Genetics.” He was an Austrian monk

who studied heredity in pea plants.

 The passing of traits from parents to offspring is known as heredity; therefore,

genetics is the study of heredity/ inheritance

 Traits- characteristics that are inherited

 Eg. Hair color, height, blood type, susceptibility to a certain disease

(diabetes, depression, obesity, breast cancer)

 The basic components of genetics are DNA, RNA, genes, chromosomes

and genetic inheritance.

 Genetic Cross
• Before looking genetic cross, it is important to recall or define important
terminologies in genetics
• Such as:

 Nucleosomes, chromatin,
 Chromosomes, genes, alleles
 Chromatids and sister chromatids
 Centromeres, Telomeres, loci
 dominant and recessive alleles
 Genotype and Phenotype
 homozygous and heterozygous
 Important Terminologies
• Nucleosomes- is the basic structural unit of DNA packaging. Nucleosomes = DNA
+ histone protein

• Chromatin- is a very complex of DNA and protein that regulate DNA replication
and protect the DNA from damage. Many Nucleosomes gives chromatin

• Chromosome a long strand of DNA on which a large number of genes is stored

• A chromatid- is one of the two identical haves of a chromosome that has been
replicated for cell division.

• Centromere- is the region where the cell’s spindle fibers attached or a point where
two sister chromatids are attached

• Telomere-is the region of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome.

 Important Terminologies
• DNA nucleic acid containing the genetic instructions used in the development and
functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses

• A gene is a section of DNA (and therefore a section of a chromosome) that

determines a particular feature, for example, earlobe attachment in humans.

• Allele: Different versions of the same gene or alternative forms of a gene

 Locus (pl. Loci): the position of a particular gene on a chromosome

 Important Terminologies
 Dominant allele- an allele that masks the presence of a recessive allele in the
phenotype. Are expressed in the phenotype when homozygous/heterozygous
dominant and upper case letter used to symbolized them.

 Recessive allele: an allele that is masked in the phenotype by the presence of a

dominant allele. Are expressed in the phenotype by the presence of
homozygous recessive and lower case latter are used to symbolized them.

 Homozygous-a genotype consisting of two identical alleles of a gene for a

particular trait.

 Individuals that are homozygous for a trait are called homozygotes

 Heterozygous-a genotype consisting of two different allele of a particular trait.

 The organisms that are heterozygous for a trait are called heterozygote
Gene 1 has two alleles P and P. Both chromosomes have the dominant P allele
(we say that the individual is homozygous for the dominant allele).

Gene 2 has two alleles, a and a. Both chromosomes have the recessive allele
a (homozygous for the recessive allele).

Gene 3 has alleles B and b. One chromosome has the dominant allele, B, whilst the
other has the recessive allele, b. We say that the individual is heterozygous for this
particular gene.
 Important Terminologies
 Genotype:

 describes the pair of alleles for a particular gene

possessed by a organism

 it is the genetic makeup of an organism

 Phenotype:

 a phenotype describes the trait or traits determined

by a particular genotype

 It is the observable characteristics of an individual

resulted from expression of gene.
 How do we predict ratios in a monohybrid cross?

• A monohybrid cross is a genetic cross or breeding situation that

relates to just one trait or feature.

• Two organisms are allowed to mate together (hybridized) naturally

or artificially to see the effect of the process on one trait.

• The ‘father’ of genetics, the man who discovered the rules by

which genes are inherited, was the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel.

• He conducted the first quantitative study of inheritance in his

garden using garden pea.
 Why Mendel Choose Garden pea?

Why he didn’t use other garden plants eg. Maize?

 Why Mendel Choose Garden pea?
• This is because the plant (pea) showed
Seven easily distinguishable contrasting traits.

 it is small in size

The plant easy to grow

Produce large number of offspring and matured

quickly.
7 Contrasting characteristics of pea plants used by Mendel in his
experiments
 How did he do it?
• Before he carried out any breeding experiments, he self-
pollinated the plants for several generations, and eventually used
plants from a ‘breeding line’ that had contained only purple-
flowered plants or white-flowered plants.

• These he called ‘true-breeding’ plants. He then cross-bred them

in the following way.
 Mendel’s method of Crossing
1. He removed stamens from the Flowers of the
purple- flowered plant (so that these flowers
could not pollinate themselves).
2. He used a paintbrush to transfer pollen from the
flowers of the white-flowered plant to the carpel
of the purple flowers.
3. This pollinated carpel then produced a pea pod
containing several pea seeds.

4. He collected and grew all the seeds from all the

pods.

5. When the plants were mature, he noted the

colour of their flowers.
 Mendel’s Cross
• In the above cross, all the offspring (which we call the F1 or First filial
generation) have purple Flowers.
• when organisms with different traits are cross-bred, F1 refers to the
offspring from the original organisms
• Mendel then allowed these purple-flowered plants to self-pollinate
themselves.
• In the next generation (the F2 or second filial generation) he found a
ratio of very nearly three purple-flowered plants for every one white-
flowered plant.
• F2 refers to the offspring of the F1 organisms
• This pattern repeated itself in all of his experiments.
 Mendel’s results

The genetic basis of Mendel’s results from crosses between purple-Flowered pea plants
and white-Flowered pea plants
Thus, the ratio of monohybrid cross always near to 3:1
 Mendel’s Cross
• It was this pattern that led Mendel to formulate his laws and
coin the terms dominant and recessive.

• He used the term dominant to describe the allele that

determined the trait that appeared in the F1

• The term recessive to describe the allele that determined the

trait that did not appear in the F1

• Dominant allele is the expressed in a heterozygous and

homozygous organisms

• Recessive allele is only expressed in a homozygous organisms

 Mendel’s Conclusions

• Mendel explained/ concluded all the results in the following ways.

1. Every trait (like flower color, or seed shape or seed color) is controlled by two
heritable factors-these are what we now call genes. These heritable factors
(genes) may take different forms (called alleles)

2. If the two alleles in an individual are different, one is dominant (will be

expressed in the organism’s appearance or morphology/physiology) and one is
recessive (cannot expressed unless the individual has two copies of the recessive
allele). And thus dominant traits mask the appearance of recessive traits.

3. The only physical link between the generations is the gametes or sex cells.
These must pass the genes from one generation to the next.
 Mendel’s Conclusions

4. The heritable factors (alleles) separate when the gametes (sex cells) are formed: each

gamete therefore contains only one allele controlling the trait. This is Mendel’s ‘law of

segregation’. He also stated that the gametes fuses randomly at fertilization.

 Laws of Segregation: states that during gametes formation the alleles for each
gene segregate from each other such that each gametes formed carries only one
allele for each genes.

5. Law independent assortment: this law states that the inheritance of one trait is
independent of the inheritance of another. i.e. the alleles of one pair segregate
independently of the alleles of another pair controlling a different feature

 However, this is true for all the 7 traits studied by Mendel while it is not true
for linked genes that are found on the same chromosomes.
 Dihybrid cross
• What patterns do we get if we consider the inheritance of two genes at the
same time?

• This is called dihybrid inheritance.

• It is the inheritance of two pair of contrasted characteristics (two gene)

considered at the same time.

• Example- when we considered both plant height and seed shape at a time.

• P1: tall plant with round seed crossed with wrinkled colour.

• All the F1 plants had round seeds which were yellow, showing that these alleles
were dominant over the wrinkled and green alleles.

• He then allowed these plants to self-fertilise themselves.

• Resulted 9:3:3:1 phenotypic ratio.

Results of a dihybrid cross

The four phenotypes that appeared in

the F2 and their proportions were:
 Round and yellow 9
 Round and green
 Wrinkled and yellow
 Wrinkled and green 1
 Are alleles always simply dominant or recessive?
• The short answer to this is no. Sometimes alleles are:

 Codominant

 Complete and

 Incomplete
 Complete dominance-an allele that will mask the effect of the recessive
allele completely

 Incomplete dominance- dominant allele masks the effect of the recessive

one, but not completely

 Codominance-both the alleles are dominant

 Cell cycle and Cell division
• Why cell division?
• Growth-New cells are produced for growth.

• Repair damage tissues -Your body cells are lost at an amazing rate -300 million cells
die every minute. Fortunately, mitosis takes place all the time to replace them.

• Formation of sex cells for reproduction

• What is cell division

• Process by which a parent divides to form daughter cells

• Cell cycle- sequence of events that occur in a cell including cell division and
preparation for cell division.

• Types of cell division

• Binary fission-for Prokaryotic
• Mitosis Eukaryotic
• Meiosis
 Eukaryotic cell division
• The cells in your body divide on a regular
basis to bring about growth.
• They divide in a set sequence, known as the
cell cycle, which involves several different
stages.
• A period of active cell division (M-phase) –
this is when mitosis takes place and the
number of cells increases.
• Long period of non-division (Interphase,
preparation phase) – when the cells get
bigger, increase their mass, carry out normal
cell activities and replicate their DNA ready
for the next division.
 Cell cycle
• Interphase-G1 phase
 Called first gap phase
 cells are metabolically active
 Cells grows and matures
• Interphase: S phase
 Called synthesis phase
 DNA replication takes place
 Duplication of centrioles
• Interphase: G2 phase
 DNA is checked by enzymes for mistakes and repaired
 protein synthesis takes place
 Mitosis
• New cells are needed for an organism, or part of an organism, to grow. They are also needed
to replace cells that become worn out and repair damaged tissue.

• It is the process of forming identical daughter cells by replicating and dividing the

chromosomes

• Mitosis is division of the somatic cells to make identical daughter cells in eukaryotic

organisms.

• Somatic cells any of the cells of a plant or animal except the reproductive cells
• Daughter cells the two identical cells that are formed when a cell reproduces itself by
splitting into two

• As a result of mitosis:
– Identical daughter cells are formed
– Daughter chromosomes are exact replicas of parent chromosome

• Hence also called educational division

 Process of Mitosis
• Mitosis broadly classified in to phases: Karyokinesis (nuclear
division) and Cytokinesis (cytoplasm)

• Karyokinesis; segregate in to 4 sub-phases

• 1st – Prophase

• 2nd – Metaphase

• 3rd – Anaphase

• 4th – Telophase

• Cytokinesis(Cyto-ctoplasm; kinesis-motion)- division of

cytoplasm takes place
 Mitosis: Prophase
• Chromatin threads condense to form
chromosomes
• spindle fibers are formed
• spindle fibers are specialized
microtubules radiating out from
centrioles
• Centrioles migrate to opposite poles and
form a bridge of microtubules called
spindle apparatus
• chromosomes attached to spindle fibers
by kinetochores
• Nuclear envelope breaks down
 Mitosis: Metaphase
• Nuclear membrane completely
disappear

• Chromosomes assemble at the

equator of the cell

• Metaphase plate is formed

• Metaphase plate- location where

the centromeres line up in the center
of the cell
 Mitosis: Anaphase
• The spindle fibers pull the chromatids
apart.

• This separates each one from its

duplicate. These move to opposite sides
of the cell.

• Now there are two identical sets of

chromosomes (daughter chromosomes).

• free spindle fibers (spindle fibers not

attached to kinetochores) lengthen and
push the poles of the cell apart

• Thus, cell elongation takes place due to

non-kinetochore microtubules
 Mitosis: Telophase
• When the chromosomes reach opposite sides of the cell the spindle fibers break
up.

• The nuclear membrane begins to reform.

• A furrow (cleavage) begins to develop between the two sets of chromosomes by

actin filaments.
 Mitosis: Telophase
• The two identical cells completely divide and the cell membrane is
completely formed.
• Plant cells undergo cytokinesis by forming a cell plate between the two
daughter nuclei.

• Animal cells undergo cytokinesis through the formation of a cleavage

furrow. A ring of microtubules contract, pinching the cell in half.

cell plate furrow

 Meiosis
• The cell division that takes place in the reproductive organ cells and produces
gametes is known as meiosis

• Meiosis is a special form of cell division where the chromosome number is

reduced by half.

• When a cell divides to form gametes, the chromosomes are copied so there are
four sets of chromatids

• Parent cell is diploid; daughter cells are haploids

• Occur during gametogenesis in plants and animals

• Pairing and recombination of homologous chromosomes are takes place.

• four haploid daughter cells are formed

• None of the daughter cells are is exact copy of parent cell

 Stages of Meiosis
• Divided in to two sequential cycles (Meiosis I and II)
 Meiosis I
 Also called reductional division
 Because two haploid cells are produced from diploid cell
 Which includes- 4 phases
 Prophase I
 Metaphase I
 Anaphase I
 Telophase I
 Meiosis II:
 Also termed as educational division-similar to mitotic division
 Four haploid cells are produced from 2 haploid cells (no change in ploidy
level)
 Meiosis II also includes- 4 phases
» Prophase II
» Metaphase II
» Anaphase II
» Telophase II
 Meiosis I-Prophase I
• Chromosomes gradually becomes visible
• homologous chromosomes start pairing
• This process is called Synapsis
• Bivalent chromosomes appear as tetrads
(4 chromosomes grouped together
• Crossing over occurs
– Crossing over- The exchange of genetic
material by non-sister chromatids during
late prophase I of meiosis.
– Recombination occurs between
homologous chromosomes Sister chromatids
– Chiasmata formation takes places (region
where crossing over had taken place)
– Spindle formation begins
– Nuclear envelope fragments
 Meiosis I-Metaphase I
• Spindle formation is completed
• Bivalent chromosomes align on the equatorial plate (metaphase plate)
– spindle fibers attached to homologous chromosomes
 Meiosis I-Anaphase I
• Homologous chromosomes separated
• Sister chromatids attached at centromere
 Meiosis I-Telophase I
• Nucleolus reappears
• Nuclear membrane redevelops
• Cytokinesis starts
• Two daughter cells with half no. of chromosomes are formed
 Meiosis II-Prophase II
• Starts before chromosomes have fully elongated
• resembles mitosis
• Nuclear membrane disappears
• chromosomes become compact and spindle formation begins
 Meiosis II-Metaphase II
• Spindle formation completed
• Chromosomes align at equator
• spindle fibers attached to kinetochores of sister chromatids
 Meiosis II-Anaphase II
– Centromeres split
– Sister chromatids separate and move to opposite
sides of the cell
 Meiosis II-Telophase II
– Last stage of meiosis
– Nuclei and nuclear membrane reform
– Spindle fibers disappear
– Cytoplasm divides into two.
– 4 haploid cells are formed
 Comparison of Mitosis and Meiosis
• In some ways, mitosis and meiosis are very similar

• Both involve replication of DNA and the formation of

daughter cells.

• But they are also very different because they play very
different roles in your body.

• The table below compares the two processes.

Comparing Mitosis and Meiosis
 Molecular genetics
• What is a chromosome really like?
• Chromosomes are made from two chemicals:
– DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and
– histones (a set of globular proteins)
• DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)-is the molecule that stores genetic information

• Histone- the core of a chromosome around which the chromosome’s DNA is wrapped.

• Chromatin the loose form taken by a chromosome when the cell is not dividing
• When a cell is not dividing, the chromatin is loosely organised throughout the nucleus
as loops of chromatin fibres. Individual chromosomes cannot be distinguished.
• As a cell prepares to divide, the chromatin loops (which by now will have duplicated
themselves) become compacted or ‘condensed’ to form a chromosome that is visible
(when stained) under a light microscope.
 DNA and RNA
• DNA (Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid)
Double-stranded helical structure

 DNA is a polymer(polynucleotide)

Its monomer units called deoxyribonucleotides

• RNA (RiboNucleic Acid )
Single Stranded structure

RNA also a polymer

Monomer Units is ribonucleotides

 Differences of RNA and DNA
RNA is similar to DNA, but it has three main differences:
 How is a molecule of DNA put together?
 DNA-is made up two strands of
polynucleotides joined together and twisted into
a double helix.
 The basic unit of DNA strand is
a nucleotide (monomers of DNA).
 Sugar-phosphate forms the back bone
 Nitrogen bases form the interior, paired
through hydrogen bonds
 Forms complementary base pairing
 A-T
 G-C
 Uniform distance between two strands of the helix
 Two poly nucleotide chains have anti- parallel
polarity
 Why is DNA a preferred genetic materials?
 DNA is structurally and chemically more stable than RNA
 DNA has double stranded structure which provides better ability to
rectify errors during replication
 DNA can not code directly for protein synthesis and thus depend on
RNA
 DNA Replication
How does the DNA molecule replicate itself?
 Replication: a process of reproducing or creating a copy of something
 DNA replication: It is the process by which DNA makes a copy of itself
during cell division

 Also known as DNA Synthesis

 in 1953, Watson and Crick (the discoverers of the structure of DNA) proposed
that DNA must replicate semi-conservatively.
 This means that the DNA molecule replicates in such a way that:
 Each formed new DNA molecule contains one strand from the original
(old) DNA and one new strand DNA molecules.

 Both new DNA molecules formed are identical to each other and to
the original molecule.
 DNA Replication
 Enzymes are involved in this process and the main stages are: DNA Polymerase is the main
enzyme in the replication process.
 The process of DNA replication involves several enzymes and proteins, but the key stages are as
follows:
1. DNA helicase enzyme - break H-bonds to reveal two single strands and unwind (open) the
helix DNA
2. Single stranded binding proteins/SSBP/ stabilize the unwound parental DNA
3. DNA polymerase assembles free DNA nucleotides into new strands alongside each of the
template strands.
– The base sequence in each of these new strands is complementary to its template
strand because of base- pairing rule, A-T, C-G.
4. Two-identical DNA molecules to each other and the original one is resulted. Each contains one
strand from the original (old) and one newly synthesized.
Semi-conservative replication of DNA
 Gene cloning and Genetic Engineering?

• How are organisms cloned?

• Gene cloning- is the process of making exact coping of a gene.

• There are several ways in which this can be done. The principal methods are
divided into two main categories; these are:

• in vivo cloning– the gene is introduced into a cell and is copied as the cell
divides

• in vitro cloning– this does not take place in living cells but the DNA is copied
many times over using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This process
mimics the natural semi-conservative replication of DNA in a machine called a
PCR machine.
 Clone and clone of organism

• The e term clone is often applied to whole organisms as well as to

genes.

• A clone of organisms is a group of organisms produced asexually

from one parent.

• The members of the clone are genetically identical to each other

and to the parent organism.

• Plant cuttings are clones and the thousands of plants produced

from one parent by micropropagation also represent a clone.
 What is genetic engineering?

• Genetic engineering is a process in which the genome of an organism is

altered, usually by having an extra gene from a different organism
added.

• The organism is then a genetically modified or a transgenic

organism.

• Genetically modified organism is an organism created using genetic

engineering which contains a transferred gene or genes

• Transgenic organism a genetically modified organism that contains a

gene or genes transferred from another organism belonging to a
different species
• Much of the early work on genetic engineering was done to genetically modify
bacteria.

• This was often done with the aim of altering the bacteria so that they would
make a useful product.

• One of the first of these products to be produced by transgenic bacteria was

human insulin.

• The gene that controls the production of human insulin was extracted from
human pancreas cells and transferred to the bacteria

• the insulin they produced then is extracted, purified and used to treat diabetic
patients.

• Enzymes, human growth hormones and vaccines can also produced by this
transgenic bacteria
 Main steps of genetic engineering
1. Cutting out the gene of interest from the donor DNA By using an
enzyme called Restriction endonuclease

2. Extracting plasmids from a bacterium and opening it by the same

enzyme, Restriction endonuclease

3. Inserting and typing (silencing) the gene of interest into the plasmid
using an enzyme called DNA ligase

4. Introducing the hybrid (recombinant) plasmid into suitable bacterium

5. Extracting, purified and utilizing the gene product (eg. insulin,

enzyme) released by the recombinant bacterium.
Steps in production of human insulin using
bacteria plasmid
 Why Genetic Modification
• Genetically modified bacteria produce a range of products, including:
enzymes for the food industry
thermostable enzymes for washing powders
 human insulin
 human growth hormone
vaccines (for example, for prevention of hepatitis B)
• Plants have also been genetically modified so that they:
 are disease resistant
 have an improved yield
 produce a specific product (for example, golden rice is genetically modified
rice that produces beta-carotene – important in the formation of vitamin A,
which prevents night blindness)
• Fewer animals have been genetically modified, but genetically modified salmon
and Tilapia fish grow bigger and faster than the non-modified fish.

Generally. Most of the genetic modifications that have been carried out have been
with the aim of improving yield of a crop plant or a stock animal, or changing
organisms so that they will produce a useful product – like insulin.
 Protein synthesis
• Protein are essential molecules in our body that determine our
characteristics

• They act as hormones, enzymes, structural materials, and others

• Their production needs flow of information from DNA in the

nucleus to ribosomes in the cytoplasm.

• Ribosomes are factories where proteins are manufactured.

• Protein synthesis is the process in which a cell makes protein

based on the message contained within its DNA
 Events in protein synthesis
 The DNA code for the protein is rewritten in a
molecule of messenger RNA (mRNA); the process is
called transcription.
 mRNA (messenger RNA) is a nucleic acid that
transmits the genetic code from DNA to ribosome
 Transcription the process that converts genetic
information from a DNA code into an mRNA code
 The mRNA travels from the nucleus through pores in
the nuclear envelope to the ribosomes.
 Free amino acids are carried from the cytoplasm to the
ribosomes by molecules of transfer RNA (tRNA).

 tRNA – transports amino acids to the mRNA to make a

protein
 Events in protein synthesis
 The DNA code for the protein is rewritten in a molecule of
messenger RNA (mRNA); the process is called transcription.
 mRNA (messenger RNA) is a nucleic acid that transmits the
genetic code from DNA to ribosome
 Transcription the process that converts genetic information
from a DNA code into an mRNA code
 The mRNA travels from the nucleus through pores in the
nuclear envelope to the ribosomes.
 Free amino acids are carried from the cytoplasm to the
ribosomes by molecules of transfer RNA (tRNA).
 This process is called Translation

 tRNA – transports amino acids to the mRNA to make a protein

 The ribosome reads the mRNA code and assembles the amino acids
carried by tRNA into a protein; this is called translation.
Process of Protein synthesis
Process of Protein synthesis

Stop codons (UAA, UAG, and

UGA)
 Genetic codes
• What is the genetic code like?

• Genetic code is the sequence of base triplets in the DNA molecules that carries
information for polypeptides(protein).This gives us a useful definition of a gene:

• A gene is a sequence of base triplets in the DNA molecule that carries the code
for a protein.

• The genetic code is held in DNA molecules

• With four different bases to work with (adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine),
there are 64 possible triplet codes, but only 20 amino acids are used to make all
the different proteins.

• What is the purpose of the other 44 codes? In fact, none of these is spare or
redundant
• Most amino acids have more than one code. Only methionine
and tryptophan have just one triplet that codes for them;
arginine has six.

• three of the triplets (TAA, TAG and TGA) do not code for
amino acids at all.

• They are ‘stop’ codes that signify the end of a coding sequence.

• Because there is this extra capacity in the genetic code, over

and above what is essential, it is said to be a degenerate code.
 Properties of genetic codes
 Genetic code is specific- mean that one code coded only for 1 amino acid (no
two amino acid with same code)

• It is a triplate code-that consists of a sequence of triplate or three bases

• Genetic code is degenerate code- means that there are excess triplate codes
that what is needed.

• The genetic code is a non-overlapping code-this means that each triplate is

distinct from all other triplets

• The genetic code is also a universal code i.e. the triplet code UAU in the
DNA code for amino acid tyrosine in human, redwood tree, bacterium or
in any organism E.g. ACC – threonine, GGG-glycine
The genetic code
 Important terms

• Code-is refers to base triplet on DNA molecules that code for

amino acid of a stop information.
• Codons-The triplets of bases in mRNA that code for amino
acids.
• The mRNA codons are identical to the DNA triplets that code for
specific amino acids, except that U (uracil) is substituted for T
(thymine).
• Anticodon a triplet on tRNA complementary to a codon in
mRNA
 Codons
 There are 20 different amino acids and there are 4 RNA bases
(A,U,G,C)

 So how do you exactly go about determining what protein your cells are
going to make?

