BIO NOTES

All living organisms are composed of units called cells.

Simplest organisms are unicellular and more complex are
called multicellular
Multicellular organisms are specialised so that they can
carry out functions in the animal or plant.
There are eight life processes which take place in most
living things.
Organisms:

require nutrition – plants make their own food, animals

eat other organisms

respire – release energy from their food

excrete – get rid of waste products

respond to stimuli – are sensitive to changes in their

surroundings

move – by the action of muscles in animals, and slow

growth movements in plants

control their internal conditions – maintain a steady

state inside the body

reproduce – produce offspring

 grow and develop – increase in size and complexity,
using materials from their food.

Cell structure
Most cells contain certain parts such as the nucleus,
cytoplasm and cell membrane.

Animal cell structure

Plant cell structure

Similarities of plant and animal cell
They both contain mitochondria, cell membrane,
cytoplasm, and nucleus
Differences
Plant cell has vacuole, cell wall, and chloroplasts
Shape of cells are different
Cytoplasm is the living material that makes up a cell. It
has a texture rather like sloppy jelly, in other words
somewhere between a solid and a liquid.
Unlike a jelly, it is not made of one substance but is a
complex material made of many different structures.
The largest organelle in the cell is the nucleus. It contains
the genetic material of the cell and controls the activities
of the cell.
The Cell Membrane is the protective barrier of the cell.
The membrane is partially permeable.
Mitochondria carry out some of the reactions of
respiration
The cell wall is a layer of non-living material that is found
outside the cell membrane of plant cells. It is made of
cellulose.
Vacuole is large central space surrounded by a membrane
Cells of the green parts of plants, especially the leaves,
contain another very important organelle, the
chloroplast. Chloroplasts absorb light energy to make
food in the process of photosynthesis. They contain a
green pigment called chlorophyll.
CELL DIVISION AND DIFFERENTIATION
Multicellular organisms like animals and plants begin life
as a single fertilised egg cell, called a zygote.
This cell divides into more cells by the process of mitosis.
The chromosomes in the nucleus are copied, then the
nucleus splits into two, so that the genetic information is
shared equally between the two ‘daughter’ cells. The
cytoplasm then divides (or in plant cells a new cell wall
develops) forming two smaller cells. These then take in
food substances to supply energy and building materials
so that they can grow to full size.
As the developing embryo grows, cells become
specialised to carry out roles. This specialisation is also
under the control of the genes and is called cell
differentiation.
Different kinds of cells develop depending on where they
are in the embryo, (a nerve cell in the spinal cord, or an
epidermal cell in the outer layer of the skin)
Levels of Organisation Within Organisms
Cells with a similar function are grouped together as
tissues. (the muscle of your arm contains millions of
similar muscle cells, all specialised for one function)
A collection of several tissues carrying out a particular
function is called an organ. (brain, skin, heart, etc)
An organ system are jobs that are usually carried out by
several different organs working together. (the digestive
system consists of the gut, along with glands such as the
pancreas and gall bladder.)
There are seven main systems in the human body.
These are the:

digestive system - consists of the gut, along with glands

such as the pancreas and gall bladder which help digest
food and absorb the digested products into the blood.
gas exchange system – including the lungs, which
exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide

circulatory system – including the heart and blood

vessels, which transport
materials around the body

excretory system – including the kidneys, which filter

toxic waste materials from the blood
 nervous system – consisting of the brain, spinal cord
and nerves, which coordinate the body’s actions

endocrine system – glands secreting hormones, which

act as chemical messengers

reproductive system – producing sperm in males and

eggs in females and allowing the development of the
embryo.

Some of the main organs in body

Stem Cells
A stem cell is a cell that can divide many times by
mitosis while remaining undifferentiated. Later, it
can differentiate into specialised cells such as
muscle or nerve cells.
There are two main types of stem cells:
Embryonic stem cells are found in the early stage
of development of the embryo. They can
differentiate into any type of cell.
Adult stem cells are found in certain adult tissues
such as bone marrow, skin, and the lining of the
intestine. They have lost the ability to differentiate
into any type of cell but can form several specialised
tissues. For example, bone marrow cells can divide
many times but are only able to produce different
types of red and white blood cells.
Advantages and Disadvantages of using
stem cells in medicine.
Advantages
The use of stem cells to treat (or prevent) a disease, or to
repair damaged tissues (stem cell therapy.)
May be able to use embryonic stem cells to treat many
diseases such as diabetes along with brain disorders such
as Parkinson’s disease. Stem cells could also be used to
repair damaged nerve tissue.

