USABO 1

Unifying Themes:

Organization

  • Reductionism is the approach to reduce complex systems to more simpler managable components

  • Reductionism can often lead to overlooking emergentproperties

  • Emergent properties are properties that emerge when the arrangement and complexity between the interactions of parts increases.

  • Scientists complement reductionism with Systems Biolgy

  • Systems biology is examining a biological system through the interactions of it’s parts

Levels of Biological Organization

  • Molecules are chemical structure consisting of two or more atoms

  • Organelles are functional components of cells

  • Cells are the fundamental unit of life and are about 40 micrometers across

  • Tissues are a group of cells that work together to perform a function

  • Organs are a body part made up of multiple tissues and has specific functions in the body

  • Organisms are individual living things

  • Populations are all of the individuals living within a specified area that interbreed with each other

  • Communities are the array of organisms inhabiting an ecosystem

  • Ecosystems are all of the living things in a particular area

  • The biosphere consists of all life on Earth and all of the places where it exosts

  • There exists a correlation between the structure and function in all biological systems

  • Cell theory is the theory that all living organisms are made of cells

  • The actions of organisms are all based on the activities of cells

  • All cells share characteristics, such as the cell membrane that regulates the passge of materials

  • Two main kinds of cells: prokaryotic and eukaryotic

  • Eukaryotic cells contain membrane enclosed organelles such as the Nucleus

  • Prokaryotic cells lack a nucleus and other membrane enclose organelles, and are also generall ysmaller

  • Prokaryotic cells make up bacteria and archaea, both groups of single celled organisms.

  • Eukaryotic cells make up all other organisms suhch as plants and animals

Information

  • structures called chromosomes are inside cells and contain genetic material in DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid.

  • Each Chromosome contains one very long DNA molecule that has hundreds of thousands of genes

  • Genes are each a section of the DNA of the chromosome and are the units of inheritance

  • You begin as a single cell filled with DNA from parents which is replicated during every division into the trillions of cells that make up your body

  • Genes encode the information neccessary to build all the molecules synthesized within the cell

  • DNA is made up of two long chains that are called strands and arranged in a double helix

  • The chains of DNA are made up of 4 kinds of nucleotides which are abbreviated as A,T,C, and G

  • The sequences of these nucleotides encodes the information of genes

  • The sequence of nucleotides along a gene is transcribed into mRNA which is then transcribed into a linked series of Amino Acids making a protein

  • Gene Expression is the process by which the information in a gene directs the manfucatong of a cellular product

  • All forms of life employ the same genetic code, and differences between organisms reflect differences in nucleotide sequences rather than genetic code.

  • RNA is a related molecule to DNA used as an intermediary to control protein production

  • A genome is the entire library of genetic instructions that a human inherits

  • Genomics is an approach to studying genes where you examine whole sets of genes rather than one at atime

  • Proteomics is the study of a set of proteins and its propoerties

  • Bioinformatics is the use of computational tools to store an analyze data from tools that examine many biological samples rapidly

Energy and Matter

  • Work is the moving, growing, reproducing, and other cellular activities that require energy

  • Producers are organisms that use photosynthesis to convert the energy from sunlight to chemical energy

  • Consumers are organisms that feed on other organisms and their remains

  • Chemical energy generally flows through the ecosystem entering as light and then leaving as heat

Interactions

  • Negative feedback is a feedback loop with where the response reduced the initial stimulis

  • Positive feedback is a feedback loop with the reponse speeds up the initial stimulis

Evolution

  • evolution is a process of biological change where species accumulate differences from the ancestors as they adapt to their environment over time

  • Diversity is the differences between two species

  • Unity is the shared common traits

  • Both diversity and unity between two species are caused by evolution, in which a divergence happens from a shared common ancestor

  • 3 domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaarya, with the first two both being single celled prokaryotes

  • Plants produce their own sugars and other good molecules by photosynthesis

  • Fungi absorb dissolved nutrients from surrondings

  • Animals obtain food by eating and digesting other organisms

  • Protists are mostly single celled organisms and the most numerous kind of eukaryote

  • All 4 of the above are eukaryotes

  • Natural selection is when the natural environment naturally selects certain advantageous traits which leads to changes in characteristics over time

  • Evolutionary relationships are diagrammed in treelike forms to show lineages diverging from a common ancestor