 FIRST, Divide the mRNA sequence into codons.

 codon is define as a group of 3 bases specifying a amino acid

 Since each 3-letter combination “codes” for an amino acid, you need to figure
out what amino acid matches up with each codon:
 Codons
 There are two types of codons: sense and non-sense codon
 Senses codon
– codons which codes for amino acids
– 61 out of 64 are sense codons
 Non-sense/stop/ codons

– Codons which are not code for amino acids

– 3 out of 64b are non-sense codons (UAA, UAG, and UGA)
– stop codes signify the end of the coding sequence
Codons for various amino acids
 How is protein synthesis different in prokaryotic cells?
• The process is essentially similar in both types of
cells, with DNA being transcribed to mRNA,
which is then translated to a polypeptide chain.
• However, there are some differences and these
are linked to the fact that:
• Prokaryotic cells do not have a nucleus
• Prokaryotic mRNA does not need post-
transcriptional processing
• Prokaryotes: transcription and translation are
coupled; mRNA can be translated by ribosomes
at one end of its molecule while it is still being
transcribed from DNA at the other end
• Eukaryotes: transcription and translation are
separated
• Transcription occurs in the nucleus
• Translation occurs in the cytoplasm
• Eukaryotic mRNAs are modified before leaving
the nucleus
 Mutation
• A mutation is any spontaneous change in the genetic material
of an organism.
• There can be large structural changes involving whole
chromosomes or parts of chromosomes, or changes that
involve only a single base.
• All mutations fall into two basic categories:
• Those that produce changes in a single gene are known as
gene mutations/point mutations.
• Those that produce changes in whole chromosomes are
known as chromosomal mutations.
 Gene/point mutations
 There are several types of point mutation, in which one of the bases in the
DNA sequence of a gene is altered, usually by being copied wrongly when the
DNA replicates.

 The different point mutations are: substitution • addition • deletions

 Substitutions-In a substitution, one base is changed to a different base.

Substitutions usually affect no more than a single amino acid, and sometimes
they have no effect at all.
 Gene/point mutations
• Insertions/additions-point mutations in which one base is inserted/aded

• Deletions: are point mutations in which one base is removed from the DNA
sequence.

• If a nucleotide is added or deleted, the bases are still read in groups of three, but
now those groupings shift in every codon that follows the mutation.
 Chromosomal mutations
 Chromosomal mutations involve changes in the number or
structure of chromosomes.

 These mutations can change the location of genes on

chromosomes and can even change the number of copies of some
genes.

 There are four types of chromosomal mutations:

Deletion,

Duplication,

Inversion, And

Translocation.
Chromosomal mutations
1. Deletion involves the loss of all
or part of a chromosome.

2. Duplication-produces an extra
copy of all or part of a
chromosome.

3. Inversion-reverses the direction

of parts of a chromosome.

4. Translocation occurs when part

of one chromosome breaks off and
attaches to another
 Unit 6
Evolution
What is evolution?
• Evolution is a change in genetic composition of a population
over successive generations, which may be caused by meiosis,
hybridization, natural selection or mutation. This evolutionary
stage can be considered as microevolution.
• The micro evolution, which is characterized as a change in
genetic composition of a population over successive
generations leads to a sequence of events by which the
population diverges from other populations of the same
species and may lead to the origin of a new species. This
second stage is considered as macroevolution.
• a change in genetic composition population diverges

microevolution origin of a new species

macroevolution
 6.1. Theories of origin of life
There are five main theories of the origin of life on Earth:
I. special creationism
II. spontaneous generation
III. eternity of life
IV. cosmozoan theory
V. biochemical origin
I. special creationism theory
• Special creation is nearly always linked to religion.
• Special creation states that at some stage, some supreme being
created life on Earth.
• There are many different versions of special creation, linked with
different religions.
a. Young Earth creationism
• is form of creationism today suggests that the Earth is only a few
thousand years old.
• Young Earth creationists often believe the Earth was created in six
24-hour days. While they agree that the Earth is round and moves
around the Sun, they interpret all geology in the light of Noah’s flood.
b. Old Earth creationism
• There are several types of creationism that are considered Old
Earth.
• They vary in different aspects of how they explain the age of the
Earth while still holding to the story found in Genesis.
• Those who believe in Old Earth creationism accept the evidence
that the Earth is very old but still maintain that all life was created
by God.
c. Day-age and gap creationism
• These are similar in that each interprets the beginnings of the
creation story as actually having taken much longer than six Earth
days.
• Gap creation discusses a large gap between the formation of the Earth
and the creation of all the animals and humans.
• The gap could be millions or billions of years.
• This gets around the scientific evidence that the Earth is several billion
years old without having to believe in the process of evolution itself.
• Day-age creationism is similar in the length of time but talks about each
of the six ‘days’ as really meaning a billion years or so of geologic time;
the ‘days’ are just symbolic
d. Progressive creationism
• This type of creationism accepts the Big Bang as the origin of the
Universe.
• It accepts the fossil record of a series of creations for all of the
organisms catalogued.
• However, it does not accept these as part of a continuing process;
each is seen as a unique creation.
• Modern species are not seen as being genetically related to
ancient ones.
d. Theistic evolution/Evolutionary creationism
• This view of evolution maintains that God ‘invented’ evolution and takes
some form of an active part in the ongoing process of evolution.
• It also invokes the role of God in areas not discussed by science, like the
creation of the human soul.
• Theistic evolution is promoted by the Pope for the Catholic Church
and is also espoused by most mainline Protestants.
e. Intelligent design
• This is the newest version of creationism and maintains that God’s
handiwork can be seen in all of creation if one knows where to look.
• Advocates of intelligent design offer sophisticated arguments,
often based on cell biology and mathematics, to give the
impression of complex scientific arguments and to create equal
stature with mainstream scientific thought.
• These arguments attack different parts of evolutionary theory, with the
idea that if one part of evolutionary theory can be found to be incorrect
then it follows that all of evolution must be incorrect.
• The term intelligent design is used to mask the fact that it’s a
form of creationism cloaked in scientific-sounding ideas.
II. The Theory of spontaneous generation
• Spontaneous generation suggests that life can evolve ‘spontaneously’
from non-living objects.
• It was only a few hundred years ago that people still believed this to be
true.
• For example, people believed that rotting meat turned into flies and
that wine produced bacteria as it went sour.
• It took the work of Francisco Redi to disprove the idea of rotting meat
producing flies and the work of Louis Pasteur to finally show that not
even micro-organisms could be produced by spontaneous generation.
 III. The theory of eternity of life
• eternity of life theory claims that the Universe has always
existed and that there has always been life in the Universe.
• In this theory of life, there is no beginning and no end to life on
Earth and so it neither needs special creation nor does it need to
be generated from non-living matter.
• Supporters of this theory believe that life is an inherent property
of the Universe and has always existed – as has the Universe.
IV. The cosmozoan theory
• cosmozoan theory claims that life on Earth originally came from
elsewhere in the Universe (possibly from another planet).
• According to this theory, life has reached this planet Earth from
other cosmological structures, such as meteorites, in the form of
highly resistant spores.
• The theory did not gain any significant support as it lacks
evidence.
 V. Biochemical origin
• Biochemical theory suggests that life on Earth originated as a
result of a number of biochemical reactions producing organic
molecules which associated to form cells.
• The current ideas we have about how life may have evolved on
Earth as a result of biochemical reactions (sometimes called
abiogenesis) owe much to two biologists working early in the
twentieth century:
 Aleksandr Oparin, a Russian biologist who first put forward his
ideas in 1924, and
 John Haldane, an English biologist independently put forward
almost identical ideas in 1929.
• They both suggested that:
 the primitive atmosphere of the Earth was a reducing atmosphere
with no free oxygen – as opposed to the oxygen-rich atmosphere
of today.
 There was an appropriate supply of energy, such as lightning
or ultraviolet light, and
 This would provide the energy for reactions that would
synthesize a wide range of organic compounds, such as amino
acids, sugars and fatty acids.
• Oparin suggested that the simple organic compounds could
have undergone a series of reactions leading to more and
more complex molecules.
• He proposed that the molecules might have formed colloidal
aggregates, or ‘coacervates’, in an aqueous environment.
• Thee coacervates were able to absorb and assimilate organic
compounds from the environment in a way similar to the
metabolism of cells.
• These coacervates were the precursors of cells and would be
subject to natural selection, eventually leading to the first true
cells.
• Haldane’s ideas about the origin of life were very similar.
• He proposed that the primitive sea served as a vast chemical
laboratory powered by solar energy.
• As a result of all the reactions powered by solar energy, the sea
became a ‘hot dilute soup’ of organic monomers and small
polymers.
• Haldane called this the ‘prebiotic soup’, and this term came to
symbolize the Oparin–Haldane view of the origin of life.
• In 1953, Stanley Miller conducted his now-famous spark-
discharge experiment.
• In this investigation, he passed electric sparks repeatedly through
amixture of gases that were thought to represent the primitive
atmosphere of the Earth.
• These gases were methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), water (H2O)
and hydrogen (H2).
• The equipment he used is shown in Figure 6.1.
Figure 6.1 Stanley Miller’s spark discharge experiment
• When he analyzed the liquid in the water trap, he found it
contained a number of simple organic molecules – hydrogen
cyanide (HCN) was one of them.
• He found that by leaving the equipment for longer periods of time,
a larger variety and more complex organic molecules were formed
including:
 amino acids – essential to form proteins.
 pentose sugars – needed to form nucleic acids.
 hexose sugars – needed for respiration and to form starch and
cellulose.
 hydrogen cyanide again – but it has been shown that the
nitrogenous bases found in nucleotides can be synthesized in the
laboratory using HCN as a starting point.
• There is then considerable evidence to support the Oparin–
Haldane hypothesis.
• But it is not without its problems. These include:
 Why are only ‘left-handed’ amino acids found in living things when
both left-handed and right-handed types are possible?
 Although nitrogenous bases can be synthesized in the laboratory,
purines (adenine and guanine) are not synthesized under the same
conditions as pyrimidines (thymine, uracil and cytosine); this is
quite a serious problem for the theory.
• Although Miller was able to demonstrate the formation of
monomers in his investigation, he was unable to demonstrate the
next significant step of polymerization of these monomers.
6.2 Theories of mechanisms of evolution
• How does Evolution happen?
• What drives the population to become a new species?
• Over time there have been many theories that have attempted to
explain this.
I. The ‘theory of transformation’ or, ‘Lamarckism’
• The theory developed by the French biologist Jean-Baptiste
Lamarck. The two parts of his theory are:
A. Use and disuse, and
B. Inheritance of acquired traits.
A. Use and disuse
• In this part of his theory, Lamarck suggests that by continually
using a structure or process, that structure or process will
become enlarged or more developed.
• Conversely, any structure or process that is not used or is little
used will become reduced in size or less developed.
• The classic example he used to explain the concept of use and
disuse is the elongated neck of the giraffe.
• According to Lamarck, a given giraffe could, over a lifetime of
straining to reach high branches, develop an elongated neck.
• However, Lamarck could not explain how this might happen.
• He talks about a ‘natural tendency towards perfection’ – but
this is not really an explanation.
• Another example Lamarck used to illustrate his idea was the
toes of water birds.
• He suggested that from years of straining their toes to swim
through water, these birds gained elongated, webbed toes to
improve their swimming.
• These two examples demonstrate how use could change a
trait.
• He used the wings of penguins as an example to illustrate
what might happen to a structure with disuse.
• Their wings would have become smaller than those of other
birds because penguins do not use them to fly.
B. Inheritance of acquired traits
• Lamarck believed that traits changed or acquired during an
individual’s lifetime could be passed on to its offspring.
• Giraffes that had acquired long necks would have offspring
with long necks rather than the short necks their parents
were born with.
• This type of inheritance, sometimes called Lamarckian
inheritance, has since been disproved by the discoveries of
genetics.
• However, Lamarck did believe that evolutionary change takes
place gradually and constantly.
• He studied ancient seashells and noticed that the older they
were, the simpler they appeared.
• From this, he concluded that species started out simple and
consistently moved towards complexity, or, as he termed it,
closer to perfection. These ideas we still retain today.
II. Darwin’s theory of natural selection
• Charles Darwin, put forward the idea of natural selection:
 He suggested that those organisms that were best adapted to
their environment would have an advantage and be able to
reproduce in greater numbers than other types, and pass on
the advantageous adaptations.
• Some of Darwin’s evidence came from a visit to the Galapagos
Islands.
• Darwin visited five of the Galapagos Islands and made
drawings and collected specimens.
• In particular, Darwin studied the finches found on the
different islands and noted that there were many
similarities between them, as well as the obvious
differences.
• He concluded that the simplest explanation was that an
‘ancestral finch’ had colonized the islands from the
mainland and, in the absence of predators, been able to
adapt to the different conditions on the islands and,
eventually, evolve into different species.
• Some of the finches had, he suggested, evolved into insect
eaters, with pointed beaks.
• Others had evolved into seed eaters with beaks capable of
crushing the seeds.
• One hundred and fifty years later on and geneticists have
been able to confirm Darwin’s ideas and even produced a
‘family tree’ based on the similarity of their DNA.
• Darwin summarized his observations in two main ideas:
I. all species tend to produce more offspring than can possibly
survive.
II. there is variation among the offspring.
 From these observations he deduced that:
 There will be a ‘struggle for existence’ between members of a
species (because they over-reproduce, and resources are
limited).
 Some members of a species will be better adapted than others
to their environment (because there is variation in the
offspring).
 Combining these two deductions, Darwin proposed:
 Those members of a species which are best adapted to their
environment will survive and reproduce in greater numbers
than others less well adapted = natural selection Hence
nature selects the best adapted = the fittest one =survival of
the fittest
• This is his now-famous theory of natural selection, and can be
summarized in the flow chart below.
• Table 6.1 Comparison of Lamarck’s theory of use and disuse
with Darwin’s theory of natural selection
6.3. Modern theories of evolution
Neo-Darwinism
• Charles Darwin knew very little of genetics. Mendel had not
carried out his ground-breaking work on inheritance at the
time Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species.
• However, we can now incorporate our knowledge of genes
and gene action into the theory of natural selection to give a
better understanding of what drives evolution.
• Genes or, more accurately, alleles of genes determine
features.
• Suppose an allele determines a feature that gives an organism
an advantage in its environment. The following will happen:
 Those individuals with the advantageous allele of the gene
will survive to reproduce in greater numbers than other types.
 They will pass on their advantageous allele in greater numbers
than the other types pass on their alleles of the same gene.
 The frequency of the advantageous allele in the gene pool of
the population will be higher in the next generation.
 This process repeats over many generations and the
frequency of the advantageous allele in the gene pool
increases with each generation that passes.
• Mutations are important in introducing variation into
populations. Any mutation could produce an allele which:
 confers a selective advantage; the frequency of the allele will
increase over time.
 is neutral in its overall effect; the frequency may increase
slowly, remain stable or decrease (the change in frequency
will depend on what other genes/alleles are associated with
the mutant allele).
 is disadvantageous; the frequency of the allele will be low and
could disappear from the population.
• But Neo-Darwinism doesn’t just take into account our knowledge
of genetics.
• It also encompasses our understanding of animal behaviour –
sometimes referred to as ethology.
• Many ethologists and also evolutionary psychologists believe that
it is not just physical features that can confer an advantage, but
that behavior patterns can also be advantageous – or not.
• As such, a behavior pattern that confers a survival advantage will
be selected for, whilst those that do not will be selected against.
• An example of an advantageous behavior is imprinting in geese.
• Young geese (goslings) ‘imprint’ upon the first moving object that
they see after hatching, and follow it everywhere.
• Since this will almost certainly be ‘mother goose’ there is a very
obvious survival advantage in following her; the young goslings
will be fed and protected.
• Any goslings that do not show this behavior pattern are much less
likely to survive.
• Neo-Darwinism a revised version of Darwin’s theory of evolution
by means of natural selection.
• This theory, which is now accepted by most biologists, combines
Darwin’s original theory, genetic theory and theories about animal
behavior.
• The modern view of natural selection/Neo-Darwinism is stated
briefly below:
• ‘’Those members of a species which are best adapted to their
environment will survive and reproduce in greater numbers than
others less well adapted. They will pass on their advantageous
alleles to their offspring and, in successive generations, the
frequency of these alleles will increase in their gene pool. e
advantageous types will, therefore, increase in frequency in
successive generations’’.
• Natural selection is the ‘driving force’ behind evolution.
• It is the process that brings about changes (over time) in
populations that can, eventually, lead to different populations of
the same species becoming different species.
6.4. Speciation through natural selection
Types of natural selection
• The different types of selection include:
 directional selection
 stabilizing selection
 disruptive selection
What is directional selection?
• A feature may show a range of values.
• Individuals at one extreme could have a disadvantage whereas
those at the other extreme have an advantage.
• For example, thicker fur (longer hair) in foxes is an advantage in a
cold climate.
• Thinner fur in foxes is an advantage in a hot climate.
• If the environment were to change so that it became significantly
colder, or a group of the foxes were to establish a population in a
new, colder environment, there would be a selection pressure in
favor of the foxes with long fur and against those with short fur.
• Over time, selection operates against the disadvantaged
extreme and in favor of the other extreme.
• The mean and range of values shift towards the favored
extreme.
• The frequency of the alleles causing longer fur will increase.
What is stabilizing selection?
• In a stable environment, individuals at both ends of the range
of values for a feature are the least well adapted.
• Selection often operates against both these extremes to
reduce the variability in the population and to make the
population more uniformly adapted.
• Birth mass in humans is an example. Babies who are very
heavy or very light show a higher neonatal mortality rate (die
more
• frequently at, or just after, birth) than those of medium mass.
• Over time selection is operating to reduce the numbers of
heavy and light babies born.
What is disruptive selection?
• Disruptive selection is, in effect, the converse of stabilizing
selection.
• In this instance, individuals at both extremes of a range have
some advantage over those displaying the mean value.
• As a result, the frequency of those individuals at the extremes
of the range will increase over time and those in the middle of
the range will decrease over time.
• This is part of the explanation of the evolution of Darwin’s
finches.
• A finch with an ‘average’ length beak may not be able to obtain
insects out of cracks in the bark of trees as well as one with a
longer beak.
• It may also not be able to crush seeds as well as one with a
shorter, more powerful beak.
• Over time, those with the thinner, longer beaks and those with
the shorter, more powerful beaks will increase in numbers,
whilst those with average length beaks will decrease in
numbers.
How can natural selection lead to the formation of new
species?
• Species is a group of related organisms that can reproduce
with each other so that they produce fertile offspring.
• current definition of a species is:
 A group of similar organisms with a similar biochemistry,
physiology and evolutionary history that can interbreed to
produce offspring that are fertile.
• Speciation is the process by which a new species evolves.
• If two populations become so different that individuals from
different populations cannot interbreed to produce fertile
offspring, then we must think of them as different species.
There are a number of ways in which this can occur.
• The two main ways are:
1) allopatric speciation, and
2) sympatric speciation.
• As long as two populations are able to interbreed, they are
unlikely to evolve into distinct species.
• They must somehow go through a period when they are
prevented from interbreeding.
• Both allopatric and sympatric speciation involve isolating
mechanisms that prevent different populations from
interbreeding for a period of time.
• During this period, mutations that arise in one population
cannot be passed to the other.
• As a result of this, and different selection pressures in the
different environments, genetic differences between the
two populations increase.
• Eventually, the two populations will become so different
that they will be unable to interbreed and, at this point, we
say that they are ‘reproductively isolated’. Effectively, they
will have become distinct species.
What is allopatric speciation?
• allotropic speciation occurs when a population from an
existing species becomes geographically isolated and the
isolated population develops into a new species.
• In allopatric speciation, the species become isolated by some
physical feature. Examples of this could include:
 a river changing course
 a mountain range being created
 a land mass separating two bodies of water
• This is a type of geographical isolation. Interbreeding between
the populations becomes impossible and speciation could
result.
• An example of allopatric speciation occurred in the shrimp
population of the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean,
which were once joined.
• About 3 million years ago, the isthmus of Panama was
formed and separated them, and at the same time
created two populations of shrimps, one on either side of
the isthmus.
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two
larger land masses, in this case North and South
America.
• The shrimps from either side of the isthmus still look
remarkably similar, but they do not interbreed with each
other.
• They are also extremely aggressive to each other.
• Two distinct species have evolved from one original
species as a result of geographical isolation and allopatric
speciation.
What is sympatric speciation?
• sympatric speciation occurs when a population from an existing
species develops into a new species without becoming
geographically isolated from other members of the original
species.
• Speciation need not involve physical separation.
• The two diverging populations may inhabit the same area, but be
prevented from breeding in a number of ways, including:
seasonal isolation – members of the two populations
reproduce at different times of the year.
temporal isolation – members of the two populations
reproduce at different times of the day.
behavioral isolation – members of the two populations have
different courtship patterns.
• Speciation following any of these methods of isolation is referred
to as sympatric speciation.
Divergent evolution and convergent evolution
What is divergent evolution?
• Divergent evolution is another name for a process we have already
met – adaptive radiation.
• In divergent evolution, a basic type ‘diverges’ along different lines
because of different selection pressures in different environments.
• If different selection pressures are placed on populations of a
particular species, a wide variety of adaptive traits may result.
• If only one structure on the organism is considered (such as a limb),
these changes can either improve the original function of the
structure, or they can change it totally.
• Divergent evolution leads to the development of a new species.
• Examples of divergent evolution (adaptive radiation) include:
 the evolution of the different species of niches on the Galapagos
Islands.
 the evolution of the different forms of the pentadactyl limb.
What is convergent evolution?
• Convergent evolution the process by which unrelated organisms
evolve similar structures, adapted for the same function.
• Convergent evolution takes place when different organisms
occupy similar niches.
• The selection pressures on the populations are the same and so
similar adaptations evolve over time.
 One example is the convergent evolution of the giant armadillo,
giant pangolin, giant anteater and spiny anteater.
 They are not related evolutionarily, but all feed on ants and must
obtain the ants from narrow cracks in the ground.
 The similarity between the four is the result of convergent evolution.
 The same selection pressures result in similar structures
appearing in unrelated organisms.
 Convergent evolution is also responsible for the wings of a bird, a
bat and the extinct pterodactyl.
Unit 7
BIOTECHNOLOGY
 Biotechnology
• Biotechnology is a field that combines biology
and technology to create new products,
processes, and techniques that can benefit
society.
• Biotechnology involves the use of living
organisms and their processes to create useful
products for human use.
• Biotechnology is used in a variety of fields
including agriculture, medicine, food science, and
environmental science.
 Applications of Biotechnology:
• Agriculture: Biotechnology is used in agriculture
to create genetically modified crops that are
resistant to pests and diseases, have higher
yields, and require less water and fertilizer.
– This helps farmers produce more food with fewer
resources.
• Medicine: Biotechnology is used in medicine to
create drugs and therapies that treat diseases at
the molecular level.
– Biotechnology has led to the development of drugs for
cancer, diabetes, and other diseases.
• Environmental Science: Biotechnology is used in
environmental science to create bioremediation
technologies that use microorganisms to break
down pollutants in the environment.
– Biotechnology is also used in waste management to
convert organic waste into biogas.
• Food Science: Biotechnology is used in food
science to create new food products and improve
the nutritional value of existing foods.
– Biotechnology is also used to create food additives
that enhance flavor, texture, and shelf life.
• Biotechnology has numerous applications in
various fields, including
– agriculture,
– medicine,
– environmental science, and
– food science.
• Agriculture: Biotechnology has
transformed agriculture by creating
genetically modified crops that are
resistant to pests, diseases, and
environmental stresses such as
drought, heat, and cold.
–Biotechnology has also enabled the
production of crops with higher yields,
• Medicine: Biotechnology has
revolutionized medicine by creating
new drugs, therapies, and diagnostic
tools.
– Biotechnology has enabled the production
of drugs that target specific disease-
causing molecules, allowing for more
effective treatments with fewer side
effects.
• Environmental Science: Biotechnology has
played a significant role in environmental
science by creating bioremediation
technologies that use microorganisms to
clean up polluted environments.
– Biotechnology has also enabled the production
of biofuels, which are renewable and less
harmful to the environment than fossil fuels.
• Food Science: Biotechnology has
transformed the food industry by
creating new food products and
improving the nutritional value of
existing foods.
–Biotechnology has enabled the
production of food additives that
enhance flavor, texture, and shelf life.
• Industrial Biotechnology: Biotechnology
has also found applications in industrial
processes, such as fermentation and
bioconversion.
– Biotechnology has enabled the production
of bio-based products, including
bioplastics, biofuels, and biodegradable
materials.
• Agriculture biotechnology involves the use of
genetic engineering to modify the genes of
plants and animals used in agriculture.
• This technology enables scientists to
introduce desirable traits into crops and
livestock that are not naturally found in
them.
• Some of the major applications of agriculture
biotechnology are as follows:
• Crop Improvement: Agriculture biotechnology
has enabled the production of crops that are
resistant to pests and diseases, drought, heat,
and cold.
– For example, genetically modified (GM) crops such as
Bt cotton have been developed to resist insect pests,
reducing the need for pesticide application.
– Similarly, GM crops such as drought-resistant maize
have been developed to withstand water shortages,
enabling farmers to grow crops in arid regions.
• Animal Breeding: Agriculture biotechnology
has also been used in animal breeding to
produce animals with desirable traits such as
increased milk production, disease
resistance, and meat quality.
– For example, cows have been genetically
modified to produce more milk, and pigs have
been genetically modified to have leaner meat.
• Sustainable Agriculture: Agriculture
biotechnology has the potential to make
agriculture more sustainable by reducing the
environmental impact of farming.
– For example, GM crops have been developed
that require fewer pesticides and herbicides,
reducing the amount of chemicals used in
farming. This helps to reduce the negative
impact of agriculture on the environment.
• Biofortification: Agriculture
biotechnology has enabled the
production of crops that are more
nutritious.
– For example, genetically modified rice has
been developed to contain more vitamin
A, reducing the incidence of blindness in
children in developing countries.
• Seed Preservation: Agriculture
biotechnology has also been used
in seed preservation.
–Biotechnology has enabled the
development of seed banks, where
seeds are stored for future use.
• Medicine biotechnology involves the use of genetic
engineering and other biotechnologies to develop new
therapies, drugs, and medical technologies to
diagnose, treat, and prevent diseases.
• Some of the major applications of medicine
biotechnology are as follows:
– Gene Therapy
– Vaccines
– Monoclonal Antibodies
– Personalized Medicine
– Drug Development
• Environmental science biotechnology involves the use of
biotechnologies to address environmental issues such as
– pollution,
– climate change, and
– resource depletion.
• Some of the major applications of environmental science
biotechnology are as follows:
– Bioremediation
– Biomimicry
– Biofuels
– Bioplastics
– Genetic Modification
– Enzymes
– Biopharmaceuticals
• Bioremediation: Environmental science
biotechnology has enabled the development
of bioremediation, a technique used to clean
up environmental pollution.
– Bioremediation involves using microorganisms
to break down pollutants in the environment,
such as
• oil spills,
• pesticides, and
• industrial waste.
• Biomimicry: Environmental science
biotechnology has also enabled the
development of biomimicry, a technique
used to develop technologies and products
that mimic the natural processes of living
organisms.
– Biomimicry has been used to develop
technologies such as solar panels that mimic
the way plants convert sunlight into energy.
• Biofuels: Environmental science
biotechnology has enabled the development
of biofuels, which are renewable fuels made
from organic matter such as crops, waste,
and algae.
– Biofuels are considered to be a cleaner and
more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, and
their production has the potential to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate
change.
• Bioplastics: Environmental science
biotechnology has also enabled the
development of bioplastics, which are plastics
made from renewable resources such as plant
starch and cellulose.
– Bioplastics are considered to be more
environmentally friendly than traditional plastics
because they are biodegradable and do not
contribute to the accumulation of plastic waste in
the environment.
• Conservation: Environmental science
biotechnology has the potential to help
conserve biodiversity and endangered
species.
– Biotechnology has been used to develop
techniques such as cloning and
cryopreservation, which can be used to
preserve endangered species and genetic
diversity.
• Food science biotechnology involves the
use of biotechnologies to improve the
quality, safety, and nutritional value of
food.
– Some of the major applications of food
science biotechnology are as follows:
• Genetic Modification: Food science
biotechnology has enabled the
development of genetically modified
crops, which have been genetically
engineered to be more resistant to
pests and disease, have a longer
shelf life, and have improved
nutritional content.
• Enzymes: Food science biotechnology
has also enabled the use of enzymes,
which are proteins that catalyze
chemical reactions in food processing.
– Enzymes can be used to enhance the
nutritional value, flavor, texture, and
appearance of foods. For example,
enzymes can be used to produce cheese,
bread, and beer.
• Fermentation: Food science
biotechnology has enabled the use of
fermentation, a process where
microorganisms such as yeast and
bacteria are used to produce food and
beverages.
– Fermentation can be used to produce foods
such as yogurt, sauerkraut, and sourdough
bread.
• Industrial biotechnology involves the use of
biotechnologies to develop new processes and
products that can be used in industries such as
– energy,
– chemicals, and
– materials.
• Some of the major applications of industrial
biotechnology are as follows:
• Biopolymers: Industrial biotechnology has
also enabled the development of
biopolymers, which are polymers made from
renewable resources such as plant starch
and cellulose.
– Biopolymers are considered to be more
environmentally friendly than traditional
polymers because they are biodegradable and
do not contribute to the accumulation of
plastic waste in the environment.
• Industrial Enzymes: Industrial
biotechnology has enabled the use of
enzymes in various industrial processes.
– Enzymes can be used to improve the
efficiency and sustainability of industrial
processes such as pulp and paper
manufacturing, textile processing, and
food processing.
• Bioremediation: Industrial
biotechnology has also enabled the
development of bioremediation, a
technique used to clean up industrial
pollution.
– Bioremediation involves using
microorganisms to break down pollutants
in the environment, such as oil spills,
pesticides, and industrial waste.
• Biopharmaceuticals: Industrial biotechnology
has enabled the development of
biopharmaceuticals, which are
pharmaceutical products that are produced
using living organisms such as bacteria,
yeast, and mammalian cells.
– Biopharmaceuticals have revolutionized the
treatment of various diseases such as cancer,
autoimmune disorders, and diabetes.
 12hrs

