NAT SCI 1: Intro to Biology

I. Themes in the study of Biology

A. All forms of life share common properties
a. Biology is the scientific study of life
b. Properties of life include
i. Order the highly ordered
structure that typifies life
ii. Reproduction the ability
of organisms to reproduce
their own kind
iii. Growth and development
consistent growth and
development controlled by
inherited DNA
iv. Energy processing the use of chemical energy (ChE) to power
an organisms activities and chemical reactions
v. Response to the environment ability to respond to
environmental stimuli
vi. Regulation ability to control an organisms internal
environment within limits that sustain life, and
vii. Evolutionary adaptation adaptations evolve over many
generations as individuals with traits best suited to their
environment have greater reproductive success and pass their
traits to offspring

B. In lifes hierarchy of organization, new properties emerge at each level.

a. Emergent properties are new properties that arise in each step upward in
the hierarchy of life; from the arrangement and interactions among the
component parts
b. Biological organization unfolds as follows:
i. Biosphere all of Earths environments that support life
ii. Ecosystem all organisms living in a particular area and the
physical components with which the organisms interact
iii. Community the entire array of organisms living in a particular
ecosystem
iv. Population all the individuals of a species living in a specific
area
v. Organism an individual living thing
vi. Organ system several organs that cooperate in a specific
function
vii. Organ a structure that is composed of tissues and that provides
a specific function for the organism
viii. Tissues a group of similar cells that perform a specific function
ix. Cells fundamental unit of life
x. Organelle a membrane-bound structure that performs a
specific function in a cell
xi. Molecule a cluster of small chemical units called atoms, held
together by chemical bonds

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C. Cells are the structural and functional units of life
a. Are the level at which the properties of life emerge
b. A cell can
i. Regulate its internal environment
ii. Take in and use energy
iii. Respond to its environment
iv. Develop and maintain its complex organization
v. Give rise to new cells
c. All cells are
i. Enclosed by a membrane that regulates the passage of materials
betweeen the cell and its surroundings
1. Plasma membrane is the most important!
ii. Use DNA as their genetic info
d. Two basic typesof cells
i. Prokaryotic first to evolve, simpler, and USUALLY smaller than
eukaryotic cells
ii. Eukaryotic w/ membrane-bound organelles, including a nucleus
containing DNA, and are found in plants, animals, and fungi
e. Systems biology models the complex interactionsof biological systems
ranging
i. From function of the biosphere
ii. To the complex molecular machinery of a cell
f. Cells illustrate another theme in Biology: the correlation of structure
and function
i. Structure is related to function at all levelsof biological
organization

D. Living organisms interact with their environment, exchanging matter and

energy
a. Living organisms interact with environment (abiotic and biotic factors)
b. In most ecosystems,
i. Plants are producers
ii. Consumers eaet plants and other animals
iii. Decomposers act as recyclers, making complex matter into
simpler mineral nutrients
c. Dynamics of ecosystems include two major processes
i. The recycling of chemical nutrients from the atmosphere and soil
through producers, consumers, and decomposers back to the
environment
ii. The one-way flow of energy through an ecosystem
1. Enters as sunlight
2. Converted to ChE by producers
3. Passed on to consumers
4. Exit as heat

E. Evolution, the core theme of Biology: The unity of life is based on DNA and a
common genetic code
a. All cells have DNA, the chemical substance of genes
i. Genes

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 1. Unit of inheritance that transmits info from parents to
offspring
2. Grouped into very long DNA molecules called
chromosomes
3. Control cellular activities
ii. A species genes are coded in the sequences of the four building
blocks making up DNAs double helix
1. All forms of life use essentially the same code to translate
the info stored in DNA to proteins
2. Diversity of life arises from differences in DNA sequences

F. Diversity of life arranged into three domains

a. We can think of biologys energmous scope as having two dimensions
i. Vertical size scale stretching from molecules to biosphere
ii. Horizontal across the great diversity of organisms existing now
and over the long history of life on Earth
b. Diversity is the hallmark of life
i. 1.8 M species
ii. Actual number from 10 to 100 million
c. Taxonomy names species and classifies them into a system of broader
groups
d. The diversity of life can be arranged into three domains.
i. Bacteria are the most diverse and widespread prokaryotes.
ii. Archaea are prokaryotes that often live in Earths extreme
environments.
iii. Eukarya have eukaryotic cells and include
1. single-celled protists and
2. multicellular fungi, animals, and plants.

