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B 10 VRV 3071

This document provides an overview of key concepts about cells and life being cellular. It discusses the early discovery of cells in the 1600s using early microscopes. It then summarizes the cell theory, which states that all living things are made of cells, cells are the basic unit of structure and function, and new cells are produced from existing cells. The document also describes different types of microscopes used to study cells, such as light microscopes, fluorescence microscopes, and electron microscopes. Finally, it distinguishes between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, noting that prokaryotes do not have nuclei while eukaryotes do.

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263 views24 pages

B 10 VRV 3071

This document provides an overview of key concepts about cells and life being cellular. It discusses the early discovery of cells in the 1600s using early microscopes. It then summarizes the cell theory, which states that all living things are made of cells, cells are the basic unit of structure and function, and new cells are produced from existing cells. The document also describes different types of microscopes used to study cells, such as light microscopes, fluorescence microscopes, and electron microscopes. Finally, it distinguishes between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, noting that prokaryotes do not have nuclei while eukaryotes do.

Uploaded by

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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lesson Overview

7.1 Life is Cellular


Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

THINK ABOUT IT
What’s the smallest part of any living thing that still counts as being
“alive?”

Can we just keep dividing living things into smaller and smaller parts,
or is there a point at which what’s left is no longer alive?

As you will see, there is such a limit. The smallest living unit of any
organism is the cell.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

The Discovery of the Cell


What is the cell theory?
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

The Discovery of the Cell


What is the cell theory?

The cell theory states:


- All living things are made up of cells.
- Cells are the basic units of structure and function in living things.
- New cells are produced from existing cells.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Early Microscopes
It was not until the mid-1600s that scientists began to use microscopes to
observe living things.

In 1665, Englishman Robert Hooke used an early compound microscope to


look at a nonliving thin slice of cork, a plant material.

Under the microscope, cork seemed to be made of thousands of tiny, empty


chambers that Hooke called “cells”. The term cell is used in biology to this
day.

Today we know that living cells are not empty chambers, but contain a huge
array of working parts, each with its own function.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Early Microscopes
In Holland, Anton van Leeuwenhoek
examined pond water and other
things, including a sample taken
from a human mouth. He drew the
organisms he saw in the mouth—
which today we call bacteria.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

The Cell Theory


Soon after Leeuwenhoek, observations made by other scientists made it
clear that cells were the basic units of life.

In 1838, German botanist Matthias Schleiden concluded that all plants are
made of cells.

The next year, German biologist Theodor Schwann stated that all animals
were made of cells.

In 1855, German physician Rudolf Virchow concluded that new cells could
be produced only from the division of existing cells, confirming a suggestion
made by German Lorenz Oken 50 years earlier.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

The Cell Theory


These discoveries are summarized in the cell theory, a fundamental
concept of biology.

The cell theory states:


-All living things are made up of cells.
-Cells are the basic units of structure and function in living things.
-New cells are produced from existing cells.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Exploring the Cell


How do microscopes work?
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Exploring the Cell


How do microscopes work?

Most microscopes use lenses to magnify the image of an object by focusing


light or electrons.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Light Microscopes and Cell Stains


A typical light microscope allows light to pass through a specimen and uses
two lenses to form an image.

The first set of lenses, located just above the specimen, produces an
enlarged image of the specimen.

The second set of lenses magnifies this image still further.

Because light waves are diffracted, or scattered, as they pass through


matter, light microscopes can produce clear images of objects only to a
magnification of about 1000 times.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Light Microscopes and Cell Stains


Another problem with light microscopy is that most living cells are
nearly transparent, making it difficult to see the structures within them.

Using chemical stains or dyes can usually solve this problem. Some of
these stains are so specific that they reveal only compounds or
structures within the cell.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Light Microscopes and Cell Stains


Some dyes give off light of a particular color when viewed under specific
wavelengths of light, a property called fluorescence.

Fluorescent dyes can be attached to specific molecules and can then be


made visible using a special fluorescence microscope.

Fluorescence microscopy makes it possible to see and identify the locations


of these molecules, and even to watch them move about in a living cell.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Electron Microscopes
Light microscopes can be used to see cells and cell structures as small as
1 millionth of a meter. To study something smaller than that, scientists need
to use electron microscopes.

Electron microscopes use beams of electrons, not light, that are focused by
magnetic fields.

Electron microscopes offer much higher resolution than light microscopes.

There are two major types of electron microscopes: transmission and


scanning.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Electron Microscopes
Transmission electron microscopes make it possible to explore cell
structures and large protein molecules.

Because beams of electrons can only pass through thin samples, cells and
tissues must be cut first into ultra thin slices before they can be examined
under a transmission electron microscope.

Transmission electron microscopes produce flat, two-dimensional images.


Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Electron Microscopes
In scanning electron microscopes, a pencil-like beam of electrons is
scanned over the surface of a specimen.

Because the image is of the surface, specimens viewed under a scanning


electron microscope do not have to be cut into thin slices to be seen.

Scanning electron microscopes produce three-dimensional images of the


specimen’s surface.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Electron Microscopes
Because electrons are easily scattered by molecules in the air, samples
examined in both types of electron microscopes must be placed in a
vacuum in order to be studied.

Researchers chemically preserve their samples first and then carefully


remove all of the water before placing them in the microscope.

This means that electron microscopy can be used to examine only nonliving
cells and tissues.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes


How are prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells different?
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes


How are prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells different?

Prokaryotic cells do not separate their genetic material within a nucleus.

In eukaryotic cells, the nucleus separates the genetic material from the rest of
the cell.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes


Although typical cells range from 5 to 50 micrometers in diameter, the
smallest Mycoplasma bacteria are only 0.2 micrometers across, so small
that they are difficult to see under even the best light microscopes.

In contrast, the giant amoeba Chaos chaos may be 1000 micrometers in


diameter, large enough to be seen with the unaided eye as a tiny speck in
pond water.

Despite their differences, all cells contain the molecule that carries
biological information—DNA.

In addition, all cells are surrounded by a thin, flexible barrier called a cell
membrane.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes


Cells fall into two broad categories, depending on whether
they contain a nucleus.

The nucleus is a large membrane-enclosed structure that contains the


cell’s genetic material in the form of DNA. The nucleus controls many of the
cell’s activities.
Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes


Eukaryotes are cells that enclose their DNA in nuclei.

Prokaryotes are cells that do not enclose DNA in nuclei.


Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Prokaryotes
Prokaryotic cells are generally smaller and simpler than eukaryotic cells.

Despite their simplicity, prokaryotes grow, reproduce, and respond to the


environment, and some can even move by gliding along surfaces or
swimming through liquids.

The organisms we call bacteria are prokaryotes.


Lesson Overview Life Is Cellular

Eukaryotes
Eukaryotic cells are generally larger and more complex than prokaryotic
cells.

Most eukaryotic cells contain dozens of structures and internal membranes.


Many eukaryotes are highly specialized.

There are many types of eukaryotes: plants, animals, fungi, and organisms
commonly called “protists.”

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