UNIT 8
HUMAN BIOLOGY AND HEALTH

333
 8.1. Food and nutrition
• Humans get energy from food they
eat; heterotrophs-cannot make our
own food.
• We may eat any kind of food but it
should contain the right balance of
chemicals needed to live, grow and
reproduce.

The human diet

What is food?

• Food is the source of nutrients and energy for the body

• It usually comes from plants and animals.

334
• Humans use food in three main ways:
 To provide energy for cells to carry out all functions of life.
 To provide the raw materials for the new biological material
needed in bodies to grow, and to repair and replace
damaged and worn out cells.
 To provide the resources needed to fight disease and
maintain a healthy body.
• There are six main classes of food needed by the body:
carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and water
• Based on the amount needed, two types of food:
 Macronutrients: types of food that are needed in large
amounts (Carbohydrates, proteins and fats)
 Micronutrients: types of food that are equally important in
the diet, but needed only in small amounts (minerals and
vitamins).
335
 1. Carbohydrates (CHO)
• They are the main sources of energy
• CHO food eaten are broken down into glucose by digestion
• Glucose is then used in cellular respiration to produce energy
• Excess CHO in our body are:
 Stored in the form of glycogen in liver, muscle and brain
 Converted to fats and stored in the body
• The most commonly known CHO are sugars and starches.
 Glucose is made by photosynthesis and is vital source of energy
 Sucrose is a complex CHO (disaccharide) found in many plants and used
as a sweetening agent.
 It is a sugar that is an important product of many African countries,
including Ethiopia
 Starch is a more complex CHO and serve as a storage CHO in plants,
commonly found in teff and potatoes.
336
• Carbohydrate-rich foods include anything containing sugar or
flour: e.g., Injera, fatira, honey, potatoes, rice and dabo.
• The basic structure of all carbohydrates is the same. All are
made up of C, H and O.
• Based on the complexity of the molecules, three main types:
 Simple sugars (monosaccharides)
 Double sugars (disaccharides)
 Complex sugars (polysaccharides)
a) Simple sugars (monosaccharides)
• There is one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms for each
carbon atom
• They consist of a single sugar unit; single polyhydroxy (OH)
aldehyde or ketone units.  Glucose: the best known simple sugar -C6H12O6
• The common simple sugars are: Fructose: the sugar found in fruit (sweet fruits
and honey)
337
Galactose: found in milk
 b) Double sugars (disaccharides)
• They are made up of two simple sugars joined together by a
condensation reaction
• Condensation reaction: a reaction that joins two sugars
together, removing water.

Example: sucrose is formed by joining a molecule of glucose and a

molecule of fructose, removing a molecule of water.
The most common disaccharides and their sources:
Disaccharide Two sugar unit Source
Sucrose Glucose + fructose Stored in plants such as sugar beet and sugar cane
Lactose Glucose + galactose Milk sugar –the main carbohydrate found in milk
Maltose Glucose + glucose Malt sugar – found in germinating seed such as barley

• Simple and double sugars have two important properties in common; they
338
dissolve in water and taste sweet.
 c) Complex sugars (polysaccharides)
• They are formed from many single sugar
units (monomers) that are joined to form
a long chain complex sugars (polymers)
Condensation
polymerization rxn
Monomer – smaller units Polymer = Joined by glycosidic linkage + n H2O

• They don’t taste sweet and insoluble in water

• They have some very important biological properties.
They form very compact molecules for storing energy.
The sugar units can then be released when they are needed
to supply energy.
As complex sugars are physically and chemically very
inactive, storing them does not interfere with the other
functions of the cell
339
• The best known complex sugars are
starch and glycogen (energy stores)
and cellulose (structural component)
Starch:
• An energy store in plants
• Sugars produced by photosynthesis
rapidly converted to starch
Starch grains in potato cells: larger
• Plant storage organs such as than those found in most plants.
potatoes are starch-rich sources
Glycogen: ‘animal starch’
• The only CHO energy store in animals.
• Found mainly in muscle and liver tissues, which need readily
available energy supply at all times
• Starch and glycogen are formed from α-
glucose and joined by α-(1,4) glycosidic
link. 340
 Cellulose:
• An important structural material in plants; plant cell wall
component.
• It consists of long chains of glucose (β-glucose ): glucose
molecules are held together by β-(1,4) glucosidic link
• Human beings, and most other animals, cannot break down
these linkages and so they cannot digest cellulose as they lack
the enzyme.

6 CH2OH 6 CH2OH
5 O 5 O
H H H OH
H H
4 H 1 4 H 1
OH OH
OH OH OH H
3 2 3 2
H OH H OH
-D-glucose -D-glucose
341
 Carbohydrates tests
• There are many chemical tests to test the presence of
different types of carbohydrates
Types of CHO Types of test Positive test color
All carbohydrates Molisch’s tes Purple ring
larger than tetroses
Simple (reducing Benedict’s (Fehling’s) test Red precipitate indicates the
sugar) presence of glucose

Starch Iodine test Blue-black color

342
 1. Proteins
• They are used for body-building; constituting about 17–18%
of our body, the second high percentage next to water
• They are components of hair, skin, nails, muscles, enzymes,
many hormones etc.
• They are broken down in digestion into amino acids that are
then rebuilt to form the proteins we need.
• Protein-rich foods include:
– All meat and fish
– Dairy products such as cheese and milk
– Pulses such as white pea beans, chick peas and red kidney
beans
• Proteins are made up of C, H, O, and N.
• Some proteins also contain sulphur and various other elements.
343
 Components of amino acid
• Proteins are polymers, made up of many
small units (amino acids)
• There are about 20 different naturally
occurring amino acids
Essential amino acids: our body can’t synthesize but obtained from diet
Non-essential: can be synthesized by our body.
• Amino acids are joined together by peptide link in a
condensation reaction and a molecule of water is lost.

Peptide link

= Polypeptide
• The long chains of amino acids (polypeptide) then coil, twist,
spiral and fold in on themselves to make the complex 3-D
structures (proteins).
344
• Amino acids dissolve in water, but the properties of proteins
vary greatly.
 Some proteins are insoluble in water and are very tough:
they are ideally suited to structural functions and are found
in:
Connective tissue, tendons and the matrix of bones (collagen)
Structure of muscles
Keratin that makes up hair, nails, horns and feathers.
Silk of spiders’ webs
Silkworm cocoons
 Others are soluble in water. They form:
Antibodies, enzymes and some hormones
Are important for maintaining the structure of the
cytoplasm in cells (cytoskeleton).
345
• The functions of most proteins depends on their structure
• Proteins can be easily damaged and denatured; weak forces that
hold amino acid chains together can be disrupted very easily
• A rise in temperature of a few degrees or a change in pH can
destroy the 3-D structure of proteins – and so destroy life itself.
 But our body has many systems that keep the internal conditions stable.
• Lack of protein in the diet may result in a number of diseases
known as protein-energy malnutrition
The best known of these diseases are marasmus and kwashiorkor.
Marasmus: a condition when both protein and energy
intake is far below what is needed by the body
Kwashiorkor is caused by a lack of protein in the diet
even if the overall energy intake is reasonable
 Common at the time a child is weaned (stops
mother’s milk)
346
A child suffering from kwashiorkor Big distended belly
• Protein test:

Biuret Test
Blue
• It is used to determine the presence of
Purple (mauve) color
peptide bonds in protein.
Positive (proteins Negative
present)

Xanthoproteic Test: to distinguish aromatic amino

acids (amino acids containing phenyl ring)

Deep yellow or orange

color = shows aromatic
protein
Positive result Negative

347
 3. Fats and oils (lipids)
• Lipid-rich foods include anything containing large amounts of
fats and oils:
 Butter, beef fat, sesame oil, niger seed oil (nug) and olive oil
 Meat, oily fish and eggs = high in lipids
 Plant seeds like groundnuts and coconuts
 Any food that is cooked in fat or oil is also rich in lipids
• They play an important role in the body:
 A rich energy source and store: provide more energy per
gram than carbohydrates or proteins;
 Our body converts spare food into fat and stores it for later use
 Combined with other molecules, lipids play vital roles:
As hormones,
Cell membranes components and in the nervous system.
348
 • All lipids are insoluble in water, but dissolve in organic solvents.
• Lipids include heterogeneous groups of compounds: fats and
oils, phospholipids, etc.
• Chemical elements that make up all lipids are C, H and O, but
there is a lower proportion of oxygen in lipid than carbs.
Fats and oils (Triglycerides)
• The best-known lipids are fats and oils that are chemically
similar:
 Fats are solids at room temperature, e.g. butter
 Oils are liquids at room temperature, e.g. niger seed oil
(nug).
• Animal lipids are much more solid at room temperature than
plant lipids
• Fats and oils are made up of two types of organic chemicals:
fatty acids and glycerol- 3 fatty acids chains linked to glycerol.349
 Triglyceride (lipid)

1Glycerol 3 fatty
(alcohol) acids

Linked by ester bond

 They are combined by a condensation reaction and a molecule of water is
produced for each fatty acid.

• Glycerol is always the same.

• But, there is a wide range of fatty acids and the nature of the lipid
depends on the types of fatty acids:
 All fatty acids have a long hydrocarbon chain ( backbone of
carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached).
 Fatty acids vary in the length of the carbon chain, and being
saturated or unsaturated.
350
• Saturated fatty acid: each carbon atom is joined in the chain
by a single covalent bond, e.g. Stearic acid (18C)
Common in animal lipids

• Unsaturated fatty acid: the carbon chains have one

or more double bonds in chain. E.g., Linoleic acid
More common in plant lipids.

Monounsaturated FA: contain one single double bond

Polyunsaturated FA (PUFAs): contain more than one double bond

351
• High levels of fat, particularly saturated fat found in animal
products such as dairy produce and meat, are not good for
our long term health.
 A diet rich in fats is likely to result in obesity
 Saturated fats can cause problems in our metabolism;
Cause raised levels of cholesterol (lipid) in the blood.
• Cholesterol is made in the liver and carried around the body
in the blood
 It is an important component of cell membranes, sex
hormones (steroid hormones) and stress hormones
 But its high level may increases risk of getting heart
disease or diseased blood vessels.
 It builds up in blood vessels, forming fatty deposits which can block the vessels
completely

352
 Tests for lipids
a) Filter paper test (grease spot or translucent mark test)
 Positive result: A permanent translucent mark is formed by lipids on paper

 This test, although effective, is not very scientific because it does not depend
on a chemical reaction.

b) Emulsion test
 Positive result: If lipid is present, a white, cloudy
layer forms on top of the layer of water.

Result of ethanol test

for fats

353
 4. Minerals
• Mineral salts are needed in minute amounts, but lack of them
can lead to a variety of deficiency diseases. Examples:
• Calcium (Ca): make up bones and teeth, needed for many
metabolic reactions
 Its deficiency in children causes rickets; bones stay soft and
cannot support the weight of the body so the legs become
bowed.
 Good sources of Ca: milk, ergo, ayeeb
• Iron(Fe): make up haemoglobin in red blood cells
 Its deficiency results in anaemia
 Food rich in iron: red meat, liver, Shortage in red blood cells
causes shortage of oxygen in
red teff and eggs. the tissue-cause looking pale
and feeling tired

354
• Sodium ion (Na+): in food and salt we add to food
 Needed for nervous system function and the chemistry of cells
 Too much salt in the diet can lead to high blood pressure; this
can damage heart and kidneys and increase risk of a stroke.
 Many processed, ready-made foods contain much salt
Others minerals
Mineral Role in body Food rich in it Deficiency

P Making teeth & bones; mart of Most foods Improper teeth and bone formation,
many chemicals, e.g., DNA failure of metabolism
Mg Making bones, found inside cells Green vegetables Skeletal problem, cell chemistry affected,
effects in metabolism
Chlorine In body fluids, e.g., blood Common salt, most Muscular cramps
foods

• Mineral needs change throughout our life:

Growing children need more Ca for bones to grow
Women in menstrual periods need more Fe than others to
replace the lost blood each month. 355
 5. Vitamins
• Like minerals, vitamins are needed in very small amounts
• They are complex organic substances but capable of being
absorbed directly into bloodstream from the gut.
• Lack of any vitamin from the diet in the long term it will result
in a deficiency disease.
• Different foods are rich in different vitamins. For example,
• Vitamin A (retinol): fish liver oils, butter and carrots
• Vitamin B1 (thiamine): yeast extract and cereals
• Vitamin C: fruits (citrus fruits, e.g. lemon, orange) and green
vegetables
• Vitamin D (calciferol): fish liver oils and is made in skin in the
sunlight Polar bear
 Mammals store vitamin A in their livers
 The liver of a polar bear is so rich in the
vitamin that eating only 500 g would give a
lethal dose of vitamin A.
356
• The main vitamins needed in the diet and the deficiency
diseases associated with them

e.g. lemon, orange

• Beri-beri: muscles waste away resulting in paralysis of our body

• Rickets in children: Lack of vitamin D or not getting enough sunlight
• Water soluble vitamin: vitamin B1 (thiamine) and vitamin C.
• Fat soluble vitamins: include vitamins A and D.

357
 6. The role of water
• A vital constituent of a balanced diet
• Our body is between 60 and 70% water
• Water is crucial in our body for many reasons:
 Media of reaction: all of the chemical reactions in the body
take place in solution in water – it is a vital solvent
 Transport substances in the body with blood– food,
hormones, waste products (e.g., urea)
 Temperature regulation- losing heat through sweating
 Remove waste materials from our body in the urine and
sweat
 A reactant in many important reactions in the body, e.g., in
hydrolysis reactions (water added)
 For osmotic stability of the body: low water in the blood
and tissue fluid, causes lose of water by osmosis from the
body cells, causing death
358
 Fibre in the diet
• Roughage or fibre cannot be broken down and absorbed in
the gut but essential part of a healthy diet because:
– It provides bulk for the intestinal muscles to work on
– It also absorbs lots of water.
• In a diet low in roughage,
– The movement of the guts for transporting food through it
(peristalsis) is sluggish and the food moves relatively
slowly.
– This slow movement can result in constipation.

359
 Balanced diet
Why is a balanced diet important?
• Nutrition is obtaining food in order to carry out life processes
• Nutrition in plants: manufacturing their own food
• Nutrition in animals: taking in food from other living organisms
• A balanced diet: is taking food from all
major food groups to maintain a healthy
body
The major food groups are
carbohydrates, proteins, lipids,
minerals, vitamins and water
Balanced diet is needed to supply
A balanced diet contains a wide
the energy and nutrients needed to variety of foods
maintain the cells, tissues and organs
in a healthy state.
360
• Undernutrition (too little food is eaten), overnutrition (too
much food is eaten) or lack of any one element of the diet
result in malnutrition
– Malnutrition: diet is lacking in important elements needed
for a healthy body. A problem in many countries.
• Our energy need depends on many things:
– Sex: males need to take in more energy than a female of
the same age
– Pregnancy: During pregnancy the energy needs of a
woman increase as she has to provide the raw materials
for a developing baby.
– Age: a teenager, needs more energy than the ones at 70s

361
  Exercise: more exercise needs more food to take in to
supply energy needs.
Walking to school, running around
the house and garden, looking after
small children or having a physically
active jobs= all are exercises
• Much of our daily energy, between
Athletes may have a great deal of
60 and 75%, are used up in the basic muscle tissue on their bodies – up
reactions needed to keep us alive. to 40% of their body mass. They
need more food get energy.
• If more energy is taken than needed, the excess is stored as fat and
may result in obesity (overeating)
• This is becoming a major problem in developed world
 Obesity can be determined using body/mass index (BMI):
 BMI of below 18.5, or above 35, indicate some
health problems.
362
559 kg
 8.2. Non-communicable diseases(NCDs)
I. NCDs
• They are disease that are non-infectious and non-
transmissible among people
• They are also known as lifestyle diseases or chronic diseases; they
have long duration and grow slowly
• NCDs are now the leading cause of mortality worldwide; they are
responsible for 70% of global deaths
• There are various types of NCDs. The 4 main types are:
 Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) (e.g., heart attacks, hypertension
and stroke)
 Diabetes Mellitus (DM)
 Chronic respiratory diseases (e.g., chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease-COPD, asthma)
 Cancer (e.g., Cervical Cancer, Breast Cancer, Oral Cancer)

363
 Characteristic features of NCDs
• They mainly occur in a person living an unhealthy lifestyle
• They are not transmitted from person to person
• They grow slowly and stay on for very long
• They affect many vital organs in the body:
– Brain, heart, arteries, blood vessels, lungs, stomach,
intestines, liver, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, bladder, uterus,
ovaries and prostate
• They may not show any signs or symptoms initially; when
symptoms appear, it is late.

