The key to every biological problem must finally

be sought in the cell; for every living organism is,

or at some time has been, a cell.
E.B. Wilson, pioneer cell biologist
Hooke 1665
Leeuwenhoek 1670s While I was talking to an old man (who leads a sober life, and
never drinks brandy or tobacco, and very seldom any wine), my
eye fell upon his teeth, which were all coated over; so I asked
him when he had last cleaned his mouth? And I got for answer
that he'd never washed his mouth in all his life.

I took some of the matter that was lodged between and against
his teeth, and ... I also found an unbelieveably great company of
living animalcules, a-swimming more nimbly than any I had ever
seen up to this time. The biggest sort (whereof there were a
great plenty) bent their body into curves in going forwards, as in
Fig. G. Moreover, the other animalcules were in such enormous
numbers, that all the water seemed to be alive. (1683)
Cell Theory (1839)
1. All living organisms are composed of
one or more cells.
2. The cell is the structural unit of life.
3. “Omnis cellula e cellula” (1855)
Who are responsible for stating the tenets of the cell theory?
 Developments in technology
have led to new avenues for
studying life

Why are cells so small?

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cells/scale/
 Cells are alive!
Erwin Schrödinger
(quantum physicist), 1944
• autonomy,
• reproduction,
• metabolism,
• nutrition,
• complexity,
• organization,
http://www.cellsalive.com/ • growth & development,
• information content,
• permanence and
• change
Cells are highly complex & organized

Emergent properties:
The whole is more than the sum of its parts!
Hierarchy of Molecular
Organization of a Cell
Cells acquire and utilize energy.
Cells carry out a variety of chemical
reactions
ATP
PROTEINS, CARBOHYDRATES, FATS
Cells engage in mechanical activities
 Cells are able to respond to stimuli

Cellular slime molds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgVPLNu_S-w
Cells are capable of self-regulation
DNA damage

REPAIR

IRREPARABLE
Cell-cycle checkpoints Cell cycle control
Tumor suppressor deficiency
proteins Cell survival
Cells are capable of producing more of
themselves
Cells possess a genetic program and
the means to use it.

Replication
Hereditary information in the fertilized cell determines the nature of the whole
multicellular organism
 Gene expression
All cells translate RNA
into protein the same
way!

Transcription

Translation

RNA Protein
UNITY in DIVERSITY
Life EVOLVES

Current evolutionary tree

Structural Homology
Vertebrate limbs: same origins, moving towards specialization
Biochemical Homology
Gene sequence = Gene function
MUTATIONS
Where did all these organisms
come from?
How did life evolve from this common ancestor cell?
4 Modes of Genetic Innovation
Homologous genes = homologous proteins

alpha globin alpha globin heme

beta globin beta globin

a) Hemoglobin b) Myoglobin
Evolution of the
human
hemoglobin
genes:
Homologous genes = homologous proteins

alpha globin alpha globin heme

beta globin beta globin

a) Hemoglobin b) Myoglobin
Hemoglobin pedigree
Watch: www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/making-fittest-birth-and-death-genes

Search keywords:
HHMI The Making of the Fittest
Bacterial conjugation allows horizontal transfer of genetic material
between bacteria
 Viruses can pick up fragments of DNA from the genome of one host
cell and transfer them to another!

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/37208/title/Going-Viral/
Viruses:
are they alive?
 Current evolutionary tree

3 domains
REVIEW!
Compare Prokaryotic & Eukaryotic Cells
REVIEW!
Identify the structures of cell
 The ubiquity of prokaryotes

© Robin Tecon, http://ofbacteriaandmen.blogspot.com/

Prokaryotes are structurally and metabolically
diverse!
Prokaryotes are structurally and metabolically
diverse!

These mineral-crunching microorganisms are a type of bacteria that use

minerals as their source of energy. When the life-forms break down the
matter through metabolism, they squeeze out metal ores or concentrates
combined with sulfur in a process called bioleaching.

The method is emerging as an increasingly important way to

extract valuable minerals when conventional methods such as
smelting can't do the job cheaply enough, experts say.
REVIEW!
Identify the structures of cell
 Origin of Eukaryotic Cells:

Nitrobacter
Origin of Eukaryotic Cells: Symbiosis
 Origin of Eukaryotic Cells:

What evidence supports

the endosymbiotic
theory?
Cyanophora paradoxa: Unicellular protist
photosynthetic organelle that
resembles a cyanobacterium

Mitochondrion
resembles aerobic
bacteria nucleus
The advantages of multicellularity:

Volvox: unicellular algae

that are colonial
The advantages of multicellularity:
Multicellularity and Differentiation

Unlike single celled organisms which compete to survive, cells of

multicellular organisms are committed to collaboration!
Earth’s biogeologic clock
 Current evolutionary tree

What evidence suggests

that organisms are
derived from a common
3 domains ancestor?
Barcoding of Life: digital identification for life
http://www.ibol.org/
U.S. Department of Energy Human Genome Program, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis.

http://genome.gsc.riken.go.jp/hgmis/posters/chromosome/print9.html
Model Organisms
http://www.dnalc.org/resources/animations/model_organisms.html
DNA sequence databases

www.insdc.org
 genomics
What do we do with all
this information?!?
Mutation Analysis
Vertebrates: Genetic Divergence & Redundancy
Homologous genes from duplication

How is gene duplication

advantageous in
evolution?
Vertebrates: Genetic Divergence & Redundancy
Homologous genes from duplication
Vertebrates: Genetic Redundancy

Drosophila genome is less

repetitive than vertebrate
genomes

X. laevis has 2x the genome size of X. tropicalis

with evidence of genome duplication
Mutation Analysis: impact of gene duplication
The mouse has become the foremost model
organism for most organism for
experimental studies of vertebrate genetics
with mutations mimicking corresponding
mutations in humans.
 homas Deerinck and Mark Ellisman/NCMIR/UCSD
Each cell of JCVI-syn3.0 contains just 473 genes, fewer than any
other independent organism.
http://dx.doi.Org/10.1126/science.aad6253