Chapter 1 An Overview of Cells and Cell Research

Introduction
What is a Life or Living Thing? Life Living Thing ? What is a Cell? What do we learn from Cell Biology? Cell Biology ?

 There is a unity and diversity among presentday ll in d cells i terms of their evolution f f h i l i from a common ancestor. Cells contain some basic properties that make them particularly valuable as experimental models.

The First Cell

Nucleic acids are capable of directing their own selfreplication. li ti The RNA world is thought to have been an early stage of chemical evolution based on self-replicating RNA molecules. Phospholipids are the basic components of all presentday biological membranes, including the plasma membranes of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

The Origin and Evolution of Cells

Prokaryotic cells (bacteria) lack a nuclear envelope. E k Eukaryotic cells h i ll have a nucleus i which the genetic l in hi h h i material is separated from the cytoplasm.

Eukaryotic Cells
Eukaryotic cells contain a variety of membraneenclosed organelles within their cytoplasm. Nucleus, Mitochondria, Chloroplast, ER, Golgi, Lysosome, Peroxisome, Cytoskeleton protein etc.

Present-Day Prokaryotes
Archaebacteria were prevalent in primitive Earth and often live in extreme environments. Eubacteria are a large group of organisms (including common forms of bacteria) that live in a wide range of environments, including soil, water, soil water and other organisms (e.g., human pathogens). Cyanobacteria, the largest and most complex prokaryote, synthesizes its energy from photosynthesis.

The Origin of Eukaryotes

Endosymbiosisone cell living inside another may have anothermay helped eukaryotic organelles to evolve.
Mitochondria and chloroplasts are thought to have evolved from eubacteria living in larger cells.

It has been proposed that the genome of eukaryotes arose f k from a fusion of archaebacterial and eubacterial genomes.

Single Cell Eukaryotes

Yeasts are the simplest eukaryotes; more complex than bacteria, yeasts are much smaller and simpler than the cells of animals or plants. Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Amoeba proteus

Multicellular Organisms
Human cells are organized into five main tissue systems: epithelial tissue, connective tissue, blood, tissue blood nervous tissue tissue, and muscle.
Epithelial cells form sheets that cover the surface of the body and line the internal organs. Connective tissues include bone, cartilage, and adipose tissue. Fibroblasts are a cell type that fill the spaces between organs and tissues in the body. Blood contains red blood cells (erythrocytes) and white blood cells.

E. coli

DNA

Yeast

C. elegans

Drosophila

Mammals

Arabidopsis thaliana

Chapter 2 The Composition of Cells

Introduction
Cells are capable not only of self-replication but also of performing a wide range of specialized tasks (chemical & physical reactions) in multicellular organisms.

Macromolecules
The chemical composition of cells and the properties of the molecules therein are ultimately responsible for all cellular activities. Water (70%), macromolecules (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids) and precusors etc etc.

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Carbohydrates
The carbohydrates include simple sugars as well as polysaccharides.
Monosaccharides are representative simple sugars with the basic formula (CH2O)n. A glycosidic bond links a small number of monosaccharides together to form an oligosaccharide.

Carbohydrates
Glycogen and starch are two common polysaccharides that act as glucose storage in animal and plant cells. Cellulose consists of glucose molecules and is the principal structural component of plant cell walls.

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Lipids
Lipids, key energy source, are major components of cell membranes, and play an important role in cell signaling. Fatty acids are the y simplest lipids and consist of long hydrocarbon chains.

Lipids
Triacylglycerols (or fats) store fatty acids and consist of three fatty acids linked to a glycerol molecule. Phospholipids are the principal components of cell membranes and consist of two fatty acids joined to a polar head group, and a y p hydrophobic tail.

Amphipathic molecules are part watersoluble and part water-insoluble.