364
 II. Main causes (risk factors ) of NCDs
• Several risk factors (causes) are responsible for NCDs
• The most common causes prioritized by WHO are these four:
 Physical inactivity (overweight and obesity)
 Tobacco use (smoking)
 Alcohol use
 Unhealthy diet (increased fat and sodium with low fruit
and vegetable intake)
• Other causes of NCDs include:
 Overweight
 Stress
 Age
 Family history (gene)
 Environmental factors
365
 1. Tobacco use
• Tobacco can be used in different forms;
smoking cigarettes, gaya, chewing.
• Smoking consists of nicotine, carbon monoxide (CO)
and Tar and many other dangerous chemicals and
poisons.
Nicotine is highly addictive, so it is very hard to quit
smoking.
CO is a toxic gas with no smell or taste
Tar contains a lot of cancer-causing agents
(carcinogenic)
Passive smoking
• Passive smoking is an exposure to second hand smoking ; the
one who is near to a smoker
• Passive smokers also share the same risks as the smokers
366
Effects of tobacco use
It has several health effects:
• Risk of cancer(oral, throat,
lung stomach)
• Heart attack
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Respiratory/breathing
difficulty
• Coughing, asthma
• Low birth weight babies
• Eye problem like cataract (lens
clouding)
• Asthma
• Tooth decay/gum disease
• Bad breath
• Withdrawal symptoms:
symptoms that occur when
giving up tobacco use. These
include:
 Headache
 Nausea/vomiting
 Constipation
 Tiredness, difficulty in sleeping
 Irritability (anger)
 Anxiety/feeling of worry
 Depressed mood
 Increased hunger
 Desire (curving) for tobacco
367
 2. Alcohol use
• Alcohol comes in various forms:
– locally made alcohol. Eg. Tej, Arake,Tella, Borde, etc.
– Distilled alcohol/foreign alcohol like whisky, etc.
– Wine, Beer.
• It is broken down mostly in the liver
Healthy liver
Effects of alcohol
• Continuous heavy alcohol drinking may cause
several problems:
 Liver diseases: fatty liver, hepatitis, liver cancer
(cirrhosis) and other cancers.
 Mouth cancer, kidney and pancreas problems Liver with cirrhosis
 Damages heart, causes stroke and high blood pressure
 Complications during delivery and defects in the child.
 Weakens the body’s defense against diseases
 Mind disorders including alcohol dependence, suicidal
tendencies, depression,
 Behavioral problems (fights, violence) 368
3. Unhealthy diet
• Changes in lifestyle of people led to dietary changes and
physical inactivity; they shifted to eat unhealthy diets:
– Eating more processed (refined) and packaged foods
– Diets of animal origin that are high in fat; meat, butter,
milk, cream milk
– Diets high in salts, sugar
– Diets low in fruits, vegetables and fiber (whole grains).
Effects of unhealthy diet:
• Overweight, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, heart
diseases and stroke, cancer, inability to fight infections, gum
diseases
• Eating a Healthy diet (low in fat, sugar and salt, but high in
fruits and vegetables) prevents overweight, obesity and
reduces the risk of NCDs.
369
 4. Physical inactivity
• Physical inactivity is also the result of changes in lifestyle;
urbanization, sedentary work, leisure
• Physical activity is any body movement that involves muscles
and requires energy.
– Examples: Walking, running, playing a sport, dancing,
swimming, climbing the stairs, yoga, work like farming,
lifting and moving heavy objects, household work like
sweeping, cleaning, washing.
Effects of physical inactivity:
• Result in NCDs
• Being overweight/obese
• Accumulation of cholesterol which blocks blood flow
• Decrease in muscle mass
• It makes it difficult to do daily living activities. 370
• Unhealthy diet and physical inactivity together with other
factors such as hormonal imbalance and family history can
cause overweight/obesity
• Overweight is having body weight above a certain level
• It is often determined using body/mass index (BMI):
 BMI of below 18.5, or above 35, indicate some health
problems
• Health problems associated with overweight are:
 Cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart diseases and stroke).
High blood fat levels (E.g. cholesterol).
High blood pressure
High blood sugar – Diabetes.
Sleep disorder.
Cancer –breast, cervix, ovary, kidney, liver, prostrate cancers
Lung disorders.
371
 5. Stress
• Stress can be caused due to Effects of stress
various reasons: • It can affect the health of body
(physical) or mind (mental) or both:
Family problems
Heart disease and stroke
Poverty
High blood pressure
Dissatisfaction with job
Substance abuse
Unemployment
Digestive problems
Pressure of work
Back or neck pain, headaches
Grief (sorrow) and
Sleeping problems (sleeplessness)
migration.
Depressed mood,
Anger and irritability.
III. Main NCDs and their risk factors
1. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD)
• CVDs affect heart, blood vessels and blood
• Any serious problem to blood vessels and heart are often deadly
• CVDs include hypertension, heart attach, heart failure, stroke etc. 372
a) Hypertension(high blood pressure)
• It is a condition in which blood moves through the blood
vessels at a higher pressure than normal
– Normal pressure between 90/60-120/80mmHg, high pressure
140/90 and above.
• This requires the heart to pump blood harder through the
blood vessels. This increases the load on the heart.
• It is also referred to as “silent killer” because it can exist
without causing any warning signs or symptoms.
• If not controlled, it may lead to damage of blood vessels,
heart, brain, kidneys and eyes.
• This may result in life - threatening conditions, such as heart
diseases and stroke, diabetes, kidney diseases, etc.

373
Causes (risk factors ) of hypertension
• The following are some common factors that can lead to
high blood pressure
– Tobacco use in any form (smoking and chewing tobacco).
– Being obese or overweight
– Unhealthy diet - a diet especially high in salt, fat and low in
vegetables/fruits.
– Lack of physical activity (or sedentary lifestyle).
– Excessive alcohol consumption.
– Chronic conditions such as kidney and hormone problems,
diabetes, and high levels of harmful blood fats.
– Stress
– Family history, aging.
• Treatment of high blood pressure: controlling and avoiding the
causes 374
 b) Heart attack and stroke
• Heart attack is disease of the blood vessels that supply the heart
muscle
• Stroke is disease of blood vessels that supply the brain
• Heart attack and stroke can occur without any advance warning
Heart attack
• A person who has hypertension is at risk for having a heart attack and
stroke. These are complications of hypertension.
• Heart attack is defined as severe chest pain for more than 30 minutes,
radiating to left arm and not relieved by pain killers. It is associated
with nausea, vomiting and sweating.
• Risk factors of heart attack
– High blood pressure (hypertension).
– High blood glucose level (diabetes).
– Excess alcohol intake.
– Unhealthy foods.
– Smoking.
– Being overweight.
375
Stroke
• It is caused due to a lack of blood supply to brain, which may
be due to a blood clot/break in the blood vessel
• It results in paralysis or numbness of one side of the body. It
can also cause difficulty of speech, hearing, reading or
writing...
• Risk factors Prevention of heart attack and stroke
• Hypertension • Eating healthy and balanced diet.
• Diabetes • Avoiding smoking, alcohol.
• Being physically active
• Heart diseases
• Maintaining blood pressure at a
• Smoking, alcohol
healthy level.
• Physical inactivity, • Maintaining blood sugar at a healthy
• Overweight level.

376
 2. Diabetes (Diabetes mellitus)
• Diabetes is a chronic disease caused by:
 Low/no insulin production The body does not produce insulin
 Poor (none) use of insulin or cannot use it properly.
• As a result, glucose (sugar) builds up in the blood, resulting in
high blood glucose levels.
• Insulin is a hormone, which allows the body to use
sugar (glucose) for energy, is produced in pancreas.
Effects of high blood glucose (Diabetes)
• If the blood glucose stays too high, it can damage many
organs:
 Heart and blood vessel disease - causing heart attack and
stroke.
 Nerve damage - causing numbness, tingling in hands
and/or feet, foot ulcers and infections.
 Kidneys – causing kidney failure.
 Eyes - causing blindness.
 Oral cavity – causing gum diseases. 377
 Types of diabetes
• Diabetes is classified into three types: Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational
Diabetes
Type II Diabetes
• This is caused when the pancreas fails to produce insulin
• It develops most frequently in children and adolescents
• Treatment: taking daily injection of insulin to control glucose level
Type II Diabetes
• This occurs when the body is unable to use insulin properly.
• This type is the most common type globally and frequently occurs in
adults
Gestational Diabetes
• It occurs during pregnancy when the mother has higher
(hyperglycemia) than normal blood glucose levels
• Has complications during delivery: increased birth weight, risk of perinatal mortality,378etc.
Causes (risk factors) are: Common signs & symptoms
• Familial history(gene) • Frequent urination
• Increased thirst
• Overweight / Obesity
• Increased appetite/hunger
• Physical inactivity • Weight loss
• Smoking, alcohol, drug • Lack of energy-tiredness
• Unhealthy eating habits • Blurred vision
• High blood pressure
• Insanitary environment
• Aging
• Abnormal blood sugar
during pregnancy

379
 Control (management) of Diabetes
• It is often considered a “lifestyle disease”.
• Changing lifestyle is important to control blood glucose level
and prevent the onset of complications.
These may include:
• Maintaining a healthy body weight - avoid excess weight gain.
• Regular physical activity/exercise
• Eating a balanced and healthy diet: avoiding sugar, salt and
fats, but eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, cereals.
• Avoid tobacco in any form.
• Avoid drinking alcohol.
• Checking up blood sugar level regularly.
• Taking medication or insulin.
380
 3. Cancers
• Cancer is the uncontrolled division or growth of cells in any
part of the body.
• It can spread to other parts and organs of the body

Common causes (risk factors)

of cancer Treatment of cancers
• Tobacco smoking • Surgery,
• Alcohol consumption
• Medicines or
• Physical inactivity
• Unhealthy diet • Radiotherapy (treatment
• Worry/stress using X-rays).

381
Common types of cancers
• There are various kinds of cancers

382
 Breast and Cervical Cancers: affect women
Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer
• Multiple sexual partners.
• Unprotected sex.
• Early marriage.
• Early age at first child birth.
• Higher numbers of pregnancy
and childbirth.
• Smoking.
Risk Factors for Breast Cancer
• Early onset of menstrual
period.
• Late menopause.
• Late age at first child birth.
• Alcohol and tobacco use.
• Family history.
• Being overweight.
• Lack of physical activity.
• Shorter duration or no
breastfeeding.
383
 4. Chronic Respiratory Diseases (CRDs)
• CRDs are long term diseases of the airways and
other structures of the lung.
Common CRDs are:
Asthma:
• Chronic (long-term) lung disease that inflames and narrows the
airways.
• It causes recurring attacks of shortness of breath, chest tiredness,
cough and wheezing (a breathe with whistling sound).
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD,
chronic bronchitis or emphysema)
• This is a group of lung conditions that make it difficult to
take in and expel air from the lungs due to narrowing of
the airways.
• Chronic Bronchitis – means the airways are inflamed and narrowed
• Emphysema – affects the alveolus (air sacs).
Causes of CRDs: Tobacco use, chemicals in the workplace, air pollution, dust 384
inhaled (asbestos etc.)
 8.3. The digestive system
• The food we eat should be broken down to small soluble
molecules to be used by cells
• Digestion: the breakdown of large food materials into smaller
usable molecules in the digestive system (gut)
 It is hydrolysis reaction (splitting by adding water), the opposite of
condensation reaction.

Carbohydrates Human digestive system

Proteins Into smaller molecules (gut)

 simple sugars, amino acids or fatty acids,

Lipids

385
• Digestive system works by two mechanisms:
a) Physical (mechanical) breakdown of food:
• Food is physically broken down into smaller pieces by
– biting and chewing food with teeth in the mouth
– Churning and squeezing the food by the muscular gut
Increases area for the digestive enzymes to work on.
b) Chemical breakdown of food:
• Food is chemical broken down by enzymes
Enzymes
• Enzymes are proteins that speed up (catalyze) chemical reactions
• They are not affected by the reaction they catalyze
• They work best under very specific conditions of temperature and
pH.
• They are very specific – each reaction is catalyzed by a specific
enzyme.
• Intracellular enzymes: work inside cells; extracellular enzyme
(digestive enzymes)- secreted into organs (e.g., gut)and work there
386
 The working of the gut
Digestion in the mouth
• Digestion involves various areas of the digestive system (gut)
and stages: mouth, stomach and small intestine
Physical digestive in mouth
• Ingestion: taking foodstuff into the
body through the mouth
• Mastication: food is physically
chopped into smaller pieces by
biting and chewing using teeth.
 This provides greater surface area for the
action of digestive enzymes

• Teeth are needed for a variety of

different jobs – gripping food,
tearing food and chewing food

Human digestive system 387

• Teeth has various shapes that are suited to
different functions
• Humans have varied diet (omnivores) and
hence have different types of teeth:
 Incisors and canines: used for biting
 Premolars and molars: used for chewing
and crushing food
Structural parts of teeth:
Enamel: the non-living and hardest top covering
Dentine: the living under the enamel, similar to bone in hardness.
It is supplied with oxygen and nutrients
Pulp cavity: found in the center and contains nerves and blood
vessels
Root: inserted into jaw bone
Cement: fibrous tissue that holds the teeth firmly in place
388
 Tooth decay (dental caries)
• teeth can be affected by the bacteria that
cause dental caries
• Bacteria naturally found in the mouth
combined with food and saliva form a thin
film (plaque) on teeth (dental caries) Tooth decay

Bacteria action on a sugar-rich diet produces a lot of acid waste

This acid attacks and dissolves the tough enamel and also some of
the dentine
Then the bacteria can get into the tooth, reproduce and feed,
consume the tooth and reach the nerves of the pulp cavity
causing toothache
Bacteria can also affect gums, causing periodontal disease, which
eventually may cause loss of all the teeth
Taking in lots of acidic food and drink (e.g., fruits and cola) can
also weaken the enamel
389
 • These teeth and gum diseases cause pain, bad breath, loss of
teeth and difficulty eating
• Ways to avoid tooth decay include:
– Regular brushing of your teeth and gums twice a day to
remove plaque
– Avoiding sweet, sugary foods
– Having regular dental check-ups

Chemical digestion in mouth:

• Saliva from the salivary glands contains a carbohydrase enzyme
called amylase
• Amylase digests complex carbs (starch) into simpler sugars

390
 Moving the food on
Swallowing (deglutition)
• The saliva coated chunk of food (a
bolus) moves to the back of throat to
be swallowed.
• Swallowing is a reflex action that
takes place when food reaches the
back of throat
• When swallowing, epiglottis closes
over the trachea, preventing food
going down into lungs: we can’t
swallow and breathe in at the same
time
Peristalsis
• The swallowed food travels down the oesophagus or gullet by
peristalsis (squeezing bolus along by wavelike muscular contractions).
It occurs all the way through the gut to move the food through, to mix with
enzymes and to physically break down the food 391
 Digestion in stomach
• Food passes through a ring of muscle (a sphincter located at
the lower end of the oesophagus) into stomach
• The stomach is a muscular bag that produces:
 Protease enzymes (mainly pepsin) to digest protein.
 Concentrated solution of hydrochloric acid.
Creates acidic medium (optimum pH 2) for pepsin action
Kills bacteria taken with food
 Mucus to protect the muscle walls from being digested by
the protease enzymes and acid.
• The muscles of the stomach churns (physical digestion) and
squeeze the contents into a thick creamy paste
• A paste of partly digested food (chyme) is squeezed out of the
stomach through pyloric sphincter into duodenum.
392
 Digestion in small intestine
• Chyme from stomach
duodenum, the first part
of the small intestine
(duodenum, Jejunum and
ileum)
• There the food is mixed
with two more liquids: bile
and enzymes.

1. Bile: is a greenish-yellow alkaline liquid produced in the liver and

stored in gall bladder. The bile does two important jobs:
It neutralizes the acid from stomach and makes the chyme alkaline,
creating ideal alkaline medium for enzyme in small intestine
Emulsifies fats – breaks down large drops of fat into smaller
droplets (increase surface area for lipase action). Fat
+ Bile droplets 393
2. Enzymes
• Duodenum gets enzymes from pancreas
• Pancreas:
 Endocrine cells produce hormones
 Excorine cells produce digestive enzymes for carbs, proteins
and fats digestion
• The other small intestine part produces carbohydrase, protease
and lipase enzymes of its own
• The food is completely digested in the alkaline environment, and
is moved along by peristalsis
Enzymes of the human digestive system

394
Absorption, transportation and assimilation
Absorption
• The digested food (glucose, amino acids, fatty acids and glycerol) are
absorbed by small intestine (by diffusion) and go into blood supply
• Lining of the small intestine has many
finger-like projections (villi and
microvilli) to increase surface area for
diffusion
Glucose and amino acids go directly
into the blood.
Fatty acids and glycerol move initially
into the lacteals (part of lymph
system). The lymphatic fluid eventually
drains into the blood.
• All food in the blood are carried by hepatic portal vein to the
liver, which processes some of the food
• The remain food are transported by blood to the cells.
• The food are taken up by the cells (assimilation) 395
 Role of large intestine and egestion
• The remains after absorption move along by muscle
contractions into the large intestine.
– A watery mixture of enzymes, undigested food (mainly
cellulose), bile pigments, dead cells and mucus
• Water is absorbed back into bloodstream by diffusion in
this section.
• By the end of the large intestine, a thick paste (faeces)
remains and leaves the body via rectum and anus
• Egestion: regulated removal of faeces from the body as a
result of rectal muscle contraction
Egestion vs excretion = excretion is the removal of waste products from the cell
The color of faeces comes from the breakdown products of bile.
 Throughput time: the time taken for food to travel through digestive tract396
 Issues of digestive health
Constipation
• Faeces that remain too long in the large intestine have too
much water removed and become compacted and difficult to
evacuate from the body
• The most common causes are a lack of fibre in the diet and
not drinking enough water.
• Treatments:
– eating more fibre; this gives the muscles of the gut more
material to work on
– Drinking plenty (so the faeces remain soft)
– sometimes taking laxatives; chemicals which stimulate the
gut to contract and force out the faecal material.
397
Diarrhoea
• producing loose and watery faeces due to infection of the gut
• It often clears up within 24 hours, but if it persists it can be
fatal as it causes dehydration of the tissues.
• It can be treated by giving frequent drinks of water with
rehydration salts (mainly salt and sugar) to keep the body
tissues hydrated.
Food hygiene
• This is keeping the safety of food to avoid food-borne diseases
• For example, raw meat and raw eggs can contain bacteria such
as salmonella that cause diarrhoea and sickness (vomiting).
• To maintain food hygiene keep hygiene rules, e.g.:
Store raw meat and eggs separately from salad vegetables and
fruit
Wash the knives used to cut meat and the work surfaces,
398
disinfect work surfaces regularly, hand washing
• preserving food to prevent bacteria from growing on the food
– Canned food: it is heated to high temperatures and sealed
so that the air cannot get in (this kills bacteria)
– Bottling is a similar process which uses glass bottles: kills
the bacteria with heat, deprives them of oxygen and
causes osmotic damage using the sugar or salt solution
– food can be dried – there is no water so bacteria cannot
grow and the food stays good

399
 8.4. The human respiratory system
• Breathing brings oxygen into the body and removes the waste
carbon dioxide
• It consists of various respiratory tracts:
Nasal passages
• Adapted to clean and warm air:
have a large surface area, a good
blood supply, lots of hairs and a
lining that secretes mucus.
• hairs and mucus filter out dust
and small particles such as
bacteria and pollen
• moist surfaces increase the
humidity of the air

400
Trachea (windpipe)
• Has rings of cartilage (shaped like the letter C)
that support it and hold it open
• major airway connecting the larynx (a voice
box on the top of trachea) with the lungs; air
moves down through it.
• Its lining secretes mucus, which collects bacteria and dust particles
• Cells lining the trachea are covered in hair-like cilia that beat
to move the mucus with any trapped micro-organisms and dirt
away from lungs and towards mouth.

401
 Bronchi and bronchioles:
• trachea splits into two tubes; the left and right bronchi
(bronchus) leading to each lung
• It is supported by rings of cartilage
• Inside the lungs, the bronchi divide into smaller tubes
(bronchioles)
Alveoli (alveolus)
• the main structures of the lungs (lung tissue)
• They are tiny air sacs (500 millions) that provide a
high surface area and kept moist for exchange of
gases in the lungs
• Only two cell layers thick
• Surrounded by a rich blood supply (capillaries)

402
 Mechanism of breathing
Pulmonary ventilation: How is air brought into the lungs?
• The exchange of gases between lung and atmosphere
• It takes place due to pressure difference between lungs and
atmosphere (follows Boyle’s law: P =1/V)
• Two different sets of muscles change the pressure in the chest cavity:
Intercoastal muscles and diaphragm
How these muscles work during inhalation and exhalation?

Inhalation (breathing) Exhalation (breathing out)

V increases, V decreases,
P decreases P increases
inside inside

403
• Two sets of intercostal muscles
External intercostal muscles:
used in normal, quiet breathing
When these muscles contract ribs lift
up, and when they relax ribs fall back
to their original position due to gravity

Internal intercostal muscles:

Use when we need to breathe out deliberately,
forcing the air out of our lungs
They are used during hard exercise; their
contraction pull the ribs down hard and squeeze
more air out of lungs.

404
 The process of gaseous exchange
• Exchange of gases between alveoli and blood
• This occurs by concentration gradient of gases
– When air is breathed into the lungs, O2 diffusion into the blood
– At the same time CO2 diffuses out of the blood into the lungs

Pumped to body tissue

Blood coming
from body
tissue pumped
to lung

High O2
Low CO2
In blood
High CO2
Low O2

• Gas exchange in the alveoli depends on a large surface area,

moist surfaces, short diffusion distances, and a rich blood
supply maintaining steep concentration gradients. 405
 Factors affecting breathing rate
What affects breathing rate?
• Average resting breathing rate for adult human is around 12–
14 breaths per minute
• Tidal volume of air: the amount of air breathed in during
normal breathing at rest
• Vital capacity of the lungs: is the absolute maximum amount
of air that can be taken into or breathed out of lungs.
• If more oxygen is need for any reason, there are two ways to
get more air into the body (a combination of the two):
– By breathing faster
– By breathing more deeply
• Anything that increases the oxygen need of the body will
increase breathing rate.
 The main factors are: exercise, anxiety, drugs,
environmental factors, altitude, weight and smoking.
406
 Exercise
• During exercise, muscles contract harder and
faster; they need more glucose and oxygen to
supply their energy needs and increased
amounts of carbon dioxide
• This needs increased breathing rate and more
deep breathing.
• In exercising lungs get bigger and can supply
more oxygen to the muscles
• Benefits of regular exercise for health and fitness
Keeps muscles toned
Muscles less likely to feel stiff and sore after exercise
blood supply to your muscles increases; more O2 & glucose
Both heart and lungs become larger

407
 Anxiety and drugs
• Anxiety affects breathing rate because our body reacts to it as
danger and need extra oxygen, increasing breathing, to run way
or fight
• Drugs (medicines, drugs taken for pleasure) can affect breathing
rate in many ways:
– Khat, amphetamines (nervous system stimulant) and
cocaine, for example, can cause breathing rate to increase
dramatically
– depressants can cause the breathing rate to drop alarmingly
and even stop
Environmental factors
• Some conditions change the concentrations of gases that control breathing
 In hot time, our body works hard to keep cool, which increase breathing
 Increased level of carbon dioxide in the air increase breathing rate; a build-
up of carbon dioxide in the body triggers the breathing response

408
 Altitude
• Both atmospheric pressure and oxygen levels in the air
decrease when altitude increase above sea level
• Above 3650 m above sea level, there is a noticeable lack of
oxygen and breathing rate will increase keep oxygen levels up.
• People who live at high altitude (e.g., in the Himalayas and the
Andes) adapted to the challenge:
 They have increased lung volume with many more alveoli
 They more blood capillaries and red blood cells to pick up the
oxygen from the air.
Weight
• Excess weight can affect breathing rate
• It becomes difficult to breathe deeply because
Fat around the abdominal organs makes it difficult for the
diaphragm to lower properly
It becomes difficult for the muscles to move the excess weight
409
around
 Smoking and its effects on lungs and other body
• People in Ethiopia: These produce many chemicals
that may cause smoking-related
 smoke cigarettes
death such as cancer
 smoke shisha
 use native tobaccos such as gaya (smoked in a pipe,
inhaled like snuff or chewed).
• Nicotine is the addictive drug found in tobacco smoke.
• Carbon monoxide is a very poisonous gas found in
cigarette smoke.
– After smoking up to 10% of a smoker’s blood will be carrying
carbon monoxide rather than oxygen, leading to
shortage of oxygen.
– This is more marked in pregnant women; shortage
of O2 in mothers blood may cause problems :
the foetus is deprived of O2 and does not grow
lead to premature births, low birth-weight
babies, and death
410
 Smoking-related diseases
• Tar is a sticky black chemical in tobacco smoke and
accumulates in the lungs, turning them from pink to grey.
• Effects of tar:
– Cause bronchitis, inflammation and infection of the bronchi.
– The build-up of tar in lung tissue can lead to a breakdown in
the alveolar structure (chronic obstructive pulmonary
diseases, COPD).
 COPD is reduction of surface area of the lungs due to breakdown of
the alveoli
– Tar is a major carcinogen (a cancer causing substance)-
causes lung cancer (up to 90% lung cancer due to smoking).
• Problems of Tobacco smoking
– cancers of the throat, mouth and larynx
– Affect heart and blood vessels (block vessels)
411
 Failure of breathing
• Sometimes breathing fails due to many reasons: an accident,
drowning or a heart attack
• Once breathing stops, death will result in a matter of minutes
as the brain in particular is starved of oxygen
• Ways of taking over breathing for a casualty:
– By expired air resuscitation (mouth-to-mouth resuscitation): forcing air
into the lungs of the person who has stopped breathing
• There are procedures for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
(Read!!)

412
 8.5. The circulatory system
• In small, single-celled organisms exchange materials between
the outside world and the inside of their cells takes place by
simple diffusion
• In large animals such as human, surface area to volume ratio
is smaller so diffusion alone is not enough to supply the body
needs.
• Human beings are made up of billions of cells, which are far
away from a direct source of food or oxygen, so a more
complex transport system is required to supply materials
• Main roles of circulatory system:
 Supplies glucose and oxygen to the cell for respiration
 Removes waste products of metabolism (e.g., CO2)
 Transport many chemicals (e.g. hormones) to and from the
various organ systems 413
• The blood circulation system of human has three elements:
– The pipes (blood vessels),
– The pump (the heart)
– The medium (the blood).
Systemic circulation 2
Double circulation- mammals’ feature
• Two transport systems within the body
1. Carrying blood from heart to
lungs and back again. This is Pulmonary circulation
1
pulmonary circulation.
2. Carrying blood all around the
rest of the body and back again.
This is systemic circulation.
• A double circulation is important in warm-blooded, active
animals because it is very efficient; it lets blood get fully
oxygenated in the lungs before going to the body. 414
 Blood vessels
• Vessels are the pathways along which the transport of blood takes
place
• There are three main types of blood vessels: arteries, veins and
capillaries, adapted to carry out a specific role.

