Basics

Organization

• Emergent properties: new properties emerge at successive levels of biological organization

  • Due to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases

  • The whole is greater than the sum of the parts

  • STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

• The CELL is the most basic unit that exhibits the emergent properties required for “life”

  • Prokaryotes: Archaebacteria and bacteria

  • Eukaryotes: Protists, Fungi, Plants, and Animals

• Levels

  • Biosphere

  • Ecosystem

  • Community

  • Population

  • Organism (species)

  • Organs

  • Tissue

  • Cells

  • Organelles

  • Molecules

  • Atoms

Flow of Information

• Life’s processes involve the expression and transmission of genetic information

  • Central Dogma: DNA→ RNA→Protein→Trait

    • DNA→RNA: Transcription

    • RNA→Protein: Translation

    • DNA replicates

• Genes: Units of inheritance

  • Gene Expression: Process by which information in a gene directs the production of a cellular product

  • Genetic Code: universal, and is used to determine the relatedness of evolution