GENERAL BIOLOGY REVIEWER - Are made of two DNA polymers that stick

together via non-covalent hydrogen

DNA
- Is the information molecule.
- Stores instructions for making other
large molecules.
- Blueprints of an organism.
- DNA molecules are polymers.
• POLYMERS- large molecules
that are built up by linking smaller
molecules (in nonrandom molecules)
called MONOMERS.
- Polymer : Monomer
bonds.
- Chromosomal DNA has 2 DNA polymers
that makes up 3D structure (double helix).
• In double helix, strands of DNA
run antiparallel.
▪ 5’ end is parallel with 3’.
- GENES- chromosomes consist smaller
segments called genes.
MAIN FUNCTION OF DNA

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- DNA Polymer : Nucleotide- a molecule - DNA Polymers direct the production of
of DNA is a bunch of nucleotide other polymers called PROTEIN.
monomers. • Protein

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▪ one or more polymer of
NUCLEOTIDES OF DNA monomers called AMINO ACIDS.
- DNA alphabet has only four letters ▪ Workhorse molecules
• A: Adenine
• C: Cytosine
• T: Thymine
A ▪ Acts as enzymes, structural
support, hormones, host.
▪ All traits derive from interactions
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• G: Guanine of proteins.
Pairs: (AT Apple Tree) (CG Car Garage)
- Each nucleotide monomer is made from GENETIC ENGINEERING
3 simple molecular parts:
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• Sugar - Process by which pieces of DNA are

• Phosphate group
• Nucleobase
- Codon- gene is further divided into three
nucleotide subsegments called codons.
• A piece of double stranded DNA
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transferred from one organism to another.
Vector – acts as carriers to transfer
foreign genetic material into the target
organisms, enabling the introduction of
desired traits or genes. (plasmid and

that is three nucleotides long. viruses)

- PHOSPHODIESTER BONDS THE PROCESS OF GENETIC

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• bond of the nucleotides. Bonds in ENGINEERING:

DNA Polymers that connects the 5’
Carbon of one nucleotide to the 3’ Carbon
of another nucleotide.
• Strong electromagnetic
attractions.
• Larger class of electromagnetic
attractions between atoms that chemists
refer to as covalent bonds.

CHROMOSOMES
 • Drought Resistant Seeds
• Goats make Silk Protein in Milk
used to manufacture a web-like material
called biosteel.
• Tadpoles with Fluoresce- low and
expensive ways to detect pollution.
• Featherless Chickens
• Pest-Resistant Cabbage
produces scorpion poison.
• Oil eating bacteria
• Strawberry with anti-freeze.
• GM Trees- grow faster, yield
better wood

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▪ Australian eucalyptus
altered to withstand freezing.
STAGES INVOLVED: ▪ Loblolly pines- altered

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with less lignin to make better
paper.

A HAZARDS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING

- Risk for human and animal health,

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creating new microbes that are difficult to
kill by antibiotics.

RECOMBINANT DNA
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Involves using enzymes and various

USES OF GENETIC ENGINEERING
- To make insulin for diabetic persons.
(before genetic engineering it came
from pigs and cows)
- To make growth hormones to treat
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laboratory techniques to manipulate and
isolate DNA segments of interest. Can
combine (or splice) DNA from different
species.
- Cloning
• Reproductive cloning is a method