• Link veins and

• Carry oxygenated blood (bright red) • carry deoxygenated blood arteries
away from heart; except pulmonary and towards heart (low O2, • Take blood to all
umbilical arteries deep purple-red colored) the organs and
• Can withstand the pumping force of the • blood in them is under tissues of the
heart, can stretch as the blood is forced lower pressure as it is far body
through them and recoil away from force of the
• They are close to surface in wrist & a heart 415
pulse can be felt there
• The only arteries that carry deoxygenated blood are:
– the pulmonary arteries: carry blood away from heart to lungs
– the umbilical artery: carries blood away from a foetus into
the placenta
• Veins do not have a pulse, but have valves to prevent the back-
flow of blood from
• The only veins that carry bright red (oxygenated) blood are:
– the pulmonary veins: carry blood back from lungs to the left-
hand side of heart
– the umbilical vein: carries blood from the placenta back to
the foetus to supply it with the food and oxygen

416
 • Capillaries link arteries and veins and take the blood into
all the organs and tissues; the site of the exchange of
substances within the body.
Arteries
 Blood from the Cells
arteries passes into
the capillaries
Substances such as O2
and glucose can easily Capillaries
diffusion out of the blood
along a concentration
gradient.
Veins
Venule Interstitial fluid

 Substances produced by the cells such as CO2 diffusion into the blood capillaries
 Blood leaves the capillary network flowing back into veins to be returned to the heart
417
Deoxygenated Oxygenated blood
blood from heart from lung to heart
to lung

Oxygenated blood
Deoxygenated blood
from heart to body
returns from tissues
tissues
to heart

The main components of the human circulatory system.

418
 The human heart
• Hear is a muscular organ that beats from the early
development in the uterus until the end of life
• It pumps blood around the body
• It is made up of a unique type of muscle, cardiac
muscle, which can contract and relax continuously
without fatiguing.
• Its walls are muscular and are supplied with blood
by the coronary arteries, which constantly supply
glucose and O2, and avoid build up of CO2 in the
tissue.
• The deoxygenated blood is carried away in the External view to show
coronary veins, which feed back into the right coronary arteries
atrium. (Coronary circulation)

419
• The walls of the ventricles are much thicker, as they have to
pump the blood out through the major blood vessels.
• The walls of the atria are relatively thin, so they can stretch to
contain a lot of blood
• The muscle walls of the left-hand side of the heart are thicker
than on the right. This is because:
– The left-hand side of the heart has to pump blood around
the whole body. The right-hand side pumps only to the
lungs.
• The heart has two pumps that beat at the same time so that
blood can be delivered to the body about 70 times each
minute. Diastolic and systolic.

421
 The working of the heart
• The two sides of the heart fill and empty at the same time to
give a strong, coordinated beat.
• When heart pumps blood, valves open and close
– Some valves open to allow the blood to flow in the right
direction
– Other valves close to make sure that the blood does not
flow backwards
• the heartbeat we hear through a stethoscope is the sound of
these valves transporting the surging blood
• First atria fill with blood and then the ventricles fill, followed by
the contraction of both ventricles, emptying the heart: these
are called diastole and systole.
– Diastole: is when the heart muscles relax and it fills with blood.
– Systole: is when the heart muscles contract and force the blood
out of the heart.
422
 • How diastole and systole work?

Veins Passive filling P. vein

• Deoxygenated blood • Oxygenated blood
returning from body returning from lungs
fills up right atrium fills up left atrium

• Right atrium contracts • Left atrium contracts B

and forces blood into and forces blood into
T
right ventricle left ventricle
Atrial force

• Right ventricle contracts and

Diastole: heart P. artery forces deoxygenate blood out Systole: ventricles
muscle is relaxed of heart to lungs Ventricular force contract and force
and atria and blood out through the
• Left ventricle contracts and arteries. Tricuspid and
ventricles fill with
Arteries forces oxygenated blood out of bicuspid valves close to
blood.
heart to body. prevent blood passing
Atrioventricular valves open
back into atria.
Low pressure 423
Semilunar valves open
High pressure
Measuring blood pressure:
• The pressure at which the blood travels around arteries varies
as do the heart beats.
• Blood pressure is used as a measure of the health of both the
heart and the blood vessels.
– Diastole: when the heart is relaxed and filling with blood
the blood pressure is lowest. This diastolic blood pressure
(the lower reading)
– Systole: when the heart contracts and forces blood out
into arteries, the blood pressure is highest. This is systolic
blood pressure (higher reading).
– A normal blood pressure is 120 mmHg/80 mmHg – usually
quoted as 120 over 80 or 120/80 (systolic/diastolic).

424
• At rest, heart beats steadily at around 70 beats every minute,
supplying all the needs of the cells
• During physical exercise, muscles need more food and oxygen
to work, and the heart supplies more blood by two ways:
– Heart beats faster – the pulse rate can go up from rest to
120 or 140 beats a minute, increasing blood flow in the
body.
– Heart can also increase the amount of blood pumped out at
each heartbeat.
• Physical exercise and being fit, makes the heart to become
bigger and stronger
• Fit people have slow resting heartbeats –as low as 50 beats a
minute because their heart pumps more blood with each beat.
• Heart rate also increases when we are worried, stressed or
angry.
425
 The blood
• In the circulatory system, heart is the
pump, vessel is the carrier and blood is the
transport medium
• Blood is a mixture of cells (blood cells) and
liquid (blood plasma) that carries various
substances around the body
Blood plasma
• Plasma is a pale yellow liquid that transports:
Transports all blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells
and platelets.
A number of other things:
CO2 produced in the tissue is transported back to lungs,
Urea waste product from the breakdown of excess proteins in
liver, is transported to kidneys to be removed as urine
All the small, soluble products of digestion pass into blood and
transported by plasma to cells and tissues of the body
426
Blood cells:
1. Red blood cells (RBC):
• The main component of blood; more RBCs than any other type
of blood cell
• Their main role is carrying oxygen around body and supplying it
to the cells
• They have special red substance called haemoglobin, which
picks up and transport oxygen
• Haemoglobin is a large protein molecule folded around four
iron atoms.
How does haemoglobin work?
 In a high O2 concentration, such as in the lungs, haemoglobin reacts with O2
to form oxyhaemoglobin (bright scarlet or red colored). Arterial blood is
bright red due to it.

 At low oxygen concentration area , such as cells and organs of the body,
the reaction reverses; oxyhaemoglobin splits to give purple-red
427
haemoglobin (venous blood color) and O2 (diffuses into cells) .
• They are made in bone marrow
• When mature, RBCs lose their nucleus. As a result:
– There is more room to carry extra haemoglobin (adaptation to
their function)
– They only live 100–120 days in the body and are constantly
replaced as they lack nucleus to reproduce.
• Eating enough iron in the diet is important for the
haemoglobin and RBC synthesis. Shortage of RBCs –anaemia
• RBCs have a unique shape-biconcave discs (another
adaptation to their function).
– This gives them a large surface area to volume ratio for their
role (diffusion of O2 into and out of the cell)
• RBCs also have a thin surface membrane for ease of diffusion.
– This allows them to squeeze easily through the very narrow
capillaries.

428
2. White blood cells (WBCs):
• WBCs are much bigger than RBCs and are fewer.
• They have a nucleus and form part of the body’s defense
system against microbes
• There various types of WBCs:
– Some WBCs such as lymphocytes form antibodies against
microbes
– Others such as phagocytes engulf invading bacteria.
3. Platelets
• They are small fragments of cells and are important in helping
blood to clot at the site of a wound.

They form a network of protein threads at

wounds → then more platelets and RBCs
pouring from wound become entangled in
the threads forming a jelly-like clot → this
clot dries and hardens to form scab 429
 Human blood groups
• Special proteins (antigens) are found on the surface of all cells
• Antigens allow cells to recognize each other and cells from
different organisms
• When cells of immune system (WBCS) recognize a foreign
antigen on a cell in body, they produce antibodies (proteins)
which join on to the antigen and destroy the foreign cells.
• RBCs contain various antigens on their surface, which gives the
various human blood groups.
The ABO blood system:
• Best known blood grouping system
• Has two possible antigens on the RBCs– antigen A & antigen B.
• Has two possible antibodies in the plasma-antibody a &
antibody b
• These antibodies are present in the body all the time; they are
not made in response to a particular antigen.
430
 Antigens and antibodies of different blood groups

• When different blood groups are mixed together, a reaction

occurs between antigen and the complementary antibody
which makes the RBCs stick together (agglutinate).
Blood transfusion
• Giving blood from one person to another to save life
• First, the blood groups of both the donor and the recipient
should be known before transfusion. This is to give the right
type (compatible) to prevent agglutination.
• Cells don’t produced antibodies against their own antigens
431
The compatibility of the different blood groups for blood
transfusion
• If not compatible, a recipient’s
antibody destroys donor’s antigen

• Blood O has no antigens so it can be

given to anyone
• Someone with O blood has both
antibodies so they can only receive O
blood
• Blood AB has no antibodies and can
receive any type of blood!

• Only people who are free from HIV

infection should donate blood

432
 Common problems of circulatory system
Anaemia: common in Ethiopia
• A condition due to too few RBCs or oxygen-carrying red pigment
(haemoglobin) in the body. Its main causes:
– A lack of iron in the diet-the common cause.
– Malnutrition, bleeding due to various factors
– Also in women, menstrual and child birth bleeding, and high iron
demand during pregnancy.
• Main symptoms are tiredness and lack of energy
Hypertension (high blood pressure): also common in Ethiopia
• High blood pressure (if >140/90): greater than 140 mmHg systolic
pressure or greater than 90 mmHg diastolic pressure
• Its cause is unknown for 90% of the cases, for 10% it is the symptom
of other disease (kidney disease, alcohol abuse, hormone
disturbance)
• Its risk factors are linked to blood vessels (being narrower or rigid):
increasing age, being overweight, excess salt, alcohol, being inactive
lifestyle, smoking, kidney disease, diabetes
• Treatment: losing weight, lowering salt, being active, drugs etc.
Drugs (diuretics-increase urination, and beta blockers) 433
 8.6. The nervous system
• All living organisms respond to stimuli in their surrounding
• This response to the stimuli (changes in the surrounding)
requires coordination and control
• There are to coordination and control systems in the body:
– Nervous system: this is involved in the most rapid
responses; it involves the passage of electrical impulses
around the body.
– Endocrine (hormonal) system: this involves the movement
of chemical messages around the body and slower than
nervous system.
Nervous co-ordination
• Single-celled organisms and plants don’t have nervous system but
multicellular organisms have this system
• Human beings have a highly complex nervous system that provides
rapid and coordinated response our surrounding 434
• The nervous system has two main parts.
– Central nervous system (CNS): consists of brain & spinal cord.
• Information coordination or processing center
– Peripheral (body) nervous system: consists of neurons (nerve cells)
and sensory receptors
• The huge network of nerves running all over the body carrying
information to and from the CNS
How nervous co-ordination works
• Sensory receptor (nerve ending) detects a stimulus → information
passes along affector (afferent) neurons to CNS → CNS process or
coordinates the information → instructions sent to effector organs
(muscle and glands) along effector (efferent) neurons.
Sense organ → afferent neuron → central nervous system → efferent neurons → muscles

Neurons
• Neurons are the basic structural and functional unit of nervous
system:
• They react to the world around them (irritability) and conduct
nerve impulses (electricity) 435
 Structure of neurons
• Cell body: contains cell nucleus,
mitochondria, and other organelles.
• Dendrites: slender finger-like processes
originated from cell body and used to
connect to neighboring nerve cells
• Axon (nerve fibre): long and thin process, and the most distinctive
feature of all neurons.
Carry nerve impulse from one place to another
Generate impulse (react to the stimulus)
Axon membrane changes its permeability to Na+ to creates impulse
Has fine, bulged extensions at its end (axon terminals, telodendria)
• Myelin sheath: fatty insulating coat that Nodes of Ranvier:
grows around many nerves and speeds up the • Bare axon membrane,
constrictions (gaps) between
flow of impulse. adjacent Schwann cells of
• Schwann cells- neuroglial cells forming myelinated axons, speed up
Myelin sheath conduction. 436
 • Three types of neurons:
Afferent (sensory ): receives sensory massage from
receptors and transmits it to CNS
Interneurons (association or relay neurons): associated
afferent and efferent neurons within CNS
Efferent (effector or motor): carry impulses away from
CNS to effector organs (muscles or gland). Unipolar neuron
Afferent (affector) neuron
Efferent (effector) neuron

Aton terminal
Interneurons
on muscle fibers
(nerve-muscle
junctions)
Efferent
Multipolar neuron Afferent 437
Multipolar neuron
 • Cranial nerves: 12 pairs
Nerves (nerve fibers) of nerves that emerge
• Nerves are bundles of neurons directly from brain stem
– effector nerves: carry only effector neurons
– affector nerves: carry only affector neurons
– mixed nerves: carry a mixture of effector and affector
neurons. Spinal nerves (31 pairs): mixed nerves arising from spinal cord
Generation of nerve impulse
• Nerve impulses: is an electrical event created due to charge
differences across the membrane of the axon
• Action potential: a wave of positive charge (potential) created
inside the axon when a neuron is stimulated
Potential of a resting neuron Potential of stimulated neuron
Action potential
Resting potential Axon membrane
Action potential- a tiny
electrical charge
Axon
438
 Synapse and synaptic transmission Synapse

• Neurons are not continuous ‘wires’

running along the body; but one is joined
to another neuron at synapse
• Synapse: the junction (gap) between one
neuron and another.
• Electrical impulse cannot cross the gap
Synaptic transmission
• Across the synapse, the impulse passes by means of chemical
transmission (by neurotransmitters ).
When an impulse arrives at the end of a neuron, chemicals
are released
These chemical transmitters cross the synapse and are
picked up by special receptor cells in the end of the next
neuron.
• Neurotransmitters (Acetylcholine, norepinephrine) are chemicals that
439
transmit electrical impulse at synapse.
 • Neurotransmitter binding on receptor starts up an electrical
impulse (action potential), which then travels along the next
neuron (action potential propagation). Axon terminal (axon bulb)

Neuron 1

Neuron 2

Synaptic vesicles
• Synapses are important for the co-ordination of information in CNS
• Neuromuscular junctions: are special synapses between effector
neurons and muscles they stimulate. They work in similar ways to
synapse of neurons.
• Some medicines and poisons work by blocking chemical transmission
440
across a synapse or by speeding it up. E.g.,Botulinus toxin, Organophosphorus
 Central nervous system (CNS)
• Consists of brain and spinal
cord.
1. Brain
• Composed of a delicate mass
of nervous tissue (nerve cells)
• Enclosed in membranes
(meninges) and fluid
(cerebrospinal fluid).
• Protected by skull (cranial)
bones in a cranium space.
• Contain cranial nerves-12 pairs (PNS): they
innervate head and neck region (e.g., eyes,
tongue, jaws)
441
 Main areas of the brain:
• Forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain
• These different areas carry out different
functions
• Cerebrum
Forebrain:
• The large frontal area of the brain that
contains:
Olfactory lobes: concerned with smell
Cerebral hemispheres: involved in all
higher levels of thought
Some areas of the cerebrum are involved Cerebellum
in the coordination and interpretation of Medulla oblongata
sensory (affector) input from sense organs.
Other areas are involved in sending out
effector impulses
442
 • Midbrain: contain the areas that deal with vision (the optic
lobes)
• Hindbrain: forms the areas that deal with balance and
orientation (cerebellum) and the most fundamental reflexes
of life such as breathing (the medulla).
Brain cross-section
Grey matter: contains the cell
bodies of neurons and the (outside)
synapses that connect them.
The bulk of the brain is
made up of grey matter (inside)
Synapses
(outside part)
 Consist of unmyelinated nerve cells

White matter: inside the brain and contain the axons

(myelinated) that lead into and out of the brain.
443
• mental illness: psychological, emotional, or behavioral disorders.
2. Spinal cord
• Runs out from brain down the body
• Encased and protected by the vertebrae making up the spine.
• Contain spinal nerves (31 pairs): they go to the arms, the legs
and the trunk (the rest of your body).

(outside)
Contains axons

Nerve fiber
(inside)
Contains cell bodies and
short relay neurons

444
 Voluntary and reflex control
• Sense organs: respond to or detect changes in external and
internal environment
• Information on this change is sent to CNS through affactor
nerves and processed there. Then response is sent to
effectors via effector nerves.
Voluntary control
• Many activities we do are voluntary (we choose to do) and need
voluntary response (by voluntary effector organ, e.g. skeletal muscle)
• For example, seeing mango and deciding to buy it:
Seeing mango: eyes detect and send information to spinal cord via affector neurons
Electrical signal goes via affector neurons in spinal cord and reaches brain
Information is processed in the brian
Electrical messages are sent back from brain along effector nerves to spinal cord
Message is transferred to effector nerves connected to muscles of arm and hand that
enable us to make a voluntary movement= we take the mango, bring it to nose to
smell
In the same way information from smell and other receptors goes to brain,
proceeded, response is given (the mango is ripe so we buy it and other reponses)445
A reflex (involuntary) action
• A sudden, automatic and uncontrolled response of parts of the
body or the whole body to stimuli
• This action of our body is so rapid (very fast) that there is no time
for conscious thought. Examples of reflexes:
– Touching very hot thing: we withdraw our hand before we are
Protective reflexes

consciously sensing the pain.

– Eye blink: we blink unconsciously when some object approaches
to our face
– Eye pupil reflex (dilation or constriction)
– Breathing: we can’t consciously control diaphragm and
intercostal muscles
– Churning of food by gut muscles (smooth muscles)
– Knee jerk
• Reflexes are usually involved in helping us to avoid danger or
damage, and taking care of basic bodily functions

446
• In a reflex action, messages do not reach a conscious area of the
brain before instructions are sent out to take action.
• Many reflexes involve the spinal cord while others involve the
brain.
• Reflexes involve three types of neuron: affector, relay and
effector neurons.
– Relay neurons connect the affector and effector neurons directly in
CNS
• Reflex arc: neural path of a reflex and involves receptors,
neurons and effectors.
• Spinal reflexes have short reflex arc as they involve spinal cord
but not brain for information processing.
• This is the pathway for most reflex actions:
Stimulus → receptor → afferent neuron → coordinator → efferent neuron →
effector → response
This is similar to voluntary action, except that in a reflex the coordinator is a
relay neuron either in spinal cord or in the unconscious areas of brain. 447
 • Example for how reflex works: withdrawing finger from a sharp pin

• When we put our

finger on a sharp pin:
affector neuron

Finger
Pin effector neuron

Sensory receptor Impulses from a sensory Impulse from affector neuron

(nerve ending in receptor pass via affector arrives synapse & passes by
skin) detects neuron to CNS (in this case chemical transmission to a
stimulus spinal cord) through dorsal short relay neuron
root
Impulse reaching 2nd
Impulses cause effector Impulses move to synapse (between relay
organ to bring about effector organ (muscle and effector neuron)
change; muscle contract & of upper arm) via passes by chemical
move hand upward effector neuron transmission
448
• If we put hand on hot object the path will be:
Hand on hot plate → temperature and pain receptors in skin → afferent neuron →
relay neuron in spinal cord → efferent neuron → muscles of arm → moving hand
away from hot object.

Conditioned reflexes
• Not all reflexes are simple, some of them can be learnt.
• Ivan Pavlov investigated conditioned reflex action using a dog
Bell was rung with no
Dog produces Bell was rung
food supplied but dog
saliva at the sight every time food was
salivated
of food (reflex supplied, dog salivated.
action)

Dog had learnt to associate the sound of the bell with the presence of food.
Salivation at the sound of the bell became a reflex action, which is not innate, but
acquired by experience or learning = conditioned reflex
• This helps an animal to learn new ways of behaving. So, reflexes are important
both for keeping us safe, and for helping us to learn. 449
 Drug abuse
• A drug is a substance which alters the way in which our mind,
or body, or both, works
• Some drugs can be used for medicine and other for pleasure
• Some of them are socially acceptable and others are illegal
• In Ethiopia caffeine, nicotine, khat and alcohol are legal
recreational drugs
• The drugs we use for medicine and pleasure may have a
distinct effect on our body and mind
• Many of illegal drugs are highly addictive and can lead to many
problems
– Drug use: is when we choose to take a substance
– Drug abuse: is when we use a substance (legal or illegal) to
the point of excess and/or dependence. This is becoming
health problem in Ethiopia (widely used are the legal
alcohol, khat, tobacco, and illegal cannabis (marijuana))
450
• Excess intake of a drug has serious side effects and even death
• Drug dependence (addiction) is when we use a drug again and
again and become addicted
• Drug addiction has several psychological and physical
dependence problems
– We cannot manage or function properly without it
– Our body no longer works properly without added
chemical.
– Cause withdrawal symptoms; unpleasant effects upon the
body caused by a sudden stopping of using a drug
(shaking, sweating, headaches, cravings for the drug, etc.)
• Drug abuse and dependence can hurt the individual user, their
family and the entire community.

Read the effects of alcohol, smoking (nicotine), and khat, and

451
illegal drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and others!
 8.7. Sense organs
• Stimuli (energy)are the changes in the environment
• Sensory receptors (sense organs) detect stimuli; change the
energy of the stimulus into electrical energy
• There are many different types of sensory receptors that
respond to different stimuli.
(stimulus)

Interceptors 452
 The human eye
• the eye is the most important and well developed sense organ
• Sight is an important sense for human beings
• Eyes enable us to see in Pupil (hole)
clear focus, in three Iris (colored)
dimensions and in color.

The structure of the

human eye:
• There are various
structural parts:
Three layers: sclera, choroid,
retina
Cornea, iris, pupil,
Humors
Lens
Ciliary muscles and ligaments
Fovea, blind spot
Outer layer
Optic nerve Middle layer
453
• Eyes are found in skull and are protected by
– Skull
– eyelids that close over them:
protect from the entry of material like dust, sand and
insects
Sweep tear solution (contains enzymes that destroy
bacteria) regularly over the surface
• Sclera: the white outer layer of the eye, very tough and strong
that prevents the eyeball from damage.
• Cornea: a transparent area of sclera at the front and lets light
into the eye
– The curved surface of the cornea is important for bending the
light into the eye and to be focused on the retina.

454
• Choroid: a dark layer underneath sclera
– it contains pigmented cells that absorb light and
stop it from being reflected around the inside of
the eye.
• Pupil: a hole in the centre of the iris through which light coming
from the cornea passes
• Iris: is the colored part of the eye and is made up of muscles that
contract or relax to control the size of the pupil to control the
amount of light reaching the retina.
The circular muscles run around the iris
Radial muscles run across iris like the spokes of a bicycle wheel

In bright light: circular muscles contract, In dim light: circular muscles relax,
radial muscles relax, pupil radial muscles contract, pupil
constricts=reduce light entering dilates=more light enters 455
• Lens: a clear disc made up largely of proteins
– It is held in place by suspensory ligaments and the
ciliary muscles
– Used for focusing of the light; bend the light
entered through pupil to allow it to fall on the
retina
• Retina: a special light-sensitive layer at the back of the
eye (contains rods and cones)
Formation of image on the retina, stimulates the light-
sensitive cells →send impulses to brain via sensory
neurons in optic nerve → brain interprets the
information → we see something

• Blind spot: a point where optic nerve leaves the eye and which lacks
retina. No image is formed here
• Humors: transparent jelly-like fluid that transmit light rays and support eyeball.
456
Aqueous humor- in the front region, vitreous humor-behind the lens.
 How the retina works
• Rods and cones change light energy falling on retina into
electrical energy
– Rods and cones contain chemicals that change when light
falls on them. This change triggers an impulse in the
affector neurons of the optic nerve
– The impulses travel along the optic nerve to the visual
areas of the brain for interpretation
Rods:
• Respond to relatively low light levels; do not give a clear
image and do not respond to colors (things look black and
grey)
• They are spread across retina except over the fovea (the small
area of the retina which contains only cones).