G. Evolution explains the unity and diversity of life

a. The history of life, as documented by fossils, is a saga of a changing Earth
i. billions of years old and
ii. inhabited by an evolving cast of life forms.
b. Evolution accounts for lifes dual nature of
i. kinship and
ii. diversity.
c. In 1859, Charles Darwin published the book On the Origin of Species by
Means of Natural Selection, which articulated two main points.
i. A large amount of evidence supports the idea of evolution, that
species living today are descendants of ancestral species in what
Darwin called descent with modification.
ii. Natural selection is a mechanism for evolution.
d. Natural selection was inferred by connecting two observations.
i. Individuals in a population vary in their traits, many of which are
passed on from parents to offspring.
ii. A population can produce far more offspring than the
environment can support.
e. From these observations, Darwin inferred that

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 i. those individuals with heritable traits best suited to the
environment are more likely to survive and reproduce than less
well-suited individuals,
ii. as a result of this unequal reproductive success over many
generations, an increasing proportion of individuals will have the
advantageous traits, and
iii. the result will be evolutionary adaptation, the accumulation of
favorable traits in a population over time.

H. Scientific inquiry is used to ask and answer questions about nature

a. The word science is derived from a Latin verb meaning to know. Science
is a way of knowing.
b. Scientists
i. use inductive reasoning to draw general conclusions from many
observations and
ii. deductive reasoning to come up with ways to test a hypothesis,
a proposed explanation for a set of observations.The logic flows
from general premises to the specific results we should expect if
the premises are true.
c. How is a theory different from a hypothesis? A scientific theory is
i. much broader in scope than a hypothesis,
ii. usually general enough to generate many new, specific
hypotheses, which can then be tested, and
iii. supported by a large and usually growing body of evidence.

I. Scientists form and test hypotheses and share their results

a. We solve everyday problems by using hypotheses.
i. A common example would be the reasoning we use to answer the
question, Why doesnt a flashlight work?
ii. Using deductive reasoning we realize that the problem is either
(1) the bulb or (2) the batteries.
iii. Further, a hypothesis must be
1. testable and
2. falsifiable
b. In this example, two hypotheses are tested.
c. An actual research project demonstrates the process of science.
d. Scientists began with a set of observations and generalizations that
i. poisonous animals are brightly colored and
ii. imposters resemble poisonous species but are actually harmless.
e. They then tested the hypothesis that mimics benefit because predators
confuse them with the harmful species.
f. The scientists conducted a controlled experiment, comparing
i. an experimental group consisting of artificial king snakes and
ii. a control group consisting of artificial brown snakes.
iii. The groups differed only by one factor, the coloration of the
artificial snakes.
iv. The data fit the key prediction of the mimicry hypothesis.
g. Science is a social activity with most scientists working in teams.
h. Scientists share information in many ways.
i. Science seeks natural causes for natural phenomena.

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 i. The scope of science is limited to the study of structures and
processes that we can directly observe and measure.
ii. Hypotheses about supernatural forces or explanations are outside
the bounds of science, because they generate hypotheses that
cannot be tested by science.

J. EVOLUTION CONNECTION: Evolution is connected to our everyday lives

a. Evolution is a core theme of biology.
b. Evolutionary theory is useful in
i. medicine,
ii. agriculture,
iii. forensics, and
iv. conservation.

II. Manifestations and Characteristics of Life

A. Hierarchy of organization
a. Highly ordered structure and
complex organization
i. Organisms multicellular,
unicellular
b. According Oparin, there is no
difference between the living things
and non-living things

B. Metabolism
a. Tendency of an organism or a cell
to regulate its internal conditions
i. Usually by a system of
feedback controls, so as to
stabilize the health and
functioning, regardless of
the outside changing
conditions
b. Requires constant input of energy
and raw materials
c. Capacity to use energy to work
d. Photosynthesis, digestion, cellular
respiration,

C. Maintain internal environment

(homeostasis)
a. Has internal control
b. Example
i. Temperature is regulated by
hypothalamus

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 ii. After you pee, you shiver because your body temperature lowers

D. Reproduction
a. Reproduces itself
b. Perpetuation of species
i. Spread genetic material
ii. Involves genes, traits,
inheritance (means to
transfer)
c. Asexual or sexual
i. Example: amplexus male
frogs embrace the female
frogs to squeeze out the eggs
ii. Fish sturgeon roe (that is cured or salted and placed in tins for
storage and aging), which is used to form caviar
iii. Hermaphrodites
1. Snails early bloomers that sexually mature when they are
a year old; primarily mate with partners but are also
capable of self-fertilization, except for those in freshwater
and saltwater
2. Echinoderms or marine invertebrates sea stars, sea
cucumbers, sea urchins, sand dollars
a. Cushion sea star (asterina gibbosa) are sequential
hermaphrodites that can change genders; first
three years as a male then the next three as a
female
3. 21 families of fish
4. Worms can fertilize itself but most need a mate

