PRE Biol 1406 Ch 1

What is biology?

Scientific study of life

What are the properties of life?

Order, energy processing, growth and development, evolutionary adaptation, regulation, response to the environment, reproduction

Biosphere

First level of biological organization, consists of all life on Earth and all places where life exists

Ecosystem

Second level of biological organization, all living things in a particular area (including nonliving)

Community

Third level of biological organization, array of organisms inhabiting a particular ecosystem

Population

Fourth level of biological organization, all individuals in a living soecies living within bounds of an area

Organism

Fifth level of biological organization, individual living things

Organ

Sixth level of biological organization, body part made of multiple tissues

Tissues

Seventh level of biological organization, group of cells that work together to perform a function

Cell

Eighth level of biological organization, life’s fundamental unit of structure and function

Organells

Ninth level of biological organization, various functional components present in cells

Molecules

Tenth level of biological organization, groups of atoms bonded together that form the chemical building blocks of living organisms

Reductionism

zooming in through levels of biological hierarchy

emergent properties

novel properties that emerge from one level to the next, due to arrangement and interaction of parts not unique to life

systems biology

exploration of a biological system by analyzing interactions of its parts

Prokaryotic cells

no nucleus or other membrane, an enclosed organelle typically smaller than eukaryotic bacteria and archaea

Eukaryotic

contains membrane-enclosed organelles and a defined nucleus, usually larger than prokaryotic cells.

Chromosomes contain genetic material called _ _ _

DNA

Before a cell divides, DNA is first ______ and each of the two cellular offspring inherits a complete set of chromosomes identical to that of parent cell

replicated

gene expression

process of using a gene to make a protein

transcription

DNA sequence of gene is copied into mRNA

translation

mRNA used to build a chain of amino acids that folds into a protein

amino acid

building block of protein

universal genetic code

a particular sequence of nucleotides say the same thing in one organism as it does in the other

gene

a discrete unit of hereditary info consisting of a specific nucleotide sequence in DNA

genome

the entire “library of genetic instructions that an organism inherits

nucleotide

building block of a nucleic acid

genome sequence

an entire sequence of nucelotides for a representative member of a species

genomics

scientists study whole sets of genes rather than one gene at a time

proteomics

study of sets of proteins and their properties

proteome

entire set of proteins expressed by a given cell, tissue, or organism

bioinformatic

use of computational tools to store, organize, and analyze the huge volume of data that results from high throughput methods

negative feedback

loop in which the response reduces the initial stimulus (ex insulin signaling)

positive feedback

end product speeds up its own production ex) blood clotting in response to injury