Possible questions for the exam from BIO1
Important physical concept with which you need to be able to work quantitatively:
Diffusion
Osmotic pressure
Pressure
driven flow(laminar)
Capillarity
Why is water important for life? What properties make it so special?
Strong hydrogen bonds.
It could be other than water. Needs to be very polar and form strong interactions
What are requirements for life as we know it?
Water
Photon Energy (sun)
Chemical energy (food)
Moderate temparature (goldilock zone)
What are the basic characteristics of living systems and why are viruses often not considered alive?
Life is out of equillibrium, consatant metabolism.
Death is steady state or equillibrium. Life is disorder. You will find order in death only.
Appear to violate 2nd law of thermodynamics (Disorder tends to increase)
Local decrease in entropy (order) paid for by increase somewhere else (chaos)
Evolve from simple to complex
Cellular organisation
They have an inside and outside.
Closed system.
Viruses don't have a cell core and they are dependant o a host to reproduce.
How can we remotely find signs of life on exoplanets?
Look for signs of energysources, water, or life sediments
What are examples of how living organisms can generate large scale geological structures?
Inorganic deposits (coral reef, chalk cliffs)
What is the role of ATP? How much of it are we producing? Be able to perform simple stoichiometric calculations of energy conversion.
Adenoside triphosphate (ATP)
Food is converted to ATP and at is used by the body
What forms of energy does life use and how is energy stored in live cells?
Consumption
Light
Inorganic compounds (chemolthography)
Organic compaunds (chemoorganography)
Temperature
Storagere
Gradients of ions
Long-lived Molecules
short-lived Molecules
Use
Syntehsis of chemical substances
Molecular movement (work or heat)
Information processing and computation
What is an argument for the RNA world hypothesis of the origin of life?
Life is self replicating and first of all it needs instructions of what to build.
Maybe RNA was the start of life
1) RNA stores information AND has catalytic activity
2) RNA plays a key role in all forms of life (mRNA, tRNA, ribosome, ...)
These points have led to the RNA-world hypothesis being currently the most
widely accepted theory about the origin of life
Which basic properties of living systems are constrained by physical laws. +
Give examples for biological properties governed by universal scaling laws.
The size of animals they can only be so big. Gravity and heat dissapation can be limiting factrors. Whales would sweat like hell out of water.
Gravitational force. Life cant get too big. (F scales I^3)
Diffusion of substance or heat (t scales x^2)
Available chemical fuel
Fluid transport through cappilary action or pressure driven flow.
Cells have a max size because of diffusion / osmosis
Why are dissipative structures relevant for understanding life?
Why does life chose to form?
Living systems (a living planet) are better at absorbing energy that is the reason life is forming (Jeremy England - Every life is on fire)
Life is at state of local order the is able to dissipate energy better than non-life.
How can diffusion lead to pattern formation?
Reaction-diffusion theory by Alan Turing:
The initial symmetry in embryos (fostre) can be broken by the interplay between two diffusable molecules, whoose interactions lead to the formation of patterns.
Molecules are constantly moving around
Diffusion usually equillibrates but not always
Diffusion occurs spontaneously down a concentration gradient
How do biological magnetoreception and temperature sensing work?
Electric and magnetic fields (birds for example) Metals in their beek.
Temperature is felt as Temperature variation. Specialized nerves through the skin.
What is chemotaxis?
Chemotaxis is the movement of organisms in response to the chemical changes in the envoirement. In this example it is the bacteria swimming towards and area with higher glucose concentration.
DTU BIO 1 - Basis of life
Possible questions for the exam from BIO1
Important physical concept with which you need to be able to work quantitatively:
Diffusion
Osmotic pressure
Pressure
driven flow(laminar)
Capillarity
Why is water important for life? What properties make it so special?
Strong hydrogen bonds.
It could be other than water. Needs to be very polar and form strong interactions
What are requirements for life as we know it?
Water
Photon Energy (sun)
Chemical energy (food)
Moderate temparature (goldilock zone)
What are the basic characteristics of living systems and why are viruses often not considered alive?
Life is out of equillibrium, consatant metabolism.
Death is steady state or equillibrium. Life is disorder. You will find order in death only.
Appear to violate 2nd law of thermodynamics (Disorder tends to increase)
Local decrease in entropy (order) paid for by increase somewhere else (chaos)
Evolve from simple to complex
Cellular organisation
They have an inside and outside.
Closed system.
Viruses don't have a cell core and they are dependant o a host to reproduce.
How can we remotely find signs of life on exoplanets?
Look for signs of energysources, water, or life sediments
What are examples of how living organisms can generate large scale geological structures?
Inorganic deposits (coral reef, chalk cliffs)
What is the role of ATP? How much of it are we producing? Be able to perform simple stoichiometric calculations of energy conversion.
Adenoside triphosphate (ATP)
Food is converted to ATP and at is used by the body
What forms of energy does life use and how is energy stored in live cells?
Consumption
Light
Inorganic compounds (chemolthography)
Organic compaunds (chemoorganography)
Temperature
Storagere
Gradients of ions
Long-lived Molecules
short-lived Molecules
Use
Syntehsis of chemical substances
Molecular movement (work or heat)
Information processing and computation
What is an argument for the RNA world hypothesis of the origin of life?
Life is self replicating and first of all it needs instructions of what to build.
Maybe RNA was the start of life
1) RNA stores information AND has catalytic activity
2) RNA plays a key role in all forms of life (mRNA, tRNA, ribosome, ...)
These points have led to the RNA-world hypothesis being currently the most
widely accepted theory about the origin of life
Which basic properties of living systems are constrained by physical laws. +
Give examples for biological properties governed by universal scaling laws.
The size of animals they can only be so big. Gravity and heat dissapation can be limiting factrors. Whales would sweat like hell out of water.
Gravitational force. Life cant get too big. (F scales I^3)
Diffusion of substance or heat (t scales x^2)
Available chemical fuel
Fluid transport through cappilary action or pressure driven flow.
Cells have a max size because of diffusion / osmosis
Why are dissipative structures relevant for understanding life?
Why does life chose to form?
Living systems (a living planet) are better at absorbing energy that is the reason life is forming (Jeremy England - Every life is on fire)
Life is at state of local order the is able to dissipate energy better than non-life.
How can diffusion lead to pattern formation?
Reaction-diffusion theory by Alan Turing:
The initial symmetry in embryos (fostre) can be broken by the interplay between two diffusable molecules, whoose interactions lead to the formation of patterns.
Molecules are constantly moving around
Diffusion usually equillibrates but not always
Diffusion occurs spontaneously down a concentration gradient
How do biological magnetoreception and temperature sensing work?
Electric and magnetic fields (birds for example) Metals in their beek.
Temperature is felt as Temperature variation. Specialized nerves through the skin.
What is chemotaxis?
Chemotaxis is the movement of organisms in response to the chemical changes in the envoirement. In this example it is the bacteria swimming towards and area with higher glucose concentration.