E. Growth
a. Life grows
b. Human and frog have similar growth cycles

F. Irritability & Movement

a. Responsiveness
b. Different stimulus and adjust to surroundings
c. Adjustment short-term response
d. Hormonal response short-term and long-term response
e. Example
i. Ear canal are from gills of fish
ii. Ear drum comes from the frog
iii. Ear wax designed to protect

G. Evolution and Adaptability

a. Changes of population over time
b. Long-term response of multiple generations
c. Change in the structure and habits to survive a new environment
d. Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection
e. Adaption seen in structure
f. Example

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 i. Life form water to land organisms learned aerial breathing
ii. LUCA venerable ancestor; single-cell, bacterium-like organism;
4B years ago when Earth was 560 M years old

Common
ancestor

Evolution
by Natural
Selection

properties Last
of life - how Universal
did it Common
begin? Ancestor

III. Theories on the origin of life

A. Biogeochemical evolution
a. Four stages

i. Origin of life on earth is the result of a slow and gradual process

of chemical evolution around 3.8 BYA
ii. Proposed independently by
1. Oparin 1923, Russian
2. Haldane 1928, English

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 b. Stage 1
i. Reducing environment

Figure 1: Monomers of biomolecules

Figure 2: Reducing environment before

ii. Miller-Urey experiment, 1953 to test Oparin/Haldanes

hypothesis

Figure 3: Stage 1 Monomers

iii. Proposed independently by Gnter Wchtershuser

1. Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor

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 2. Dissolved gases from these vents (CO, NH3, H2S) passes
over Fe and Ni sulfide minerals
a. Sulfides act as catalyst to drive the
chemical evolution (inorganic to organic)

c. Stage 2: Evolution of polymers

i. Fe-S hypothesis show that
1. Organic molecules will react and amino acids will form
peptides in the presence of Fe and Ni sulfides in the
conditions similar ot the vents
a. Protein-first hypothesis of Sidney Fox

b. RNA first hypothesis of Thomas Cech and Sidney

Altman
i. Only RNA was needed to progress to the
formation of 1st cell or cells
ii. Cech and Altman (Nobel Prize, 1989)
iii. RNA can be both a substrate an an enzyme
(ribozymes)
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 1. DNA might not be
iv. RNA could have carried out the processes
of life associated today with DNA and
proteins

d. Stage 3: Nonliving structures to almost living forms

i. Polymers probionts/prebionts
(grow/divide/catalytic/homeostasis/organized)
ii. Biological evolution evidences
1. Microfossils (3.5BYA)
a. Life bagan 3.5 BYA
2. Stromatolites
a. Layer mounds, columns, and sheet-like
sedimentary rocks originally formed by the
growth of layer upon layer of cyanobacteria, a
single-celled photosynthesizing microbe that lives
in a wide range of environments
b. Contributed to the oxygen in the atmosphere
c. By taking the carbon dioxide and water to produce
carbohydrates, they liberate oxygen in the
atmosphere
d. Found in Australia, 3.5 BYA

e. Stage 4: Living cells and properties of life

i. The first probionts/premonera in the ocean could have been
heterotroph or a chemoautotroph in the hydrothermal vents
ii. ATP were regenerated by fermentation/glycolysis evolved;
anaerobes
iii. Autotrophs appeared when organic molecules declined
(cyanobacteria)
iv. Nutrition
v. Process: Autotrophs (cyanobacteria) split water (oxygen
molecules were formed) aerobic atmosphere (aerobic cells)

vi. Details
1. Self-replicating system
a. Proteins enzymes DNA replication RNA
(repeat cycle)
i. Cairns Smith proposes that polypeptides
and RNA evolved simultaneously
ii. DNA formation before genes (so you can
store information)
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 vii. Recap of the steps on the origin of the first cell(s)
Chemical evolution Biological evolution
Outgassing from early Plasma membrane
volcanoes
Inorganic chemicals Protocell
Energy capture/abiotic Origin of genetic code
synthesis
Small organic molecules protocell
polymers

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IV. Other theories
a. Biogeochemical
b. Abiogenesis/spontaneous generation theory
c. Biogenesis
d. Interplanetary or cosmozoic theory
e. Special creation theory

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