457
 a. light-sensitive pigments
b. mitochondria to supply energy
Cones c. nucleus
• only work properly in bright light d .dentrites synapse with optic nerve

• respond to colors and give very clear,

defined images
• There are fewer cones than rods,
• There are very few cones around the
edges of the retina.
• more cones are found in regions closer
to the fovea, which has only cone cells
• Clear images and clear colors are seen
when light falls on fovea
• Each cone responds to red, green or Rod (black &
Cone
blue light. Colors depend on white vision)
(color vision)
combination of cones stimulated.
– if all three are stimulated equally, we
see white.
Color blindness: inability to see all colors due to missing of one or more type of cone.
458
 Focusing the light
• For a clear vision, light from an object must be focused on
retina; the light must be bent (refracted).
• In the eye, light bent twice – once as it passes
from the air through the cornea and second as
it passes through the lens.

• Image is focused onto your retina due

to refraction and it is upside down

• The light from a distant object reaching our eyes will be travelling in
almost parallel rays, but light from close objects will be spreading out
(diverging strongly).
• Cornea bends all of the light entering the eyes towards the retina,
but lens enable us to see both close and distant objects equally. 459
 • Lens focus close and distant objects on retina by changing its
shape. This is known as accommodation.
a) Focusing on a distant object:
• Light from distant objects needs little bending once it has
passed through the cornea
– The lens is stretched long, thin and relatively flat and has little
bending.
b) Focusing on a nearby object
• Light from close objects still needs
some considerable bending to
bring it into focus on the retina
Distant object
Nearby object
long, thin

(Loose) shorter, fatter

front view front view 460
 Common eye defects
• Presbyopia: when we get older, the lens may begin to harden,
so accommodation becomes more difficult. This can be
treated using extra lenses to bend the light
 Convex lens: outward curved lens that bends the light towards
each other (a converging lens).
 Concave lens: inward curved lens that spreads the light rays out
(a diverging lens).

Short sight:
• The ability to see (focus) clearly close objects; but distance
objects appear blurred
This is because the lens is too curved (too strong)and so
light from distant objects is focused in front of the retina,
making the image spread out again and blurry.
461
 Image focused in front of retina
(lens too strong or eyeball too long)
Short sight

• This can corrected by

using simple concave Concave lens
lens

Long sight:
• The ability to see (focus) clearly distance objects; but close objects
appear blurred
Long sight
This is because the lens is too flat
and so the light from close objects
is focused behind the retina, Image focused behind retina
making the image spread out and (lens too weak or eyeball too
blurred. short)

Can be corrected using

convex (converging) lenses Convex lens
462
Astigmatism:
• Due to the defect of cornea (curved asymmetrically).
• It can also be corrected by the use of lenses
3-D vision
• Our eyes also see in three dimensions.
• This comes from the overlapping of the visual field from our
two eyes
– If we look at the world through one eye it appears flat (we may
not notice this).

463
 The ear as a sense organ
• The ear enables us to hear sound, and detecting balance and
position of the body
The structure of the ear:
• The ear is divided into three regions: the outer ear, middle ear
and inner ear.
• Outer ear consists of:
Pinna: a flap used to
trap and funnel sound
into the ear
Ear canal: a tube (2cm
long)
Eardrum (tympanum): a
sheet of very thin
membrane at the end of
ear canal and close the
tube 464
 There are many small hairs at the entrance of the ear canal
and are used for filtering out dust particles from the air
entering the ear canal.
 The cells lining the ear canal produce waxy material which
traps dust and germs, and lubricates the eardrum.
• Middle ear consists of:
 Middle ear cavity: air filled behind the eardrum
 three tiny bones in the cavity: the smallest bones in our body
They are named based on their shape: malleus (hammer),
incus (anvil) and stapes (stirrup), when named from outside
to inside
They form joints with one another, and malleus
attached to the eardrum and the stapes is to the oval
window

465
• Eustachian tube (air equalizer): connects the cavity of middle
ear to throat.
– It is usually closed but when the pressure in the middle ear
increases (e.g. when we are flying),the tube opens until
the air pressure becomes equal in the middle ear and
throat (so do the atmosphere).
• There are two openings at one end of the middle ear,
opposite to the eardrum:
– Oval window: oval in shape
– Round window: round in shape
• The inner ear consists of:
– a cavity filled with a fluid
– sacculus and utriculus (sac-like structure)
– three semicircular canals cochlea
– the cochlea: a coiled tube (a true hearing organ)
 Sacculus, utriculus, semicircular canals and cochlea are filled with a liquid 466
 The mechanism of hearing
• How do we hear sound? Hear involves various mechanisms:
 Pinna collects sound waves and directs them to the eardrum through the ear canal

 When sound waves hit the eardrum, it vibrates and magnifies the vibrations

 The ear ossicles further amplify the vibrations (make them bigger) and then
transmit them to the oval window.
 The vibrations of the stapes make the membrane at the oval window vibrate, and
these vibrations are transmitted to the fluid and then spread to the cochlea.

 Vibrations of fluid cause hair-

like sensory cells in cochlea to
move. These movements in
turn cause production of nerve
impulses in affector nerve
fibers.

 These impulses are transmitted to brain

(auditory cortex) and are interpreted as
467
sound.
 The senses of balance and movement
• The semicircular canals detect motion
• Ampullae (swellings on each of the semicircular canals) contain
sensory cells attached to sensory nerve endings.
• Sensory cells contain hairs which
are enclosed in a cupula (jelly
substance)
• When the body (head) moves,
semicircular canals move with
nerve fiber
the head.
• The fluid in the semicircular
canals also move but in the
opposite direction.
• The moving fluid causes the cupula to tilt,
pressing the hairs which creates nerve impulses
in sensory nerve endings
• The nerve impulses go to brain, which interprets direction and
468
speed of motion of the body or head.
 • The semicircular canals are at right angles to each other, and
each one is sensitive to movement in a different plane.
– One canal responds when we nod our head,
– One when we shake it and
– One when we tilt our head to the side.
• Utriculus and sacculus are used for sense of
balance and posture.
• In the inner surfaces of these structures there are
sensory cells with protruding hairs embedded in
otoliths (a jelly-like substance)
When head is tilted on one side, the otoliths move in
opposite direction, pulling or pressing the sensory hairs
• The pressing initiates nerve impulses which go to
brain and the brain detects the angle of tilt and
initiates reflexes, which return the body to its
normal posture.
• The sense of balance is also affected by vision and by stretch
469
receptors in the muscles. These help to be aware of our position.
 Common disorders of the ear
• Deafness: the inability to hear; it may be temporary or
permanent. It can be caused in many ways.
– Eardrum damage by a blow or a very loud noise=permanent/temporary
– Damage or fusing of ossicles by infection, or crumble away
with age or disease= permanently deaf
– Damage to the auditory nerve = permanently deaf
• Hearing loss due to infection
– This occurs when the middle ear becomes full of thick
infected mucus.
– This can be reversed if the infection is cleared with
antibiotics. If it lasts too long, permanent loss may result.

470
 Taste and smell
• Sensory receptors in the tongue and nostrils are sensitive to
solutions of certain chemicals = the receptors of both are similar in
function
• Taste receptors (taste buds) are located on the upper surface of the
tongue, and to a lesser extent on throat
• Smell receptors are located in the upper parts of the nasal passages
• Five basic taste sensations:
The four known sense are : sweet, sour,
bitter and salt
Fifth taste- umami , recently discovered. It is a
very spicy flavor found in foods such as meat,
cheese, broth and mushroom.
• All of the five different taste organs are spread out all
over the tongue, but some of them may be more The main taste area in
concentrated in certain places. the tongue 471
• Sensation by different people for the same stimulus may not be the
same; it depends on the type of taste receptors stimulated by a
certain kind of stimulus.
• Taste sensations are produced by a blending of the five basic
sensations along with smell: taste sensation is produced by
stimulation of both taste and smell receptors.
– hot foods often have more ‘taste’ than cold foods is because they
vaporize more, which stimulate smell receptors
Smell receptors: more specialized for detecting vapors, much more sensitive
than taste receptors.
Sensory cells (smell receptors)
Taste receptors: specialized for detecting
chemicals present in the mouth
• We cannot ‘taste’ foods well when suffering
from a cold; because smell receptors cannot
work when nasal passages inflamed and
coated with mucus
• To taste and smell, chemicals must go into
solution in the liquid coating the membranes of
receptor cells 472
 The skin as a sense organ
• Skin contains many sense organs for senses of touch,
temperature, pressure and pain:
Has three layers:
• made up of dead
cells, water-proof,
germ-proof

• blood vessels, sweat

glands, sensory
receptors (touch, pain,
temp, pressure), hair
follicles.
Temp regulation

• contains fatty tissue &

acts as insulation layer-
reduce heat loss 473
 8.8. Endocrine glands
• Hormonal (endocrine) regulation is the second regulation
system in the body
• This regulation works by means of chemical substances
known as hormones
• Hormones act as chemical messages, produced in one part of
the body but work elsewhere.
• Glands are structures which produce hormones and other
useful substances.
• Two types of glands: endocrine and exocrine
 with ducts (tubes)
 ductless and that carry secretion
secrete hormones from the glands to
 Hormones travel the place where it
all around the is needed
body in blood e.g., Sweat glands,
salivary glands,
Endocrine glands mammary glands
Exocrine glands 474
 • There are several endocrine glands that produce hormones
that control many functions
• The common endocrine glands are:
Pituitary gland
Thyroid gland, parathyroid gland
Adrenal gland
Endocrine pancreas
Ovary and Testis (gonads)

Pituitary gland
• Found in the brain and about the size of a pea
• Described as the controller of the endocrine
orchestra or ‘master gland’
Its hormones control the secretion of
many other hormones
• It is also involved in coordination between nervous and hormonal
systems: links the two systems 475
 Iodine deficiency and goiter
• Pituitary gland controls the secretion of hormones by thyroid gland
• Thyroid gland needs iodine from the diet to produce the hormone
thyroxin
• Thyroxin is involved in many chemical control in the body
– Controls the metabolic rate: synthesis of molecules, breakdown, oxygen
use, brain development, etc.
– Increasing thyroxin secretion by thyroid, increases metabolism– the
symptoms include losing a lot of weight, sweating a lot and becoming
irritable.
– Lack of enough thyroxin results in feeling tired, lacking energy, and
gaining weight
– Low levels of thyroxin can cause problems in getting pregnant,
miscarriages, births, child growth (stunting , abnormal development,
and difficulties in learning-cretinism)
• The most common reason for not making enough thyroxin is a lack of
iodine in the diet.
– The gland will grow and enlarge in an attempt to make the right
amount of thyroxin. This is called goiter.
476
• Goiter is the enlargement of thyroid gland in the neck.
• Iodine deficiency disorders such as goiters are
very common in Ethiopia
• Women and children more affected than men:
they have high demands during pregnancy and
breastfeeding (women) , growing time
(children)
• The problems is worst in mountainous rural
area as iodine is washed way from the soil.
• The solution for iodine deficiency and goiter is
including more iodine in the diet

477
 Insulin: controlling blood sugar and
diabetes mellitus
• The level of sugar in the blood is controlled by hormones produced
in pancreas: insulin and glucagon
• When blood glucose level rises above the ideal range after eating a
meal, insulin is released adjusts the level of sugar by various ways .
– It stimulates the liver to remove any glucose which is not
needed at the time; the soluble glucose is converted to an
insoluble carbohydrate (glycogen) and stored in the liver
– Stimulates conversion of glucose into fat for storage
– Increase up take of glucose by cells
– Removing glucose by cellular respiration
• When blood glucose level falls below the ideal range, glucagon is
secreted
– Glucagon stimulates conversion of glycogen back into glucose,
which is added back into the blood.
– It also stimulates synthesis of glucose (gluconeogenesis) from
amino acids or fats
478
 Causes and treatment of diabetes
• Diabetes mellitus: is a disease caused by increased level of
glucose
• Raise in glucose is caused because of the problem in insulin
production (shortage or complete lack) or insulin receptor
cells
• the symptoms of high glucose in the blood:
– kidneys produce glucose in your urine
– Production of lots of urine and feeling thirsty
– Lack of energy and feeling tired
– Lose of weigh as fats and proteins are broken down to be
used for fuel

479
• Type 1 diabetes:
– Caused due to shortage or lack of insulin; insulin producing cells of
pancreas lost due to genetic or auto-immune disease
– appears in children and young people
– It is inherited and you cannot avoid it
• Type 2 diabetes
– Caused due to resistance of insulin receptor cells
– appears later in life and it can be linked to being obese or
very underweight
• Treatments
– Managing diet; avoiding carbohydrate-rich foods
– Getting regular exercise
– Insulin-injection

480
Adrenaline
• produced by adrenal glands, are located the on top of kidneys
• It is the hormone of ‘fight or flight’.
• Released at the time of stress, angry, excitement or frightening
• It prepares our body for action; to run fast to escape or fight
successfully
• The main changes produced by adrenalin are:
– Increased heart rate, sending more blood carrying food and oxygen to the
muscles.
– Increased breathing rate to increase the O2 take up into the
blood and removal CO2 produced
– Increased conversion of store carb into glucose for providing
more energy to the muscle cells
– Dilating pupils allow more light into eyes to make body
oversensitive to movement
– Increased mental awareness and speed of reaction times, etc.
481
 Other hormones
• Growth hormones produced by the pituitary gland have a
long, slow effect throughout childhood
• At puberty, the sex hormones are produced, which lead to
long-term physical development and growth
The gonads (testis in boys, ovaries in girls)
• They are endocrine glands which produce some sex hormones
• Secretion hormones by gonads is controlled by hormones
produced by pituitary gland (FSH, LH)
• They become active at the time of puberty
• The changes that appear at puberty come about in response
to hormones released by brain and by gonads.

482
The role of the testes
• At puberty, pituitary gland produces increasing amounts of FSH
• This stimulates testes to begin developing and producing the
male sex hormone testosterone
• The rising levels of
testosterone trigger the
many changes that occur
during puberty, causing the
development of secondary
sexual characteristics.
• The main ones are:------
Body changes:----

Brain changes: become more

independent, more questioning,
feel young and insecure, confused
or angry for no real reason 483
 The role of the ovaries
• Just as in boys, puberty in girls is controlled by hormones from
the pituitary gland (FSH) and gonads (ovaries)
• FSH stimulates the ovaries to become active and start
producing the female sex hormone-oestrogen

• As the levels of oestrogen

rise, all kinds of changes are
triggered, developing the
female secondary sexual
characteristics.

Body changes:------

The brain changes, just like

boys
484
 The menstrual cycle
• Hormones control the whole process of menstruation and pregnancy.
• Menstrual cycle: is a sequence of events which takes place every four
weeks from the age of puberty to around 50 years of age
• Once a month, the hormone FSH from pituitary
gland:
 causes development of a few of the ova.
affects the ovary itself which starts making
female hormone-oestrogen
Oestrogen stimulates the uterus to build up a
thick, spongy lining with lots of blood vessels
ready to support a pregnancy.
• At about 14 days after the ova start ripening,
one of them released out of its follicle. This is
ovulation
After ovulation, the hormone levels from the pituitary
begin to drop dramatically 485
• After ovulation the remains of the follicle forms the corpus
luteum
– corpus luteum: is the cell mass that remains after the
release of an egg.
– It secretes both progesterone and oestrogen
• Progesterone: a hormone that prepares the uterus for the
implantation of a fertilized ovum and to maintain pregnancy
• About ten days after ovulation (when no pregnancy occurs)
the ovary reduces the levels of oestrogen and progesterone
– The lining detaches from the wall of the uterus and is lost as the
monthly period or bleeding (menstruation).
• If the ovum gets fertilized, it will reach the uterus and attach
itself (implant) and start to develop.

486
Hormones of the menstrual cycle
• Four main hormones have effect on the female reproductive system
• Pituitary gland hormones:
1. FSH (follicle stimulating hormone):
– Stimulates the development of a follicle in the ovary; egg
matures and ripens within the follicle.
– It also stimulates the ovaries to produce hormones,
particularly oestrogen
1. LH (luteinizing hormone):
• Stimulates the release of the egg from the ovary in the middle
of the menstrual cycle
• It also affects the ovary to produce another hormone
(progesterone) to keep the uterus lining in place.

487
Hormones produced by ovaries:
1. Oestrogen
• stimulates the lining of the uterus to be prepared for
pregnancy
• It also affects the pituitary gland;
– raised oestrogen level, inhibits FSH production by pituitary, which in
turn causes falling of oestrogen levels
– raised oestrogen causes increased LH production, which
causes release of ripe a egg from ovary
2. Progesterone
• Maintains the thickened lining of the uterus and stimulates
the growth of blood vessels in the lining to prepare for a
pregnancy
• If a fertilized ovum arrives in the uterus, progesterone helps
to maintain the pregnancy.
Menopause: the time when women becomes infertile; stops menstrual cycle as the ova
488
in the ovaries run out: hormone drops, ovaries and uterus shrink, stops having periods
 8.9. The reproductive system
• Its function is to produce offsprings
– Testes produce sperm and male sex hormones
– Ovaries produce eggs and female sex hormones
– Mammary glands produce milk
• It functions at time of puberty
• Differs most between sexes
• This system contains a collection of internal and external
organs-in male and female
• For sexual reproduction, male and female sex cells and
hormones are produced by the reproductive structures:

Sexual reproduction

489
 MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
Vas
• Male reproductive system include group of organs that do
different roles:
 Produce sperm (the male sex cells) and semen
(protective fluid around sperm)
 Deliver sperm to the female reproductive tract
 They produce male sex hormones
• The various structural parts are:
Prostate gland

Seminal vesicle

Vas deferens
Erectile
glandtissue
Prostate gland
Epididymis Urethra

Scrotum Urethra
Penis Testicle
490
Front view Side view
Penis
• Contains erectile tissue, deposits sperm in vagina, produces
pleasure sensation during sexual course
Scrotum
• It is the loose pouch-like sac of skin that hangs behind the
penis
– It holds and protects testes (testicles)
– Contain many nerves and blood vessels
– Control temperature of the testes
 For normal sperm development, the testes must be at a
temperature slightly cooler than the body temperature: muscle
contraction and relaxation moves the testes close to thee body
(warming) or away from the body (cooling).
Testes
• Testes (often 2 testicles)lie in the scrotum and produce sperm
and testosterone, the primary male sex hormone. 491
 Epididymis
• is a long, coiled tube
• Acts as site for sperm store that are created in the testes
• A site for sperm maturity — the sperm that emerge from the
testes are immature
• During sexual arousal, contractions force the sperm into the
vas deferens from epididymis.

Urethra
• The tube that conducts urine from the bladder to outside and , it
has the additional expel (ejaculate) semen (in male) to exterior.
 When penis erect s during sex, the flow of urine is blocked from the urethra,
allowing only semen to be ejaculated at orgasm.
vas deferens (sperm duct)
• Tit is a duct that conducts mature sperm to urethra in preparation
for ejaculation.
492
Seminal vesicles
• Secrete a sugar-rich fluid that makes up much of the volume
semen.
• The fluid (fructose) provides sperm with a source of energy
for motility.
Prostate gland
• Secretes additional fluid and enzyme to the semen.
• This fluid also helps nourish the sperm.
• The urethra runs through the center of the prostate gland.

493
Sperm
• Male sex cell produced in male gonad (testes)
• It consists of a head, a midpiece, and a tail.
• The head contains the nucleus with chromosomes
– The a front section of the head (Acrosome) contains
enzymes for penetrating the female egg
• The midpiece contains many mitochondria to give
energy for tail movement which propels it forward.
• The mixture of sperm cells and fluids is called semen
• It is only about 5 to 10% of a single ejaculation, the rest
is nutrient to nourish the sperm during its journey
 There are around 200 to 500
million sperm in a single ejaculation

494
 Female reproductive system
• Main structural parts include:
• Vagina, cervix, uterus, ovary, fallopian tube, fimbriae

Fallopian tube Fallopian tube

Uterine fundus

Ovary

Fimbriae Ovary

Uterus
Cervix
Cervix
Vagina
Rectum
Anus
Vagina
Side view Front view 495
• Vagina: is a muscular canal that joins the cervix to the outside of the body.
• It has three core functions:
– It carries menstrual flow outside the body
– It receives the male penis during sexual intercourse
– It serves as a birth canal during labor.
• Cervix: the lowest part of uterus
– Allows sperm to enter and menstrual blood to exit.
• Uterus: is a hollow muscular organ where fertilized egg develops during
pregnancy
• Ovaries: are small, oval-shaped glands that are located on either side of the
uterus.
– They produce eggs and hormones.
– They release egg once a month as part of the menstrual cycle
• Fallopian tubes (oviducts): narrow tubes that connect ovaries to uterus
and serve as pathways for egg to travel from ovaries to uterus.
– Fertilization of an egg by sperm occurs in the fallopian tubes and the
fertilized egg then moves to the uterus.
• Fimbriae: finger-like projections on the ends of fallopian tubes closest to
ovaries
– Catch egg released from ovaries during ovulation and then sweep
it into the fallopian tube for fertilization 496
 Zona pellucida (jelly coat)
Corona radiata
Egg (ovum) (follicular cells)

• Female sex cell produced in female gonads

(ovaries)
• A female is born with a full set; no eggs are
manufactured after birth
• An ovary contains thousands of immature egg
Nucleus
cells. Cytoplasm

 During each menstrual cycle, one

egg begins development due to FSH
 Increased level of LH causes the
follicle to rupture and release one
ripe egg every month–this is
ovulation
 The lining of the empty follicle
thickens into a corpus luteum–a
temporary source of hormones.
497
 Unit 9

FOOD MAKING AND GROWTH IN

PLANTS

498
Food making and growth in plants
• Food making in plants is a series of chemical
reactions that convert carbon dioxide and water into
glucose (sugar) and oxygen in the presence of
sunlight.
• The flowering plant is a complete organism with organs
carrying out particular functions.
• Four main organs of a flowering plant:
• The flowers which contain the reproductive organs.
• The leaves which use light energy, carbon dioxide and
water to make food by photosynthesis.
• The stem which provides support and a transport system
for water and minerals to the leaves and flowers. It also
transports food from the leaves to the roots and flowers.
• The roots which anchor the plant to the ground and
absorb water and minerals.
 Leaf- A photosynthesizing machine
• Plants take the inorganic molecules carbon dioxide
and water and use them to produce the organic
molecule glucose along with inorganic oxygen in
the presence of energy from light.
• This amazing process is the basis of all life on
Earth – it provides the food we eat and the oxygen
we breathe.
• And it all takes place in the leaves of plants.
• Plant leaves are perfectly adapted to allow the
maximum possible amount of photosynthesis to
take place whenever there is light available.
 Adaptations of a leaf for photosynthesis
• The leaf is flat and wide, giving a large surface area to
collect light and short distances for gases to diffuse. The
veins bring water from the soil to the cells.
• The waxy cuticle is a waterproof layer found on the
surface of many leaves to help prevent water loss.
• The palisade mesophyll is the main photosynthetic tissue
of the plant. Each cell has many chloroplasts.
• The spongy mesophyll has fewer cells with fewer
chloroplasts. However, there are lots of air spaces and a big
surface area for gas exchange. Some photosynthesis takes
place here but more importantly it is where the carbon
dioxide needed moves into the cells, and the oxygen moves
out.
• The lower epidermis has openings known as
stomata which allow carbon dioxide to diffuse into
the leaf and oxygen and water vapour to diffuse out.
The guard cells open and close to control the entry
of carbon dioxide into the leaf and also to control
the loss of water by transpiration.
The vascular bundles :
xylem, dead tissue which brings water from the soil
to the cells of the leaves, and
the phloem, living tissue which carries the products
of photosynthesis away from the leaves to all of the
cells of the plant.
 Photosynthesis
• Many organisms, including all animals, eat food to get the energy
they need to live. They are known as heterotrophs (feeding on
others).
In contrast, plants produce their own food in a process known as
photosynthesis. They are known as autotrophs (feeding
themselves). Photosynthesis takes place in the green parts of plants,
especially the leaves, in the presence of light.
The energy released in respiration is used to build up smaller
molecules into bigger molecules:
• Sugars like glucose are built into starch for storage.
• Sugars like glucose are built into molecules like fructose
(fruit
sugar) and sucrose (a double sugar unit) to be transported
around the plant.
• Sugars like glucose are built up into more complex
carbohydrates like cellulose to make new plant cell walls.
• Sugars may be built up into fats and oils (lipids) for
storage in
seeds and to make up part of the cell membranes.
• Sugars may be used to build up important large molecules
such as chlorophyll, using minerals such as magnesium
taken up from the soil.
 The need for light
• light is absolutely necessary for some of those reactions,
others can continue even if there is no light at all.
• The light-dependent reactions cannot take place without
light energy.
• The light energy is absorbed by chlorophyll molecules
through activation of their electrons and used to split
water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Adenosine
triphosphate (ATP) for energy is produced as well.
• The hydrogen is used in the rest of the process, and the
oxygen is given off as a gas. It is a waste product of the
light reactions of photosynthesis.
 • all practical purposes we can still say that plants
need light for photosynthesis – because without the
products of the light dependent reaction the light-
independent reactions can’t take place at all!
• For most plants the source of light energy for
photosynthesis is the sun.

