Cells & Molecules 2013

Week 2: Cell Biology I

The cell as the basic unit of life
» The Cell Theory
» A tour of the cell
» Early microscopes
» Resolution and magnification
» Light & electron microscopes
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 What is a Cell?
History
» Robert Hooke 1665 - coins term ‘cell’
» Antonie van Leeuwenhoek – living cells
» Matthias Schleiden / Theodore Schwann -
1838/1839 – cell theory
» Louis Pasteur 1862 - disproves ‘spontaneous
generation’

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 Cells
Cell Theory
» In 1665, Robert Hooke became the first person to see
and name biological cells.
» Hooke noticed that plants were made of these little
units, that today we call “cells”
» Hooke’s observation marked the beginning of
biological cell theory.

Principles of Biology
 Cell Theory
What is cell theory?
» Cell Theory summarizes the results of Hooke's
and other scientists' findings
 All organisms are composed of cells
 Cells are the smallest living things
 Cells arise only from pre-existing cells

» All cells today represent a continuous line of

descent from the first living cells

‘Omnis cellula e cellula’ 4

‘all cells from cells’

 Cell size is limited
» Most cells are relatively small due reliance on
diffusion of substances in and out of cells
» Rate of diffusion affected by
˃ Surface area available
˃ Temperature
˃ Concentration gradient
˃ Distance

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 Surface area-to-volume ratio
» As a cell increases in size, the radius increases.
» surface area & volume both increase as cell gets bigger
» but its volume increases much more rapidly than its
surface area

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Surface area-to-volume ratio
» Large size also has evolutionary advantages
» so many organisms evolved multicellularity.
» Collections of cells provide the benefits of larger
size & circumvent size constraints on a single cell.
» Functional specialization allows individual cells to
coordinate their activities
» Organism made of many small cells has advantage
over an organism composed of fewer, larger cells

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Surface area-to-volume ratio
Exceptions to the rule

» Cells have strategies at their disposal to solve the

problem of the surface area to volume ratio.
 Some cells overcome limitation by being long and
skinny – like neurons
 egg cells are mostly metabolically inactive, so they
need few nutrients and produce little waste.

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 2 Cell Types

1. Prokaryotic cells
2. Eukaryotic cells

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 What is the difference between
prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?
» Archaea and Bacteria are prokaryotic cells
 lack organelles, particularly a nucleus.
 have many more metabolic options than eukaryotes
 Chemical differences in the plasma membrane
further distinguish Archaea and Bacteria from one
another
» Eukarya, or eukaryotes, are eukaryotic cells
 possess a nucleus and other organelles.
 tend to be larger than prokaryotes
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 Prokaryotic Cells
» Simplest organisms
» Lack a membrane-bound nucleus
˃ DNA is present in the nucleoid
˃ Plasmids

» Cell wall outside of plasma membrane

» Do contain ribosomes (not membrane-bound
organelles)
» Two domains of prokaryotes
˃ Archaea
˃ Bacteria

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Prokaryotic Cell

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 Eukaryotic Cells
» Possess a membrane-bound nucleus
» More complex than prokaryotic cells
» Hallmark is compartmentalization
˃ Achieved through use of membrane-bound organelles and
endomembrane system
» Possess a cytoskeleton for support and to
maintain cellular structure

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 To be continued

» We will look at the cell and its components in

more detail during the rest of the module
 Cells
If cells are so small, how can we see them?

» Not many cells are visible to the naked eye

 Most are less than 50 μm in diameter
» However, higher magnification without increasing
resolution creates a blurry image
» Resolution – minimum distance 2 points can be
apart and still be distinguished as 2 separate points
 Objects must be 100 μm apart for naked eye to resolve
them as 2 objects rather than 1

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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
expertise in making lenses
Robert Hooke – describes ‘cells’ in his
famous work Micrographica in 1665

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What
What do
dowe
weneed
needto
to see
seesmall
smallthings
thingsclearly?
What
Whatdodowe
weneed
needtotosee
seesmall thingsclearly?
smallthings clearly?
clearly?

What do we need to see small things clearly?

1. RESOLUTION

2. MAGN I F I CA TI O N
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 Resolving power.
» microscopes with good resolving power will be able to
distinguish points as separate
» microscopes with poor resolving power will blur 2 points.

Principles of Biology
 Microscopes
2 most common types of microscopes are light & electron

» Light microscopes
 Use magnifying lenses with visible light
 Resolve structures that are 200 nm apart
 Limit to resolution using light

» Electron microscopes
 Use beam of electrons
 Resolve structures that are 0.2 nm apart

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Light Electron microscope
microscope

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» Microscope resolution

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 Types of microscope images
» series of micrographs of white blood cells
(macrophages) using different microscopy techniques:

a) light microscope

b) transmission
electron microscope
(TEM)

c) Scanning electron
microscope

d) light microscope
using fluorescent
labeling of
subcellular structures.
 Seeing cells clearly
Light Microscopes
» Bright-field microscopes
 shine light thru sample & magnifies image with series of lenses
 most common light microscope
» Dark-field microscopes
 increases contrast by shining light on specimen from an angle
» Phase-contrast microscopes
 shine light through lenses, which cause the light waves to be
out of phase with each other and increases the contrast

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 Seeing cells clearly
Light Microscopes (Continued)
» Fluorescence microscopes
 require special fluorescent stains that make visible features
that can’t be seen with other microscopy techniques
 Fluorescent stains can be linked to a protein that will only
bind to a specific target.

» Confocal microscopes
 use laser light to illuminate a sample
 Scientists can view cells one slice at a time
 images from each slice are then reconstructed to form a
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three-dimensional image.
 Seeing cells clearly
Electron Microscopes - use magnets to
focus electrons on a specimen.
» Transmission EMs
 clear visualization of internal cellular components
 electrons can pass through specimens that are sliced very thin
» Scanning EMs
 coat the specimen with a stain
 causes electrons to be deflected off the surface
 Identify cell surface structures
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Looking at cells – staining and artefacts

Stains
» Can be general or very specific, highlight
contrast and/or identify certain features

Artefacts
» All is not always revealed!
» Some distortion can occur, so need to be
careful…..
Fig. 5.1a
Fig. 5.1b
Fig. 5.1c
Fig. 5.1e
Fig. 5.1f
Fig. 5.1g
Fig. 5.1h