dwarfs. used to make an identical copy of an

- To prepare vaccines. entire multicellular organism.
- To make plant resistant to disease. • Became an issue to scientific
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- To make pigs, cows, and fishes grow
faster.
- Higher production of milk by cows. ↑
20%.
- To make pigs with less fat- leaner
meat.
- Gene Therapy- when a gene is inserted
into a sick person.
- EXAMPLE OF GMOs:
• Less Flatulent Cows- creates
25% less methane.
• Golden Rice- rich in Vitamin A
ethics when Dolly the sheep became the
first mammal to be cloned from adult cell
in 1996.
• Cloned mammals exhibit facial,
limb, and cardiac abnormalities.
- CRISPR Cas9
• Clustered, RegularlyInterspaced
Short Palindromic Repeats
• Allows scientists to edit genomes
far better than older gene splicing
techniques. (designer babies)
 • Conventional CRISPR complexes
has an enzyme called Cas9.
▪ It recognizes and cuts a
target stretch of DNA. Must detect
a short genetic sequence called
protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM).
GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS
are transgenic
- any organism whose genetic material
has been altered using genetic
engineering techniques. Involves
mutation, insertion, or deletion of genes.
Inserted genes usually come from a
different species in a form of horizontal
gene transfer.
IMPORTANT APPLICATIONS:
Applications in Crop Improvement:
- Distant Hybridization:
A Industrial Applications:
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• Transfer genes between distantly
related species.
- Development of Transgenic Plants:
• Contains foreign genes.
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• Resistant to disease, drought,
insects, pest, etc.
• Improvement of quality.
• BT-Cotton, resistant to
bollworms. - Development of Root
Nodules in Cereal Crops
• Leguminous plants have root
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nodules that contain nitrogen fixing
bacteria Rhizobium.
• Can be transferred to cereal
A
crops.
Applications in Medicine:
- Production of antibiotics
• Penicillium and Streptomyces
fungi are used for antibiotics penicillin and
streptomycin.
- Production of Hormone insulin
• Used by diabetics usually
extracted from the pancreas of pigs and
cows.
• Leads to allergic reactions of 5%
of patients.
- Production of Vaccines
• Produced by transfer of antigen
coding genes.
- Production of Interferon
• Virus-induced proteins produced
by virus-infected cells.
• Anti-viral and act as first line of
defense against viruses including breast
cancer and lymph node malignancy.
- Production of Enzymes:
• Enzyme urokinase which is used
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to dissolve blood clots can be genetically
produced.
- Gene Therapy
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- Solution of Disputed Parentage
- Diagnosis of Disease
- Production of Transgenic Animals
- facilitates large-scale proteins, enzymes,
and other molecules in industrial
applications, leading to advancements in
pharmaceuticals, food processing,
biofuels, and agriculture.
HISTORY OF LIFE ON EARTH (mya)
4600- Planet Earth formed. (dust from
birth of sun clumped together)
4500- Earth’s core and crust formed.
(dense metals sank to center forming the
core, outside layer solidified forming crust)
4400- The Earth’s first oceans formed.
(water vapor turned to rain and falls down)
3850- The first life appeared on Earth.
(singlecelled organism)
1500- Oxygen began to accumulate in
Earth's atmosphere. (made of
cyanobacteria (bluegreen algae) as
product of photosynthesis)
700- The first animals evolved. (simple
singlecelled animals)
 • Ordovician- first land
530- The first vertebrates evolved. (fish) plants
• Silurian- first spiders,
400- The first plants evolved. (oxygen scorpions
formed ozone that served as barrier to • Devonian- first
harsh rays from space that allowed plants amphibians
to colonise) • Carboniferous
▪ Pennsylvanian-
350- The first land vertebrates evolved. first insects.
(first venture onto the land were primitive ▪ Permian- first
amphibians and reptiles evolved soon reptiles
after) • Permian- gymnosperms

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225- The first dinosaurs evolved from MESOZOIC (Age of Dinosaurs)
lizards. • Triassic- origin of mammals and
dinosaurs.

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65- The dinosaurs went extinct. • Jurassic- dinosaurs dominate
(after-effects of meteorite impact that the land.
caused disasters) • Cretaceous- marsupials and

0.13- Modern humans evolved. (Homo

sapiens from Africa)
A insects.