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Cholesterol and steroid hormones

Steroid hormones, such as estrogens and testosterone, are derivatives of cholesterol and act as signaling molecules both within and between cells. b ll

Nucleic Acids
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is one of the principal informational molecules of the cell and is located in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells cells. Different types of ribonucleic acid (RNA) participate in a number of cellular activities. Messenger RNA (mRNA) carries information from DNA to the ribosomes. Rib Ribosomal RNA and t l d transfer RNA ( RNA and tRNA f (rRNA d tRNA, respectively), are involved in protein synthesis. DNA and RNA are polymers of nucleotides, which consist of purine and pyrimidine bases linked to phosphorylated sugars.

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Components of nucleic acids

-DNA consists of two purines, adenine and guanine, guanine and two pyrimidines, cytosine and thymine. -RNA consists of adenine, guanine, cytosine, cytosine and a uracil in place of thymine. -Differences bet. DNA & RNA.

All nucleotides have a common structure

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Native DNA is a double helix of complementary antiparallel chains

Hydrogen bonding between complementary base pairs (A-T or G-C) holds the two strands together

Copyright (c) by W. H. Freeman and Company

Polymerization of nucleotides
Phosphodiester bonds form between the 5 phosphate of one nucleotide and the 3 hydroxyl of another. Oligonucleotides are small polymers containing only a few nucleotides. Information in DNA and RNA is conveyed by the order of the bases in the polynucleotide chain.

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Proteins
Proteins execute the tasks directed by the genetic information of the cell.
The most fundamental property of proteins is their ability to act as enzymes, which catalyze nearly all the chemical reactions in biological systems.

Polymers of 20 different amino acids form proteins.

Proteins
The amino acids can be grouped into four broad categories, depending upon the properties of their side chains.
Those with nonpolar side chains Those with hydrophobic side chains Those with side chains that contain sulfur atoms And, those with side chains that contain very hydrophobic aromatic rings

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Proteins
Peptide bonds join amino acids together. P l Polypeptides are li id linear chains of amino acids, usually h i f i id ll hundreds or thousands of amino acids in length.
The defining characteristic of proteins is that they are polypeptides with specific amino acid sequences.

Proteins
Protein structure consists of four levels. The primary structure is the sequence of amino acids in the proteins polypeptide chain. The secondary structure is the regular arrangement of amino acids within localized regions of the polypeptide.
An helix and a sheet are two types of secondary structures.

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Proteins
Tertiary structure is the third level and consists of the folding of the polypeptide chain as a result of interactions between the side chains of amino acids that lie in different regions of the primary sequence. Q Quarternary structure i the f is h fourth l h level and consists of the l d i f h interactions between different polypeptide chains in proteins composed of more than one polypeptide.

Cell Membranes
The structure of a cell membrane functions to separate the interior of the cell from its environment and to define the internal compartments of eukaryotic cells, including the nucleus and cytoplasmic organelles. All cell membranes share a common structural organization: bilayers of phospholipids with associated proteins.

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Membrane Lipids
Phospholipid bilayers form a stable barrier between two aqueous compartments t t t and represent the basic structure of all biological membranes.
Lipids constitute approximately 50% of the mass of most cell membranes membranes. Lipid bilayers behave as twodimensional fluidity. Cholesterol plays a distinct role in determining membrane fluidity.

Membrane Proteins
I Integral membrane l b proteins Peripheral membrane proteins

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Chapter 4 Fundamentals of Molecular Biology

Flow of genetic information g Heredity, Genes and DNA Gene Function

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Central Dogma :
Genetic information always flows from DNA ? RNA Protein

one gene-one enzyme -> one gene-one polypeptide

Central Dogma :
Genetic information always flows from DNA ? RNA Protein

Reverse Transcription and reverse transcriptase :

Howard Temin and David Baltimore (1970)

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What We Are Doing With Cloned Genes!

Reverse & Forward Genetics

Chromosomes and their Behavior

(diploid vs haploid)

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Haploids and diploids

A haploid organism has a single copy of each chromosome and its phenotype is a consequence of that one copy A diploid organism has two copies of each chromosome and thus two copies of each gene The two copies of each gene may be the same or the copies may be different. Different forms of each gene are termed alleles Di l id that carry id i l alleles are termed Diploids h identical ll l d homozygous Diploids that carry different alleles are termed heterozygous

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