Figure The oxygen-rich gas released

by water plants as they
photosynthesize gives us another way
of showing that light is needed for the
process to happen.
 The need for carbon dioxide
• A source of carbon is needed for the plants to
synthesise sugars.
• There are lots of carbon-containing chemicals
in existence, but carbon dioxide from the air
or in solution in water is the only form that
plants can use in photosynthesis.
 The need for water
• Carbon dioxide alone is not sufficient to produce carbohydrates.
Hydrogen is needed too, and water is the only source of
hydrogen that plants can make use of. All the cells of a plant
have a constant
supply of water both as a waste product of respiration and from
the
transpiration stream (see section 4.3), so there is always plenty
of
water for photosynthesis.
Water is vital to all the functions of a plant. This means you
cannot demonstrate that water is required for photosynthesis
just
by depriving the plant of it – the plant would die long before the
effect of lack of water on photosynthesis would show.
• The only way to show that water is needed for the process of
photosynthesis is to supply the plant with ‘heavy’ water
containing the 18O isotope of oxygen.
• These atoms are radioactive, and the radiation they produce
can be detected as it is taken up and used by the plant.
• Substances like this are known as radioactive tracers. This
experiment not only shows that water is needed for
photosynthesis, it also makes clear what part the water plays.
• It shows that the oxygen gas produced during
photosynthesis comes from the splitting of the water
molecules using light energy.
• This is known as photolysis (splitting using light).
 The need for chlorophyll
• The final requirement for photosynthesis to take place is a
way of capturing the energy from the sun and this is carried
out by the green pigment chlorophyll.
• The simplest way to demonstrate that chlorophyll is needed
for photosynthesis to take place is to consider the leaves of a
variegated plant. Variegated leaves have areas that contain
chlorophyll and areas that do not.
• The chlorophyll-free regions are usually yellow or creamy-
white in colour. If a destarched variegated plant is then
exposed to light for several hours and you test one of the
leaves for the presence of starch, the iodine solution changes
colour only in those regions of the leaf that were green. This
shows that without chlorophyll photosynthesis did not take
place.
 The importance of photosynthesis
• Photosynthesis is one of the most important
reactions on Earth.
• It is through photosynthesis that the ultimate
source of energy for the Earth – in other words,
the sun – is tapped and converted into chemical
energy which is available to life.
• Around 35 × 10 kg of new biological material is
15

produced every year as a result of

photosynthesis.
• This new material can then be used as a food
source by billions of living organisms, including
people
• Photosynthesis is very important as the source of energy for
almost all living organismsl.
• Almost all living organisms need oxygen for cellular
respiration. That oxygen is produced as a waste product of
photosynthesis.
• Living organisms produce carbon dioxide as a waste
product when they respire. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse
gas – it helps to trap heat from the sun around the surface
of the Earth. It is also poisonous at high levels.
• However, carbon dioxide is also vital for photosynthesis to
take place. Plants and other photosynthesising organisms
remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere all the time.
• So photosynthesis is very important for maintaining the
balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere.
 Transport in plants
• Plants have two systems for
the transportation of substances – using two
different types of transport tissue.
• Xylem transports water and solutes from the
roots to the leaves, while phloem transports
food from the leaves to the rest of the plant.
• Plant transport various substances like gases,
minerals, water, hormone and organic solutes to
short distance (one cell to another) or long
distance as water from roots to tips of stem.
• Long distance transport occurs through vascular
system, xylem and phloem
called translocation through mass flow.
• The direction of translocation may be
unidirectional as in case of water and
multidirectional as in minerals and organic
solutes.
•
 Simple Diffusion-
• Movement by diffusion is passive and slow
along the concentration gradient through
permeable membrane.
• No energy expenditure takes place. It occurs
in liquid and gases.
• Rate of diffusion are affected by gradient of
concentration, permeability of membrane,
temperature and pressure.
 Facilitated Diffusion-
• Lipid soluble particles easily pass through cell
membrane but the hydrophilic solutes movement is
facilitated.
• For facilitated diffusion, membrane possesses
aquaporins or water channels. Aquaporins are
membrane proteins for passive transport of water
soluble substances without utilization of energy.
• The protein forms channels in membrane for
molecules to pass through. The porins are proteins
that forms huge pores in the outer membrane of the
plastids, mitochondria etc.
• Water channels are made up of eight different types
of aquaporins.
 Active Transport
• Uses energy to pump molecules against the
concentration gradient. It is carried out by
membrane proteins.
• In active transport movable carrier proteins
are called pumps.
• The pumps can transport substance from low
concentration to high concentration. The
carrier proteins are very specific in what it
carries across the membrane.
 Transpiration pull
• The process of evaporation of water from the leaf is called
transpiration. The flow of water through the plant from
roots to leaves is called the transpiration stream.
• Transpiration pull is believed to be a result of an interplay
of several forces e.g. cohesion and adhesion.
• As water evaporates from the surface on the mesophyll, the
vapour diffuses through the stomata to the atmosphere.
• This makes the cell sap of the mesophyll cells to be more
concentrated. These cells then absorb water by osmosis
from the neighbouring cells which in turn draw water from
the cell.
• This creates a continuous pull of water to the leaves, from
the root and a stream is thus created.
• The forces of cohesion and adhesion prevent the
continuous transpiration stream from falling back.
Factors affecting the rate of transpiration
• The term transpiration rate refers to the amount of
water lost from the shoot of a plant per unit time.
1. Temperature.
2. Wind.
3. Light intensity
4. Humidity:
5. Leaf area
6. Cuticle
7. Density of stomata
8. Distribution of stomata
 ADAPTATIONS OF PLANTS TO WATER LOSS CONTROL
• The structural modifications of certain plants enable them to
reduce water loss, particularly from their leaves and stems,
are called xeromorphic adaptations.
• Xerophytes are plants that are adapted to live in conditions in
which there is either a scarcity of water in the soil, or the
atmosphere is dry enough to cause excessive transpiration, or
both.
1. Having hairy leaves
• These trap a layer of still moist air on the leaf surface which
covers the stomata thus reducing the rate of transpiration
2. Waxy cuticle
• Most plants, especially those living in arid areas, have their
leaves covered a waxy substance made by the epidermal
cells. The wax water-proofs the leaves and prevents excess
water loss by transpiration
3. Rolling leaves
• Grasses roll their leaves during dry weather. This
reduces on the surface area exposed to the
external environment and encloses air, both of
which serve to reduce the transpiration rate.
4. Shading off of leaves
• Some plants shed their leaves during the dry
periods to control the loss of water through the
stomata, and regenerate them during the wet
season.
5. Closing of the stomata
• Some plants open their stomata during the night
and close them during the day. This is common to
plants that live in arid areas.
6. Reducing the surface area of the leaves
• In some plants, the leaves are needle-like e.g. pines
and cactus. This reduces on the surface area for
transpiration hence conserving water in the plant.
7. Sunken stomata
• Pines have sunken stomata. Still and moist air is
trapped around the stomata, which reduces on the
rate of transpiration. The air around the stomata is
as concentrated as that in the leaf’s air space.
8. Orientation of leaves
• The compass plant has leaves which constantly
change their leaves so that the sun strikes them
obliquely. This reduces their temperature and hence
the transpiration rate
 Response in plants
• All living organisms need to be able to respond to
their surroundings. This may be to find food, move
towards the light or avoid danger.
• To take in information about the surroundings and
then react in the right way is known as co-ordination.
• Plants achieve their co-ordination and
responsiveness through a system of hormones.
• Hormones are chemical messengers which are
produced in one part of an organism and have an
effect elsewhere. Plant hormones (phytohormones)
have several effects on plants.
 Epigeal (dicot) and hypogeal
(monocot) germination
• Germination: The process in which seed
embryo starts growing, which leads to the
development of seedling.
• Seed germination is a very complex process
as it involves many biochemical,
physiological and morphological changes
within a seed.
Stages of seed germination: The process of seed
germination involves several consecutive but
overlapping events like
i. absorption of water,
ii. initiation of cell enlargement and division,
iii. increased enzymatic activity,
iv. food translocation to growing embryo,
v. increase in respiration and assimilation,
vi. increase in cell division and enlargement and
vii. differentiation of cells into tissue and organs of
a seedling.
 Two types of germination
• 1. Epigeal germination: Seed
germination in dicots in which the
cotyledons come above the soil
surface.
• In this type, the hypocotyl
elongates and raises the
cotyledons above the ground
surface, it is called as epigeous or
epigeal germination.
• This type of germination is very
common in beans, gourds, castor,
tamarind and onion etc.
2. Hypogeal germination: Seed
germination in dicots in which the
cotyledons remain below the soil
surface.
• In this type, the epicotyl elongates
and the hypocotyl does not raise the
cotyledons above ground, which is
called as hypogeous or hypogeal
germination.
• This type of germination is common
in mango, custard apple, pea, gram,
lotus and maize etc.
 Plant hormones and growth
• Plants need sunlight, water, oxygen, minerals
for their growth and development. These are
external factors.
• Apart from these, there are some intrinsic
factors that regulate the growth and development
of plants. These are called plant hormones or
“Phytohormones”.
• Plant hormones are chemical compounds
present in very low concentration in plants.
Auxin Hormone
Auxin means “to grow”. They are widely used in agricultural
and horticultural practices. They are found in growing apices
of roots and stems and then migrate to other parts to act.
Natural: Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), Indole butyric acid
(IBA)
Synthetic: 2,4-D (2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid), NAA
(Naphthalene acetic acid)
Functions:
Cell elongation of stems and roots
Apical dominance, IAA in apical bud suppresses the growth
of lateral buds
Induces parthenocarpy i.e. development of fruit without
fertilisation e.g. in tomatoes Prevents premature fall of
leaves, flowers, fruits
Useful in stem cuttings and grafting where it initiates rooting
Promotes flowering e.g. in pineapple
Gibberellins Hormone
• There are more than 100 gibberellins
They are acidic in nature.
• These are found in higher plants and fungi.
Functions:
• Promotes bolting like cabbage, beet
• Delays senescence
• Stimulate seed germination flowering, and
fruit development
• Breaks seed dormancy
Cytokinins Hormone
• Cytokinins play an important role in cytokinesis process.
• Cytokinins are naturally synthesised in the plants where
rapid cell division occurs e.g. root apices, shoot buds, young
fruits, etc.
• Natural: Zeatin (corn kernels, coconut milk),
isopentenyladenine
Synthetic: Kinetin, benzyladenine, diphenylurea
Functions:
• It promotes lateral and adventitious shoot growth and
used to initiate shoot growth in culture
• Helps in overcoming apical dominance induced by
auxins
• Stimulate the formation of chloroplast in leaves
• Promotes nutrient mobilisation and delay leaf
senescence
Abscisic Acid (ABAs)
• It is a growth-inhibiting hormone.
• ABAs act as an antagonist to GAs.
• It inhibits plant metabolism and regulates
abscission and dormancy.
Functions:
• Induces abscission of leaves and fruits
• Inhibits seed germination
• Induces senescence in leaves
• Accelerates dormancy in seeds that is useful for
storage purpose
• Stimulates closure of stomata to prevent
transpiration under water stress
Ethylene Plant Hormone
• It acts as a growth promoter as well as an
inhibitor. Occurs in gaseous form.
• It is synthesized in the ripening fruits and
tissues undergoing senescence.
• It regulates many physiological processes and
one of the most widely used hormones in agriculture.
Functions:
• It hastens the ripening of fruits
• Controls epinasty of leaves
• Breaks seed and bud dormancy
• Stimulates rapid elongation of petioles and
internodes
• Promotes senescence and abscission of leaves
and flowers
 Tropic and nastic responses
Tropisms are directional movement responses that occur
in response to a directional stimulus.
Tropic movements are the responses shown by plant
parts depending on the direction of the stimulus,
while nastic movements are the non-directional
responses shown by plants without depending on the
direction of the stimulus. Generally, tropic movements
are slow movements, while nastic movements are fast
movements.
Growth in the direction of a stimulus is known as
positive tropism, while growth away from a stimulus is
known as a negative tropism.
• Common tropic responses in plants include
phototropism, gravitropism, thigmotropism,
hydrotropism, thermotropism, and chemotropism.
Examples of tropism
Assignment
Unit 10: Ecology and Conservation of
Natural Resources
10.1. Definitions
 Ecology studies about the interactions among organisms and the
between organisms and the physical environment they exist.
 Conservation is protection & preservation of environment or
natural resources.
 Natural resources can be defined as the resources that exist (on
the planet) independent of human actions.

 These are the resources that are found in the environment and are
developed without the intervention of humans.

 Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and
used with few modifications.

 Common examples of natural resources include air, sunlight,

water, soil, nutrients, stone, plants, animals and fossil fuels.
 10.2. Cycling of matter through ecosystems
 In your previous lessons, you have seen, as:
 energy flows through ecosystems,
 energy is continually lost as heat from the ecosystems, &
 it has to be replaced as light.
 However, nutrients are cycled in a given ecosystem (See Figure 10.1)
The cycling of each material through living systems & back to the
earth is called nutrient cycle.

Figure 10.1. Illustrating the cycling of nutrients/materials in an ecosystem

 The recycling of nutrients happens at the ecosystem level & also
globally.

 Ecosystems are always changing, despite looking unchanging.

 Materials are always being ‘moved around’ within an ecosystem.

 Nutrients are always being taken in by organisms & materials are lost
when they breathe and excrete.

 What is a waste product to one organism becomes a vital nutrient to

another.

 All the organisms in the ecosystem are interdependent and interact

with their physical environment.

 Materials are moved around an ecosystem when organisms feed,

excrete, respire, breathe, die and are decomposed.
 Hence, as materials are moved, energy is transferred & eventually
lost from the ecosystem as heat & must be replaced as light.
 The nutrients just keep on being recycled …

 Decomposers (bacteria and fungi) are key in returning nutrients to

the ecosystem (Figure 10.2).

 Important mineral elements such as nitrogen & phosphorus are

returned to plants as a result of the action of decomposers.
 Decomposers feed by a method known as saprobiotic nutrition,
which is used to obtain nutrients from dead organic matter using
extracellular digestion.

 Decomposers feed on dead matter – and so do you. To do this, they

secrete enzymes onto the dead matter.

 The enzymes digest the complex organic molecules into simpler,

smaller ones and the micro-organisms absorb these products of
digestion (just like you). But, unlike you, their extracellular
digestion does not take place in a gut, it takes place in the soil, or
wherever the dead matter happens to be.
Figure 10.2. A diagram showing how decomposers return nutrients to plants, &
material cycling & energy flow
 Ammonification is the changing/converting amino acids or any
organic matter into ammonia.
 Ammonification is carried out by a range of bacteria & fungi as a
way of obtaining energy from organic, nitrogen-containing
compounds.

 Ammonia, vital to the nitrogen cycle, is just a useless by-product to

these micro-organisms.
 It is a typical of many of the chemical reactions that take place in all
the nutrient cycles.
 The reactions are primarily energy-releasing reactions for a
particular type of microorganism.
 It is a ‘happy chance’ that the reactions produce a byproduct
 that can be processed in the next stage of the nutrient cycle.

Figure 10.3: Fungi (moulds) decomposing bread using

extracellular digestion
(1) Carbon cycle
 What are the main stages in the carbon cycle?

Figure 10.4: The carbon cycle

 The main processes involved in cycling carbon through ecosystems
are:
a) photosynthesis – the process that fixes carbon atoms from an
inorganic source (CO2) into organic compounds (for e.g., glucose)

b) feeding and assimilation – feeding passes carbon atoms already in

complex molecules to the next trophic level in the food chain where
they are assimilated into (become part of) the body of that organism

c) respiration – this releases inorganic CO2 from organic compounds.

d) fossilisation – sometimes living things do not decay fully when they

die due to the conditions in the soil, & fossil fuels (for example, coal,
oil and peat) are formed.

e) combustion – fossil fuels are burned, releasing CO2 into the

atmosphere.
(2) Nitrogen cycle
 Nitrogen is found in many biological compounds.
 It is present in proteins, amino acids, DNA, RNA (all kinds) & adenosine
triphosphate (ATP) as well as ADP.
 Without nitrogen, organisms could not synthesize:
 their genetic material (DNA),
 their principal structural materials (proteins), &
 their principal energy transfer molecule (ATP)
 What are the main stages in the nitrogen cycle? They are that:
 plants absorb nitrates from the soil,
 the nitrates are used to form amino acids, used to synthesize proteins,
 the plants are eaten by animals, the proteins digested and the amino
acids absorbed & assimilated into animal proteins
 both plants and animals die, leaving a collection of dead materials
(detritus) which contain the nitrogen organic molecules; in addition,
excretory products such as urea also contain nitrogen
 decomposers decay the excretory products & detritus, releasing NH4+
into the soil; this process is referred to as ammonification.
 nitrifying bacteria oxidize the ammonium ions to nitrates (NO3 –) in a
process called nitrification; in this process there is an intermediate
product called nitrite (NO2).
Figure 10.5: The nitrogen cycle
 Besides nitrification, dentrification & nitrogen fixation decrease & increase,
respectively, the amount of nitrogen in circulation.
a) Denitrifying bacteria reduce NO3- to N2 gas that escapes from the soil.
 This decreases the total amount of nitrogen available to the plants, &, therefore,
to all the other organisms also.
b) Nitrogen-fixing bacteria ‘fix’ N2 gas into ammonium ions.
 This happens in two main situations:

i. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria living freely in the soil (belonging to the genera

Azotobacter & Klebsiella) reduce N2 into NH4+ in the soil.
 These ammonium ions can be oxidized immediately into NO3- by nitrifying
bacteria, which add the amount of N2 available to the plants &, therefore, the
other organisms also.

ii. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria in nodules on the roots of legumes (belonging to the

genus Rhizobium) form NH4+ that are passed to the legumes & used by them
to synthesize amino acids. The extra N2 only becomes available to other
organisms when the legumes die & are decomposed.

Figure 2.7A shows the root system of a legume with nodules containing Rhizobium. Figure
2.7B is a micrograph of a section through the nodule showing the bacteria (stained purple).
Figure 10.6A: Root nodules Figure 10.6B: The bacteria in a root
nodule
NB: Legumes are often used in crop rotation systems by organic farmers. They can be used in two ways.
a) They can be grown as a crop & harvested (e.g., peas or beans); then the remains of the plants are
ploughed into the soil.
b) Alternatively (2ndly), a non-crop legume like clover (Trifolium/forage plants) can be grown & ploughed in
at the end of the year, whereby all of the N fixed is added to the soil; none is lost in a crop.
Notice:
 At the moment an immense amount of research into the genetics of
nitrogen fixation is being carried out. The aim is:

1) to isolate the genes that control nitrogen fixation & transfer them by
genetic engineering into other cells. Or,

2) to persuading /rehearsing/ bacteria like Rhizobium to form symbiotic

associations with other (non-legume) species of crop plants.

 If all the cereal plants grown in the world had nitrogen-fixing bacteria
in their roots or if their own cells could fix nitrogen,

 crop yields in countries would be hugely increased.

 the plants would not need nitrogen fertilizer as they would make
their own!.
(3) Phosphorus cycle
 How is phosphorus recycled?
 The core phosphorus cycle is much the same as the core nitrogen
cycle. Phosphorus is present in organisms in the form of phosphates.
 Phosphate is absorbed from the soil (or water) by plants
 These are passed along food chain to various herbivores &
carnivores
 On death, their bodies are decomposed & phosphate ions are
released from compounds like phospholipids, ATP, DNA & RNA &
are returned to the soil or water.
 Phosphates also enter the soil (or water) as a result of the
weathering of rocks & in the form of fertilizers, which contain
phosphates that have been obtained from rocks.
 over millions of years, phosphate ions can leach into the seas &
become part of newly forming sedimentary rock.
Figure 2.7: The phosphorus cycle
(4) Sulphur cycle
 How is sulphur (S) recycled?
 As with the other cycles, the core cycle is between the soil, plants,
animals & special decomposers.

 There are also components that relate to long-term rock formation &
weathering & the formation of SO2 when fossil fuels are burned.

 Sulphate ions in the soil are taken up by plants & incorporated in plant
tissue (many proteins include some S-containing amino acids, e.g.,
methionine & cysteine), which are passed to animals by feeding &
digestion
 on death of the plants & animals, sulphate-reducing bacteria release
the S in the proteins in the form of hydrogen sulphide.

 The most important genus of bacteria involved in this process is

Desulphovibrio; this process requires anaerobic conditions.

 In some aquatic environments the hydrogen sulphide is oxidized to S

by photosynthetic S-bacteria.
 Sulphur bacteria, mainly of the genus Thiobacillus, then oxidize the
hydrogen sulphide (or sulphur) to sulphate (SO4 2–), with sulphite
(SO3 2–) as an intermediate step; this is an oxygen requiring process
that needs aerobic conditions and makes sulphate ions available
once again to be taken up by plant roots from the soil.

 Sulphur can also become incorporated in rocks, including those that

yield fossil fuels.

 combustion of fossil fuels oxidises the sulphur to sulphur dioxide

(SO2); this is a serious pollutant of the atmosphere and a major
contributor to the formation of acid rain.

 In the atmosphere, the sulphur dioxide becomes further oxidized to

sulphite and sulphate which dissolve in rainwater to form a mixture
of sulphurous and sulphuric acid: acid rain
Figure 2.8 :The sulphur cycle
(5) Water Cycle
 What is water & the water cycle?
 Water is essential to all living organisms in all kinds of ways:
 it makes up 70% of all cells
 it is an essential requirement of photosynthesis
 it is the basis of all transport systems in organisms
 it provides a means of removing excretory products

 In addition, we use water in many ways in our daily lives:

 To wash our clothes, our dirty dishes and our dirty selves
 To flush away waste
 To make products such as paper, steel and beer
 To generate electricity using a range of devices that convert the
 motion of water into electrical energy.
 in a system, called ‘hydroponics’, to grow plants in a soil-free
medium
Figure 2.9: The water cycle summarizing the main stages of it
10.3. Ecological Succession
 What is a succession?
 The ecosystems that exist today did not always exist.
 They have developed from other previous systems by succession.
 And many of them began on completely bare ground. Bare rock does
not remain bare for long.
 Very soon, lichens can be seen growing on the surface of the rock.
 These extremely resilient organisms are able to colonize harsh env’ts
& reproduce there. They are pioneer species.

Figure 10.10A: Lichens growing on bare Figure 10.10B: Mosses have lichens in
some areas
 However, the mixture of dead remains of lichens, crumbled rock & mineral ions
forms a primitive soil.
 This less harsh environment is suitable for mosses. So, spores of mosses that
land there can now ‘germinate’ and the mosses grow, outcompeting the lichens
in the changed environment.
 This is the essence of succession:
 Organisms colonize an area.
 They change the abiotic (physical) conditions in the area.
 The changed abiotic conditions allow other species to colonize the area.
 The new species compete with the ones there before and become
dominant.
 They also then change the abiotic conditions, more species enter & the
process continues.
 The various stages in a succession are called seres.

 As successive producers colonize the area, they create more & different
habitats & niches for other organisms to occupy.
 As a consequence, succession usually involves an increase in the complexity
of food webs.
 The final, most complex, state of a succession is the climax community.
 Climax community is the most complex community that can exist
under the prevailing environmental conditions.
Figure 2.11: A succession from bare rock to a woodland climax
Figure 10.12: A succession from open water to woodland
 As time passes, more and more sediments fill the lake and larger
‘emerging’ plants become established.

 Eventually there is sufficient sediment to support deep-rooted trees

& the climax woodland stage of the succession is reached.
 Both successions end with the same climax.

 Because the first takes place from rock, it is called a xerosere,

whereas the second, starting from water, is a hydrosere.

 Why do different areas have different climax?

 This because of the following reasons:
 Climate variations (temperature & rainfall),
 Soil types,
 Soil depth, &
 Anthropogenic disturbance factors like grazing, farming, etc.
 Types of succession

 There are two types of successions

1) Primary succession; This occurs when succession begins on bare
rock, previously uncolonised ground, or from a newly formed pond
with no life.