CENOZOIC (Age of Fishes)

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• Tertiary
GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE ▪ Paleogene
• Paleocene-
- Eon- represents time which majority of placental mammals
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macroscopic organisms lived. • Eocene- rodents

- Era- division that spans periods of ten to • Oligocene-
hundred million years tropical rainforest
• Paleozoic ▪ Neogene
• Mesozoic • Miocene-
• Cenozoic coevolution of insects and
- Period- division that spans no more than plants
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100 million years • Pliocene-

- Epoch- smallest division of the time hominids appear
scale. • Quaternary
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▪ Pleistocene- modern
PRECAMBRIAN humans appear.
•Hadean- no life ▪ Holocene- rise of
• Archean- oxygen levels rise civilization.
• Proterozoic- origin of multicelled
organisms. MECHANISMS THAT PRODUCE
CHANGE IN POPULATIONS OVER TIME
PHANEROZOIC
PALEOZOIC (Age of Mammals) - Natural Selection- main way in which
• Cambrian- major animal populations evolved.
groups • Charles Darwin and Alfred
Russell Wallace
 • Survival of the fittest, wherein
only a portion of the population will
survive.
- Mutation- source of new alleles in a
population adding to variability in
population.
• Negative mutation: phenotype
that gives reduced fitness. (lower
likelihood in survival)
• Positive mutation: beneficial to
fitness
• Neutral mutation: has no effect
- Any preserved evidence of an organism
- For an organism to be preserved, it must
be buried quickly in sediments such as
limestone, shale, or sandstone.
TYPES OF FOSSILS
- Molds- imprint of organism
- Cast- fossilized organism
- Petrified- organic material is eventually
replaced with minerals.
- Original Remains- everything is
preserved (naturally) ex. Preservation of

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to fitness. amber or the hardened sap of trees.
- Carbon Film- organism disintegrates
- Gene Flow leaving only carbon.

• AKA migration
• Organism is moved to a place
where it’s not endemic, and its genes are
introduced to a new population.
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- Trace/Ichnofossils- examples includes
footprints or marks that are preserved.

- Genetic Drift
A SIX WAYS OF FOSSILIZATION
- Unaltered Preservation- unchanged
- Permineralization/Petrification- organic
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• leads to reduction in the variation content of bone or wood is replaced with
present. minerals such as silica, calcite, etc.
• Most important in small - Replacement- inorganic content
populations. replaced with calcite, silica, pyrite, or iron.
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- Carbonization/ Coalification- elements

THE HARDY-WEINBERG EQUILIBRIUM
AND GENETIC VARIATION
• In an infinitely large,
interbreeding population which mating is
random and there is no change in
population, all genes are constant per
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are removed leaving only carbon.
- Recrystallization- hard parts are
converted to minerals.
- Authigenic Preservation- molds and
casts are formed after the organisms have
been dissolved.

generation.
• CONDITIONS: DATING FOSSILS
▪ No selection - Relative Dating
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▪ No gene drift • top:younger, bottom:older

▪ No mutation • Comparisons of positions
▪ No gene flow • Drawbacks are imprecisions and
• Formula: ▪ 𝑝 2 + 2𝑝𝑞 + 𝑞 2 = 1 limitations of age data.
▪ p= dominant homozygous
frequency AA - Absolute Dating
▪ pq= heterozygous • Age of fossils in years
frequency Aa • Determining the relative amounts
▪ q= recessive homozygous of radioactive isotope and nonradioactive
frequency aa isotope in a specimen
• Drawbacks are radioassay
FOSSILS laboratory methods.

