Chapter 1:

Introduction to Life Science

Most Essential Learning Competency:
At the end of the lesson you will be
able explain the evolving concept of
life based on emerging pieces of
evidence. S11/12LT-lla-1
 CONCEPT OF LIFE
Life on Earth began more than 3 billion years ago,
evolving from the most basic of microbes into an
array of complexity over time.
Every aspect of life from the smallest
submicroscopic living particle to the largest and
most imposing of plant and animal species is
included.
All living things are made of cells. Some organisms
are unicellular and some are multicellular.
Unicellular organisms consist of only a single cell that carries out all life
processes. Ex. (in clockwise) Bacteria, Amoeba, Paramecium, Euglena
Multicellular organisms are composed of many cells which
perform specialized and specific function
 A living entity, regardless of its
structure,
size, or behavior,
characteristics thatismost
an organism that
biologists possesses
have agreed
upon.

These are locomotion, irritability,

metabolism, growth, reproduction, cellular
organization, adjustment, integration, and
coordination.
 Irritability is the ability of living things to react to the
factors of the environment such as life, temperature,
pressure, tension, chemicals, and gravity. This is the reason
why living things react, or respond to their environment.
Locomotion refers to the ability of organisms to move.
Organisms have structure such as the cilia, flagella,
pseudopodia, and muscles which help them move. There
is in these organisms, a living substance called protoplasm
which shows an intracellular movement called cyclosis.
 Metabolism refers to the sum total of the chemical
reactions taking place. The building up reaction called
anabolism is shown up by respiration.
Growth is the increase in size and number of cells. The
growth in living this is called intussusception. Growth
in all animals begins when the zygote starts to develop
and all the successive cell divisions take place then the
cells become differentiated.
Reproduction is the ability of living things to produce
new individuals closely resembling them.
Cellular organization refers to the parts and
functions of the cells in an organism An organism may
have one or more cells that is the basic unit of life.
Some organisms are composed of only one cell yet
function as other complex organisms do. The living
matter in a cell is the protoplasm which consists of a
cell membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus.
Adjustment, Integration, and Coordination refer to
the ability of a living organism to live in harmony with
other organisms in the environment. It can make
adjustments which call for adapting itself in a given
situation. By the process of integration, an organism
can act harmoniously with and relate itself to the
environment.
 ORIGIN OF LIFE
“Where did the first life come from?”