2) Secondary succession: This sometimes occur when communities are

destroyed by fire, or by some other human interventions, but when a
new succession begins in such an area, it is a secondary succession.

 Although the process is still essentially the same, secondary

successions to the original climax are usually much quicker than
primary successions because:
 the succession is not starting from bare rock/open water.
 there is a seed bank of many of the climax plant types available in
remaining undamaged plants, &
 the soil is already present.
10.4 Biomes: What is a biome?
 In 1875, the geologist Eduard Suess first coined the term biosphere.
 He used this to describe the layer of the Earth’s surface where life is
found.
 Biosphere is all those parts of the Earth, including the Earth’s crust,
the seas & the atmosphere, where living organisms can be found.
 Biome is a climatically & geographically limited ecological area that
consists of organisms that are adapted in similar ways.
 We divide the biosphere into a number of biomes. The concept of a
biome brings together several ideas.
 A biome is a geographical or regional area with a specific climate, a
specific soil type, specific animals & plants that are adapted in similar
ways to the abiotic conditions within the area.
 Temperature & precipitation (rainfall) are the most significant climatic
factors in determining biome type. These, in turn, are determined to
a very large extent by geographical location.

Figure 10.13: The biosphere

 Figure 2.16 shows how different combinations of temperature &
precipitation result in different biomes.

Figure 10.14: Temperature & precipitation are large factors in

determining biomes
 Figure 2.17 shows how the main biome types are influenced by
wind patterns, which are the main factors that drive the climate.

Figure 10.15: Biomes & their relation to the Earth’s pattern of winds
 What types of biomes are there?

 There have been many classifications of the different biomes &

scientists are still refining their ideas but we can classify the biomes
into two main types:
1) Terrestrial biomes
2) Aquatic biomes
 Each can then be further subdivided to give the distinct biomes.

 What are the main types of terrestrial biomes?

 A terrestrial biome is defined by temperature, rainfall, soil type, flora
& fauna (plants & animals).

 Terrestrial biome is a biome consisting of an area of land.

 Table 2.1 overleaf gives the features of the major terrestrial biomes.
Table 10.1: The characteristics of the major terrestrial biomes
 There are several biomes to be found within Ethiopia. The major
ones are listed in the legend of Figure 10.16.
 Wetter portions of the western highlands consist of tropical montane
vegetation with dense, luxuriant forests & rich undergrowth.
 Drier sections at lower elevations of the western and eastern
highlands contain tropical montane forest mixed with grassland.
 Temperate grasslands cover the higher altitudes of the western &
eastern highlands.
 Tropical dry forest is found in the Rift Valley & eastern lowlands
together with some dry grassland areas.
 Dry grassland also covers portions of the Denakil Plain.
2) What types of aquatic biomes are there?

 We can subdivide the aquatic biomes into two main types:

 marine biomes
 freshwater biomes

 There are several biomes in each category. Table 10.2 gives some
of the features of each category.

 Aquatic biome a marine is a biome or a freshwater biome.

 Freshwater biome is a biome consisting of a river, a lake or a pond.

 Marine biome is a biome consisting of a part of the sea.

Table 10.3: The main features of the aquatic biomes
10.4. Biodiversity and Conservation
10.4.1. Biodiversity: what is biodiversity?
 Biodiversity can be measured in terms of species richness or diversity.
 A more useful concept is, however, species diversity.

 This takes into account the species richness & the success of each
species (abundance) in the ecosystem.
 An index of diversity can be calculated & this can be used to give a
picture of the ecosystem as a whole.
 The difference b/n species richness & species diversity is seen the
following example (Table 10.3).
Table 10.3: Three ‘invented’ ecosystems
 In area 1, only species A is really successful & dominates the area.
 In area 2, all the species are more or less equally successful.
 In area 3, three of the six species dominate the area.
 One index of diversity is Simpson’s index of diversity & is calculated from
the formula:
 d = N(N – 1)
n(n – 1)
 In this formula, d = the index of diversity,
N = the total number of organisms in the area &
n = the total number of organisms of each species.
 For area 1:
d = (100 × 99) / [(86 × 85) + (5 × 4) + (2 × 1) + (3 × 2) + (1 × 0) + (3 × 2)] = 1.348
 For area 2:
d = (100 × 99) / [(16 × 15) + (17 × 16) + (16 × 15) + (17 × 16) + (17 × 16) + (17 × 16)] = 6.314
 For area 3:
d = (100 × 99) / [(23 × 22) + (25 × 24) + (27 × 26) + (5 × 4) + (12 × 11) + (8 × 7)] = 4.911
 A low value for the index of diversity suggests an area dominated by one or just a few species.
 If there are more successful species with no species completely dominating the area, the value
for the index of diversity will be higher.
 The implications of the results
 A low value for the index of diversity, suggesting only a few successful
species, could be the result of a hostile environment with only a few
organisms being really well adapted to that environment.

 Change in the environment would probably have quite serious effects.

 If those few species that can survive are seriously affected, then the whole
ecosystem may be disrupted.

 A higher diversity index suggests a number of successful species & a more

stable ecosystem.

 More ecological niches are available & the environment is likely to be less
hostile.
 Environmental change is likely to be less damaging to the ecosystem as a
whole unless it affects all the plants present.

 Tropical rainforests provide an example of a stable ecosystem with high

species diversity. Tropical rainforest is a biome at a low elevation above sea
level, high rainfall & warm temperatures all year round.
 However, biodiversity also take into account the following ones:
 the ecological diversity of each species – how many different
ecological niches has it managed to colonize?

 the genetic diversity of each species – is there just one strain of

the species with essentially one set of genes (the gene pool) or
are there several different (but related) gene pools because there
are several different (but related) populations of the species
living in different areas?

 So, biodiversity is a measure of the overall variability of life on the

planet (or a local area) and it includes:
 the species richness & species diversity of the local area/planet,
 the ecological variability of each species, &
 the genetic variability of each species.
 How have humans influenced biodiversity?

 Biodiversity are affected by the following major human factors:

 Deforestation
 Agricultural expansion
 Deforestation is usually carried out for one of two main reasons:
 to clear land for human activities, such as mining, agriculture or
house building, or
 to obtain timber to make products such as paper, charcoal,
furniture, or to use as a building material.

 Tropical rainforest is one of the most complex & species-rich

ecosystems in the world.

 Rainforest covers about 7% of the Earth’s surface & contains 25%

of the known species.
 What is the status of biodiversity in Africa?
 Some facts concerning African biodiversity include that:
 areas that have high plant species richness often also have high
mammal species richness – and vice versa. So the more different
plants there are, the more different habitats & niches for animals there
will be. Yet, parts of South Africa have a very high plant species
richness, but not have high mammal species richness.

 a quarter (1229 species) of the world’s approximately 4700 mammal

species occur in Africa, including about 960 species in sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA) and 137 species in Madagascar. The eastern & southern
savannahs host large populations of mammals, including at least 79
species of antelope.

 more than a fifth of the approximately 10 000 bird species in the world
are found in Africa; about 1600 bird species are endemic to SSA.

 about 950 species of amphibians are found in Africa, making Africa

(together with South America) the continent with the highest number of
amphibians.
Figure 2.25A Mammal species richness in Africa Figure 2.25B Plant species richness
in Africa
 What about biodiversity in Ethiopia?

 Biodiversity in Ethiopia is better than compared to other African

countries, despite not as high as in some countries like Kenya.

 Thus, Ethiopia is an important regional centre of biological diversity.

 The main reasons for its high biodiversity include:

 The wide range in altitude & climate,
 the isolation of the highlands of Ethiopia, &
 availability of many different biomes present in the country.

 One estimate suggests that there are between 6500 & 6700 plant
species in the country. This represents the 5th most diverse flora in
Africa.

 About 10–12% of these plant species are endemic to Ethiopia

(~1150 plant species).
 Ethiopia, besides having wild plants, is one of the 12 centres of origin
of cultivated crops.

 There are 11 cultivated crops, which have their centre of genetic

diversity in Ethiopia.
 These are:
1) Coffea arabica – Coffee
2) Eragrostis tef – Tef
3) Ensete ventriculum – Ensete
4) Coccinia abyssinica – Anchote
5) Guizotia abyssinica – Niger seed (Nug)
6) Brassica carinata – Ethiopian rape (Gomenzer)
7) Carthamus tinctures – Sufflower (Suf)
8) Sorghum Spp. – Sorghum
9) Hordeum Spp. – Barley
10) Linum usitatissimum – Linseed (Telba)
11) Ricinus communis – Castor bean (Gulo)
 Ethiopia is also an important centre of genetic diversity of forage
plants.
 About 46 legumes are endemic to Ethiopia.

 They include species of Trifolium (clover), Vigna (a type of bean)

& Lablab (all parts of the plant are edible).

 These plants, used as animal feed, are important because they

add nitrogen to the soil in which they grow as they have nitrogen-
fixing bacteria living symbiotically in their roots.

 The high species richness creates many diverse ecological zones

with many ecological niches for animals to fill.

 Every group of vertebrate animals is well represented in Ethiopia as

Table 10.4 illustrates.
Table 10.4: A summary of the vertebrate biodiversity of Ethiopia

 In terms of the biodiversity of its avifauna (birds), Ethiopia is one of

the most significant countries in mainland Africa.

 Again, Ethiopia’s diverse ecology contributes to the tremendously

diverse bird life. Over 861 species are found in Ethiopia.

 At present, 69 Important Bird Areas are identified by the Ethiopian

Wildlife & Natural History Society (EWNHS).
Practices that have direct effects on biodiversity include:
 deforestation – conversion of forests, woodlands & savannas to
agricultural lands & other land use systems,
 fuel wood collection & illegal logging,
 overgrazing by stock animals – reduces the availability of forage
& woody plant species for other animals,
 introduction of improved crop varieties – reduce the genetic
diversity of the particular crop plant as only the ‘improved’ variety
is used,

 overhunting (poaching) – directly reduces the numbers of the species

hunted.

 introduction of alien invasive species – these often outcompete native

species for the available resources, sometimes making native species
locally extinct
 Practices that have indirect effects on biodiversity:
 high population growth – the more people there are, the bigger the
demand for resources of all kinds, which puts pressure on land to be
used for supporting humans, rather than other species.

 undervaluation of the biodiversity resources – if biodiversity is not

seen as important at all levels of government, then attempts to
maintain biodiversity will not receive a high enough priority, this
results in a lack of incentives for communities to conserve their local
biodiversity.

 legal & institutional systems that promote unsustainable exploitation

 disregard of traditional communal (range) land mgn’t systems –

traditional methods of land management conserved the species
present & used them to support the community; these are at risk as
more communities are encouraged to use more high-yielding,
intensive practices
 Why is biodiversity loss a concern?
 In the years leading up to the millennium (2000) a global
assessment of many aspects of biodiversity was made.

 It was called the Millennium Assessment (MA).

 The MA findings suggest that biodiversity loss contributes to:

 worsening health,
 increasing insecurity of food supply,
 increasing vulnerability,
 lower material wealth,
 worsening social relations, &
 less freedom for choice and action.
10.4.2. Conservation of natural Resources

10.4.2.1. Definitions of Resources

 Natural resources are resources(actual & potential) supplied by
nature. Or, a natural resource is anything natural that is useful.
 These natural resources can be classified as renewable & non-
renewable natural resources.

 Renewable resources are mainly living things & their products, or

capable of being produced indefinitely, not used up. If managed
carefully, they can be used, reused & replaced. E.g., plants (crop,
trees, …) & animals (cattle & chickens, …)
 Non-renewable are non-living, once they are used, they cannot
be easily made or replaced. E.g., metals (gold, iron….) & fossil
fuels (coal, gas/ petroleum/, oil).

 However, even renewable resources like trees & animals can

be lost or extinct (no longer in existence), if we do not mange
them carefully. For instance, if an animal is hunted until there are no
more of that species left or its habitat is destroyed, it can no longer
 Hence, to protect our natural resources, both here in Ethiopia &
around the world, people are becoming more aware of the need for
conservation.

 10.4.2. Conservation
 Conservation is the protection & preservation of our natural env’t, so that
non-renewable resources are used sparingly & renewable resources are
managed so that they can last for the foreseeable future.

 The major concern of scientists around the world is the loss of

biodiversity, i.e., the vanishing of renewable resources nations.
 Why is biodiversity so important?
 This is because of the following reasons:
1) The variety of organisms can affect the physical conditions around
them.
2) If biodiversity is reduced in one area, the natural balance may be
destroyed elsewhere.
3) Healthy biodiversity is important for the health of the planet.
7) Plant roots hold the soil together, which enable to reduce the risk of
flooding & erosion of fertile soil.
8) Plant pollination, seed dispersal, soil fertility & the N-cycle are all
needed for natural ecosystems & for farming. They, however, rely on
good biodiversity to work properly.
9) Biodiversity also gives us the genetic diversity we need to develop
crops to grow in different conditions.
10) A wide range of biodiversity means we can breed the cattle, sheep,
goats & other livestock that are best suited to our climate.
11) We can also bring in new genes as climate conditions change.
12) Biodiversity also act as a source of medicines, clothing, food & other
useful things for people.
13) Biodiversity matters for the appearance of our country, thereby serving
being tourist centers, ecotourism.
 Thus, there are a number of ways in which we can conserve
biodiversity.
 Individual species may be protected, so that it is illegal to
capture, kill or harm them.

 People can reduce pollution& climate change via reducing the

levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.

 Biodiversity can be increased by stopping deforestation &

replanting trees

 One of the most effective ways of conserving biodiversity is to

protect their large areas of habitat. Ethiopia is leading the way
in this.

 We have designated at least 12 regions of the country as

National Parks, areas where the wildlife and plants are
protected & biodiversity can thrive.
 10.6. Vegetation & Wildlife
10.6.1 Vegetation
 Here in Ethiopia we have a rich & varied vegetation.

 We have varied ecosystems, from desert to tropical rainforests, & vegetation

across the country (See in (legend of) Figure 10.4).

 We have some of the lowest-lying areas of Africa & some of the highest peaks.

Figure 10.4: Different areas of vegetation

across Ethiopia
 Using plants
 Plants are of great importance to human beings all around the world. We use
them in many different ways. Plants use:
 for food, e.g., teff, sorghum, anchote & beans.

 to make drinks such as tella, & coffee (bunna) , besides being export for
getting foreign currency.

 for building materials – wood is used to build our homes and plants are
used to thatch the roofs.

 for export timber such as blue gum (bahir zaf) logs as construction
material, besides providing fuel wood.

 to make clothing – cotton & hemp are just two examples of plants that
are used to make fabrics for clothing.

 for medicines; both herbal medicines & many western medicines are
originally based on chemicals from plants.

 We have the highest bee population in Africa, making us the tenth

biggest honey producers in the world.
 Endemic species
 Ethiopia is a country which is internationally recognized for its rich
diversity of plant species.

 We have around 7000 different species of higher plants alone, with

up to 800 endemic species.

 An endemic species is an organism that is only found in a particular

area – so we have around 800 endemic plants which grow wild in
parts of Ethiopia.

 They are very important to both Ethiopian & world biodiversity!

 Examples of our endemic pant species include:

 teff (Eragrostis teff), many Euphorbia spps, noug or niger seed
(Guizotia abyssinica), enset (Ensete ventricosum),
 Ficus vasta Forssk, zigba (Podocarpus falcatus), juniper (tid),
kererro & sembo trees and many other species.
 The history of Ethiopian vegetation
 The history of our vegetation in Ethiopia has not been recorded in as much
detail as we might wish.

 Although we are blessed with such a rich and diverse vegetation, we have not
as a nation conserved that gift until recent years.

 We have used our resources without thought for the future –in each area of
the country the available vegetation has often been destroyed.

 Yet, now we are looking at the past & making great efforts for the future.

 For example, Emperor Zera Yakob (1434–1468) made organize the

collection of the seeds of many indigenous trees such as juniper (tid), olive
(woira) & podo (zigba) from the Wof-Washa forest near Debre Sina.

 He had them planted on the Menagesha Mountain. The Menagesha forest is

still one of the best preserved in the whole country.

 In 1895, Emperor Menelik II ordered the introduction of bahir zaf (blue gum)
to try & replace the native vegetation that was disappearing around many
settlements. Yet, not all efforts at conservation are completely successful!
 Since these eucalyptus trees have covered much of the Ethiopian highlands,
recent studies have shown that they have a damaging effect on the soil & on
biodiversity of other plants in areas of bahir zaf vegetation.

 But apart from these efforts, we have used our vegetation in Ethiopia without
thought or coordinated conservation efforts for many years.

 As a result, although originally around 35% of Ethiopia was covered in

forests & lush vegetation, by 1952 only 16% of that forest cover was left.

 By 1980 this was down to 3.6%, 2.7% by 1987 & in 1990 only 2.4% of our
beautiful country had forest cover.

 We had lost most of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world.

 Only a very few forests, such as the Anabe & Yegof forests in Wello & the
Menagesha forest in Shewa, are well preserved.

 However, there is an increasing awareness in our country of the need to

conserve what remains of our magnificent vegetation & where possible
restore & preserve it.
10.6.2. Wildlife
 The wildlife of Ethiopia is some of the richest in the world.

 We have 242 listed mammalian species, which range from huge elephants to
tiny elephant shrews.

 There are around 862 species of birds as well.

 This variety of wildlife is useful to people in a number of ways.
 A rich diversity of animal life is important to maintain our many ecosystems.
 The wildlife acts as pollinators for our flowering plants & dispersing seeds.
 Our bees provide the honey for export business & for the production of tej.
 The balance of wildlife in different regions helps to maintain the natural
balance of the plants as well.
 Some of the wildlife acts as a genetic bank for our domestic animals & can
be used as a source of genetic diversity.
 However, one of the most important uses of wildlife in Ethiopia is to
generate income from tourism.
 Ethiopia’s wild animals such as elephants, lions, cheetahs, rhinos,
wildebeest & antelopes are an inspiring sight by attracting tourists.

 People come to Ethiopia for our rich diversity of birds alone, including our
pelicans & flamingos, parrots to the rare white-winged flufftail.

 Endemic wildlife species

 We have a high number of endemic species of different types of wildlife.

 For example, there are 28 species of mammals including the Gelada

Baboon, the Walia ibex, Menelik’s Bushbuck, the Mountain Nyala, Swayne’s
Hartebeest & the Ethiopian wolf

 Endemic bird species include the heavy-headed, thick-billed raven, the

wattled ibis, the blackwinged lovebird, the white-collared pigeon & the Prince
Ruspolis Turaco.

 We also have six endemic reptiles and around 33 endemic amphibians.

 These animals and many others are found only within the boundaries of
Ethiopia.
 Conservation of wildlife
 Conservation involves protecting habitats & managing populations.

 Another method involves preventing the spread of disease.

 Ethiopia is one of the most enlightened of the African countries in its

approach to conservation. We have set up & maintain many National Parks.
 A National Park is a relatively large area of land which is owned by the
government & is set aside for the protection of vegetation & wildlife, &
for their appreciation by human beings.
 A National Park should contain several ecosystems which are not
affected by human activities.
 It is protected legally and there should be staff (rangers) who manage
& protect the environment.
 Visitors can enter the National Parks under carefully controlled
conditions for educational, cultural & leisure reasons.

Figure 10.9: Nechisar National Park

 The main National Parks of Ethiopia are listed here below , but you can refer
your text book for the wildlife sanctuaries that have been set up to protect
specific species.
1) Abijatta-Shalla Lakes National Park is 200 km south of Addis Ababa &
it is 887 km2 in size.
 Many of the area is under water of Lake Abijatta & Lake Shalla, besides
peaks like Mount Fike, which is 2075 m a.s.l.
 Animals which are found in this park include flamingos, Great White
Pelicans, Grant’s Gazelle, Oribi Warthog and Golden Jackals.
2) Awash National Park is found about 225 km east of Addis Ababa &
its southern boundary is formed by the Awash river.
 Its most area is at an altitude of around 900 m, but it contains a dormant
volcano called Fentale, which is over 2000 m high.
 The park is relatively dry, with lots of grassland & acacia woodland.
 There are Beisa oryx, Soemmerrings, Gazelle & wild pigs.
 Zebra, dik-dik, Anubis & Hamadryas Baboons, cheetahs, serval &
leopards can all be found in this area.
 The birdlife is also extravagant and varied, including ostriches, Secretary
Birds, Carmine Bee-eaters & the Abyssinian Roller.
3) Nechisar National Park (500 km2) is between two lakes, Abaya & Chamo.
 The habitats include dry bush, savannah & a groundwater forest &, almost
200 species of birds have been recorded, including Red-billed Hornbills, fish
eagles, the Abyssinian Ground-hornbill & the Kori Bustard!
 Animals which can be seen include crocodiles, Burchell’s Zebra,
bushbucks, Grey Duiker, Grant’s Gazelle and the Greater Kudu.
 This National Park is very important for the conservation of the rare,
endemic Swayne’s Hartebeest.
4) Simien Mountains National Park is home to both spectacular scenery &
spectacular and rare wildlife.
 This major mountain range has been declared a World Heritage Site, & it
has many peaks above 4000 m.
 This is the area of Ethiopia where a number of our endemic species are
protected and conserved. You can find Walia ibex, Ethiopian wolves &
Gelada Baboons in this amazing & protected region of our country.
5) Bale Mountain National Park : it contains a mixture of forest and moorland, &
some very rare animals such as the Gelada Baboon, Mountain Nyala &
Ethiopian wolves.
 Other species found there include the Giant Mole Rat, Klipspringer,
Menelik’s Bushbuck and warthogs.
6) Gambela National Park (5000km2) is one of our newest National Parks.
 The wildlife includes Nile perch, crocodiles & hippos as well as waterbuck,
Roan Antelope, hyena, lions, elephants, buffalo, zebra, Vervet Monkeys &
black-and-white colobus monkeys.
 10.5: Air Pollution and Global Worming
10.5.1. Air pollution: What is air pollution?
 Air pollution comes in various forms.
 One type of air pollution is smoke produced by burning fuel for energy like
fossil fuel – coal, oil or gas, or electricity produced by burning them.
 Fossil fuels contain chemicals known as hydrocarbons; which are produced
when fossil fuels burnt & unburnt hydrocarbons are released into the air .
 Diesel smoke is a good example of this. The particles are very small pieces of
matter. Such pollution is sometimes called as ‘black carbon’ pollution.
 The exhaust from burning fuels in cars, homes & industries is a major source of
pollution in the air. Even the burning of wood on our fires can release significant
quantities of soot into the air causing local air pollution.
 Smoke pollution worldwide is thought to be causing global dimming, blocking
out some of the light from the sun.
 The production of CO2 is another major cause of air pollution. CO2 is
produced by living organisms as a waste product of respiration & as a result of
Figure 10.13: This graph shows how carbon dioxideCO2 levels in the air
have been steadily increasing. The variations through the year show the
difference in the plants taking up CO2 in summer & winter.

 Why is carbon dioxide increasing?

 Currently, the amount of CO2 produced is increasing fast as the result of
human activities (Figure 10.13).

 Around the world, people are burning huge amounts of fossil fuels in
cars, planes & also in power stations to generate electricity.
10.5.2. Global warming
 Global warming is an increase in the temperature at the surface of the earth as
a result of an increased greenhouse effect.

 Due to human activities, the amount of green house gases (GHG) in the air is
continuing to increase. This build-up acts like a blanket & traps heat close to
the surface of our Earth, causing to rise of the temperature at the surface of
the Earth. This in turn may have many effects on our climate & health.
 The major causes for global warming are GHGs including:
1) CO2 is a pollutant gas produced due to burning of wood or fire forest &
decomposition processes.
2) CO is a pollutant gas produced as a result of burning fossil fuels
3) Sulphur dioxide is a gas produced as a result of burning fossil fuels
4) Nitrogen oxides are pollutant gases produced as a result of burning fossil
fuels.
5) Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) had caused the ozone layer around the Earth
to get thinner, & global warming
Figure 5.14: Most scientists believe that global warming is a result of the build-
up of air pollutants such as carbon dioxide. The pollution is produced all over
the world. Here in Ethiopia we are already feeling the effects.
 Controlling global warming
 Methods of preventing global warming include:
 reducing the use of fossil fuels,
 managing the farming of cattle & rice
 Stopping deforestation & replanting trees.

 Effects of air pollution

 Air pollution has a number of effects on both the env’t & on individuals
including.
 global dimming,
 global warming,
 acid rain
 Other problems like asthma, lung infections & cancer for individuals.