RELATIVE DATING
- Law of Superposition- Younger layers
sit atop older layers.
- Law of Original Horizontality- layers of
sedimentary rock are originally deposited
flat.
- Law of Cross-cutting- layer A and B
must be older than the intrusion C that
disturbs them
- Law of Lateral Continuity- layers of
rocks are continuous until they encounter
a solid barrier.
DEVELOPMENT OF EVOLUTIONARY
THOUGHT
•John Ray: Pioneered the concept of
species, emphasizing that organisms of
modern taxonomy.
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one species do not interbreed with those
of another, laying the groundwork for
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•Carl Linnaeus: Revolutionized taxonomy
by introducing the binomial nomenclature
system, providing a standardized way to
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classify and name organisms.
•Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de
Buffon: Challenged traditional beliefs
about Earth's age and explored
evolutionary ideas, including the possibility
of species descending from earlier
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ancestors.
•Erasmus Darwin: Explored the idea of
A
evolution through his works,
acknowledging the inheritance of traits
and proposing a common ancestry for life
on Earth.
•Georges Cuvier: Contributed
significantly to paleontology, developing
methods to interpret fossil records and
establishing the science of paleontology
while classifying animals based on body
plans.
•Jean-Baptiste Lamarck: Proposed the
theory of evolution through the inheritance
of acquired characteristics, suggesting
that organisms could pass on traits
acquired during their lifetimes to their
offspring.
•James Hutton: Introduced the principle
of uniformitarianism, asserting that
geological processes occurring today also
shaped the Earth's past, leading to the
gradual formation of its features over
immense periods.
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•Charles Lyell: Supported Hutton's
uniformitarianism, emphasizing gradual,
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long-term changes in Earth's surface and
recognizing the extinction and
replacement of species over time.
•Charles Darwin: Developed the theory of
evolution by natural selection, proposing
that organisms best adapted to their
environments are more likely to survive
and reproduce, leading to the gradual
change of species over generations.
EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION AND
EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIPS
AMONG ORGANISMS
Evidence from Structures
-Homologous Structures- similar structure,
different functions
-Analogous Structures- different structure,
same functions
-Vestigial Structures- no use
Evidences from Embryology
-common structures are shared in embryo
stage but disappears overtime.
Evidences from Biogeography
-organisms usually arise in areas where
similar forms already exist.
Evidences from Molecular Biology
-many organisms have similar molecules
of life that suggest the idea that they have
common ancestors with modifications.
EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIP
living things share some biomolecules
which may be used to prove relationships.
•more similarities, the closer the
relationship.
•fewer difference, more closely
related they are.
-Difference in Amino acid sequences of
cytochrome-c for different animals-
•Organisms may seem different
physically but can share similar amino
acid sequences in proteins, indicating
close evolutionary ties. For instance,
human cytochrome c, with 104 amino
A
acids, has 37 conserved across all known
sequences, suggesting a common
ancestor over two billion years ago. Fewer
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differences in sequences signify closer
evolutionary relationships.
-Basic Features
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•Outgroups are individuals outside
your ingroup. A cladogram is a diagram
showing hypothetical relationships
between animal groups, called a
phylogeny. It helps scientists visualize
organism groups, their connections, and
common ancestors. Branch length in
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cladograms is arbitrary.
-Phylogenetic Tree of Life
A
•The pattern of branching in
a phylogenetic tree reflects how species
or other groups evolved from a series of
common ancestors.
CLADISTICS AND PHYLOGENY
Systematics- a branch of biology that
studies how species are related to each
other over time.
Taxonomy- part of systematics and
focuses on describing, naming, and
classifying organisms. Developed by
Carolus Linnaeus.
8 Taxonomic Ranks
Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order,
Family, Genus and Species
(Di Ko Pha Class, Order Fa Ge Species)
Phylogenetic Systematics/ Cladistics-
branch of systematics concerned with
inferring phylogeny. Aims for elucidation of
the pattern of life’s history of descent or
passing down of traits.
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Phylogenetic Tree (Cladogram)-
branching diagram that conceptually
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represents an estimate of phylogeny. This
diagram represents the pattern of descent
of organisms.
Key Features of Cladogram:
- Root: Initial ancestor common to all
organisms within the cladogram.
- Lineage: Branches on the
cladogram representing the
evolutionary paths of organisms.
- Nodes: Points on the cladogram
indicating hypothetical common
ancestors that led to the
divergence of descendant taxa.
- Taxon: Group at a specific rank.
- Character: Describable or
measurable trait.
- Character state: Describes a trait;
can have multiple states.
- Ancestral Trait: Trait from a
common ancestor.
- Derived Trait: Modified trait
evolved from an ancestral one.
- Outgroup: Distantly related species
used for comparison.
- Ingroup: Studied group excluding
the outgroup.
- Clades (or Monophyletic Groups):
Common ancestor and all its
descendants.
•Cladistics assumes that closely related
organisms share a recent common
ancestor.
•Related groups share derived characters
inherited from a recent ancestor.

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N
A
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N
A