There are many theories to consider about the origin

of life. The evolutionists, particularly Charles Darwin,
talked more about the process .of evolution to explain
how life developed. According to him, there was
growth from simple to complex form.
 THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
1. Special Creation Theory
Many people believed that
everything in this world
was created by a Supreme
Being. The Special
Creation Theory
emphasizes the source of
all creation is God and
with Him, nothing is
impossible.
 2. Spontaneous Generation Theory
During the ancient times, people used only their naked
eyes to see things. They believed that life originated as a
spontaneous event. It is a hypothetical process by which
living organisms developed from nonliving matter, also, the
archaic theory that utilized this process to explain the origin
of life.
The idea of Spontaneous Generation Theory states that
living organisms can originate from inanimate object such as
dust creates fleas, maggots from rotting meat, and bread or
wheat left in a dark corner produces mice.
However, there are several experiments made by different
scientists to disprove the theory.
 3. Biogenetic Theory
The Biogenetic Theory states that life
produced life,
that“each animalrecapitulates
Ontogeny and plant produced its own
phylogeny kind.
”. This is a
phrase made by Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist and
philosopher which means that the development of an
organism (ontogeny) expresses all the intermediate forms
of its ancestors throughout evolution (phylogeny). The
advances in science made it clear that living things
created other living things.
 4. Abiogenetic Synthesis Theory
Most biologists theory that life began in the
primordial seas. Water formed as vapor liquefied and the
seas appeared. Sunlight, acting on water where carbon
dioxide ad ammonia were present, formed more complex
compounds suitable for the nourishment of living things.
There was progressive development from nonliving
things. Colloidal substances led to the formulation of
viruses.
 According to Alexander Oparin, a Russian
biochemist, “the first organisms were probably formed
out of organic chemicals and processes that were much
simpler than those that exist today. Out of the elements
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur,
molecules were formed from which complex
compound developed. Then proteins, carbohydrates,
and other compounds developed into coacervates
converting the sea into a sort of ‘hot soup’, where cells
formed.” It is believed that the first living cells were not
able to make their own organic food.
 OTHER THEORIES ON THE
ORIGIN OF LIFE
1.Beneath the Ice - Some evidence indicates that,
around 3 billion years ago, Earth’s oceans were
covered with ice. This ice may have been hundreds of
meters thick, mainly due to the sun being less fierce
than it is nowadays. This theory contends that the ice
may have protected the compounds, allowing them to
interact and, thereby, creating life.
 Panspermia (Cosmozoic Theory)
- This is the proposal that life on Earth began from rocks and
other debris from impacts, in the form of highly resistant
spores (cosmozoa) such as meteorite.
 Electricity
It has been proven that
electricity can produce
simple sugars and amino
acids from simple elements
in the atmosphere. This
leads to the theory that
lightning may have been
responsible for the origins
of life, primarily by striking
through rich volcanic clouds.
 RNA World - It is a hypothetical phase of the
evolutionary history of life on Earth, in which self-
replicating Ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules proliferated
before the evolution of DNA and proteins. Like DNA,
RNA can store and replicate genetic information; like
enzymes, it can catalyze chemical reactions that are critical
for life (Ribozyme).
Simple Metabolism and Reactions - In contrast to the
RNA theory, this suggests that the primordial soup simply
continued to react with itself over time., producing more
and more complex molecules, yielding life.
 Submarine
Hydrothermal Vents
- or deep-sea vents,
contains vast and diverse
ecosystems. Studies
suggest that life may have
originated from within
these vents, a theory that
cannot be ignored.
Clay Breeding Ground - Research at the University
of Glasgow, Scotland, suggested that clay may have
served as an area of concentrated chemical activity,
providing a breeding ground for DNA and other
components.
Mineral crystals in cay could
have arranged organic
molecules into organized
patterns. Eventually, organic
molecules organized
themselves.
 UNIFYING THEMES IN
THE STUDY OF LIFE
Biological Systems
System is the combination of parts that can form a
more complex organization. It has properties that are
based on the arrangement and interactions of its parts.
Our body, like that of any organism, is a living system
that is certainly more than the sum of our parts, and so
are all biological systems.
 An ecosystem such as forest is also a biological
system. Like your body, an ecosystem has properties
that depend on how its parts interacted.
An organism in the ecosystem requires a steady supply
of certain chemicals to live.
The Biological systems theme applies to all levels of
life, from the biosphere all the way down to the
interactions of molecules in cells.
 The Cellular Basis of Life
All organisms are made of cells.
Most multicellular organisms have cells that are
specialized for different functions.
In most multicellular organisms, cells are organized into
higher levels of organization. Beginning with the
cellular level, the next is tissue, which is a group of
similar cells that perform a specific function.
Several types of tissue together may make up a
structure called an organ.
 Several organs that together carry out a major body
function make up an organ system.
A multicellular organism’s development and survival are
based on the functions and interaction of its many cells.
 Form and Function
“form fits function”. An example is the aerodynamic
shape of a bird’s wing. The structure of the bird’s
bones contributes to the bird’s ability to fly.
The form-fits-function theme also extends down to
the cellular level. Example, birds have long extensions
of nerve cells that control their flight muscles.
There’s harmony in form and function and how
something works is related to its structure. In other
words, form fits function.
 Reproduction and Inheritance
“Like begets like”, an old saying the describes the ability of
organisms to reproduce their own kind.
Genes are responsible for family resemblance. Also, genes
are made of information-rich molecules called DNA. Each
cell in our body contains a copy of the entire DNA that we
inherited from our parents.
When a cell divides, it copies its DNA and passes this
genetic information on to each of the cells it produces.
The inherited DNA directs the transformation of the
fertilized egg into a person with his/her characteristics.
 Interaction with the Environment
 No organism is completely isolated from its surroundings. As part
of an ecosystem, each organism interacts continuously with its
environment.
 Ex. A plant obtains water, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and energy
from its surroundings to make food.
 Likewise, the plant also has an impact on its surroundings. As a
plant grows, its roots break up rocks and release acids that change
the soil. Those who live in the soil are affected. Plants also release
oxygen which other organisms use for their own survival.
 Living requires a daily balance of such “inputs” and “outputs”.
 Energy and Life
Energy is obtained in chemical form in sugar, fats, and
other “fuel-like” molecules in your food. Your cells use this
energy for all their work.
You can trace energy through an ecosystem. Energy flows
into an ecosystem as sunlight and exits in the form of heat.
A simplified of this energy flow through a forest
ecosystem.
Chemical energy stored in our food is converted to other
life activities.
forms of energy as the organism carries out works and its
 Regulation
The ability of organisms to regulate their internal
conditions is an example of homeostasis, or “steady
state”.
It is a mechanism that makes organisms regulates their
environment.
internal condition, despite changes in their external
Ex. A “thermostat” in your brain that reacts whenever your
body temperature varies slightly from 37c. If this happens,
your brain signals your skin to produce sweat. Sweating
helps cool your body.
 Adaptation
An adaptation is an inherited trait that helps the
organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in its
particular environment.
It is a change in the species over generations in order to
better survive in the environment.
 Evolution
Natural selection is the mechanism by which evolution
occurs. The term evolution means “a process of change”.
Biologists use the word evolution specifically to mean a
generation-to-generation change in the proportion of
different inherited genes in a population.
Ex. The Beetle example, genes for dark color are becoming
more common and genes for light color are becoming less
common over the generations of beetles. The beetle
population is said to be undergoing evolution, or evolving.
 Biology and Society
More than ever before, modern biology is changing humans’
everyday live.
New findings about DNA affect such fields as medicine and
agriculture.
Ex. Research on the nervous system is improving the
treatment of certain mental illness. The study of evolution
is helping health professionals understand how disease-
causing bacteria become resistant to antibiotic drugs.
Environmental issues such as water & air pollution are
changing how people think about their relationship to the
biosphere.