Disadvantages
Many people object morally to using cells from embryos
for medical purposes even though they might one day be
used to cure many diseases.
THE VARIETY OF LIVING ORGANISMS
The five major groups of living organisms are
plants, animals, fungi, protoctists and bacteria.
Plants
All plants are multicellular, which means that their
‘bodies’ are made up of many cells. Their main
distinguishing feature is that their cells contain
chloroplasts, and they carry out photosynthesis – the
process that uses light energy to convert simple inorganic
molecules such as water and carbon dioxide into complex
organic compounds
They store sugars like starch and sucrose.
Some examples are maize and peas, and examples of
simpler plants include mosses and ferns.
Animals
Animals are also multicellular organisms. Their cells
never contain chloroplasts, so they are unable to carry out
photosynthesis. Instead, they gain their nutrition by
feeding on other animals or plants (heterotroph). Animal
cells also lack cell walls, which allows their cells to
change shape, an important feature for organisms that
need to move from place to place. Movement in animals is
achieved in various ways, but often involves coordination
by a nervous system
Most animals store carbohydrate in their cells as a
compound called glycogen.
Examples of animals are organisms such as sponges,
molluscs, worms, starfish, insects and crustaceans,
through to larger animals such as fish, amphibians,
reptiles, birds and mammals.
Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are
organisms that have a backbone, called vertebrates.
Organisms that don’t have backbones are classified as
invertebrates.
Protoctists
Protoctists are a mixed group of organisms that don’t fit
into the plants, animals or fungi.
Most protoctists are microscopic single-celled organisms.
Some look like animal cells, such as Amoeba, which lives
in pond water. These are known as protozoa. Other
protoctists have chloroplasts and carry out
photosynthesis, so are more like plants. These are called
algae.
Some protoctists are the agents of disease, such as
Plasmodium, the organism that causes malaria.
Bacteria
Bacteria are small single-celled organisms. Their cells are
much smaller than those of eukaryotic organisms and
have a much simpler structure.
There are three basic shapes of bacteria: spheres, rods
and spirals, but they all have a similar internal structure

Some bacteria can swim, and are propelled through water

by corkscrew-like movements of structures called flagella
Along with the fungi, many bacteria are important
decomposers , recycling dead organisms and waste
products in the soil and elsewhere. Some bacteria are
used by humans to make food, such as Lactobacillus
bulgaricus, a rod-shaped species used in the production
of yoghurt from milk (Figure 2.11). Other species are
pathogens, which means that they cause disease
Fungi
Fungi include mushrooms and toadstools, as well as
moulds. These groups of fungi are multicellular. Another
group of fungi is the yeasts, which are unicellular.
Different species of yeasts live everywhere – on the
surface of fruits, in soil, water, and even on dust in the air.
The yeast powder used for baking contains millions of
yeast cells.
The cells of fungi never contain chloroplasts, so they
cannot photosynthesise. Their cells have cell walls, but
they are not composed of cellulose
A mushroom or toadstool is the reproductive structure of
the organism, called a fruiting body. Under the soil, the
mushroom has many fine thread-like filaments called
hyphae.
A whole network of hyphae is called mycelium.
The thread-like hyphae of Mucor have cell walls
surrounding their cytoplasm.
The cytoplasm contains many nuclei. In other words the
hyphae are not divided up into separate cells.
When a spore from Mucor lands on the food, a hypha
grows out from it. The hypha grows and branches again
and again, until the mycelium covers the surface of the
food. The hyphae secrete digestive enzymes on to the
food,
breaking it down into soluble substances such as sugars,
which are then absorbed by the mould. Eventually, the
food is used up and the mould must infect another source
of food by producing more spores.
When an organism feeds on dead organic material in this
way, and digestion takes place outside of the organism,
this is called saprotrophic nutrition.
Viruses
All viruses are parasites, and can only reproduce inside
living cells. The cell in which the virus lives is called the
host.
Viruses are not made of cells. A virus particle is very
simple. It has no nucleus or cytoplasm and is composed
of a core of genetic material surrounded by a protein coat.
The genetic material can be either DNA, or a similar
chemical called RNA
Viruses do not feed, respire, excrete, move, grow or
respond to their surroundings. They do not carry out any of
the normal ‘characteristics’ of living things except
reproduction, and they can only do this parasitically.
A virus reproduces by entering the host cell and taking
over the host’s genetic machinery to make more virus
particles. These virus particles kill the host cells, and the
particles go to infect more cells. Many human diseases
are caused in this way, such as influenza (‘flu’). Other
examples include colds, measles, mumps, polio and
rubella (‘German measles’).
Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic
‘Eukaryotic’ means ‘having a nucleus’
Their cells contain a nucleus surrounded by a membrane,
along with other membrane bound organelles, such as
mitochondria and chloroplasts.
Prokaryotic cells are simple cells that have no nucleus,
mitochondria or chloroplasts.