INTRODUCTION TO BIOSCIENCE

WHAT IS LIFE?

Asking a biologist to define “life” is like asking a geologist to define “rock.” Hence, both
terms refer to natural states of matter.
The best we can do is to characterize a living organism in terms of its physical attributes such
as size, form, chemical composition, activities, and other observable features.
By identifying the characteristics that we shared by all organisms, perhaps we can put into
words what we all intuitively know to be LIFE.

Complex Organization
- one of the characteristics of living things
- even simple organisms such as microscopic bacteria are much more complex than the
most sophisticated computers.
- This complexity is built from special types of chemical substances that are found only
in the biological structures
- From these structures arise the activities that are uniquely “life.”
- Included among these activities are the other MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF
LIFE:
 metabolism
 growth
 sensitivity
 reproduction

i. Metabolism
- the most fundamental of all biological activities
- every organism is a “chemical factory” carrying out thousands of different chemical
reactions
- energy-requiring process
~ organisms use food – both as chemical building blocks and as energy
sources
~ Green plants are the ultimate source of energy-laden food.

ii. Growth
- increase in size or mass
- it results from the various metabolic processes that build complex molecules within
organisms
- accompanied by development
~ an orderly progressive series of events that gives form to the body and
results in specialization of activities within the organism
~ each different kind of organism has its own specific pattern of growth and
development and this fact enables us to distinguish an ant from a goat, a tiger
from a tulip, and so on.

iii. Sensitivity
- the ability to detect and respond to changes in the environment
- e,g. sunflower bends toward the sun; Canadian geese fly south for the winter; frog
snatches a fly with its tongue
- sensitivity does not always imply the existence of sophisticated sense organs and a
well-developed nervous system
e.g. single cell bacteria can sense food nearby and move toward it
 iv. Reproduction
- the act f producing new individuals that are like the parent
- undoubtedly the most distinctive characteristic of living things
- provides for the continuity of life through the generations that links all present life
forms to their ultimate ancestors

TWO THEMES IN BIOLOGY

I. Evolution
 living things have changed, are changing, and will continue to change
 a unifying principle in biology and will continue to be a major framework that will
bind diverse specializations within the life sciences
 living things have changed with time
 Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)
- the idea of evolution is of little value without a reasonable mechanism to explain
how it works
- offered the powerful principle of Natural Selection
 all creatures wage a constant struggle against environmental constraints to
survive and reproduce more of their kind
 those individual better suited to the environment survive and reproduce in
greater proportion than those less fit, leaving more offspring with their
specific characteristics.

 Implications of the concept of Natural Selection

1. Adaptation
~ the process of evolutionary change in which organisms become increasingly
suited to their specific environmental circumstances.

2. Traits are inheritable

~ physical characteristics such as fins, wings, and hollow bones are passed
from one generation to the next via reproduction

~ traits are passed along in the form DNA, the genetic material.
 produced an enormous diversity of living things, because each type adapted
to its own particular environment.

II. Organisms Conform to the Laws of Chemistry and Physics

 organisms were said to have a “vital source,” an indescribable “spark of life” found
only among the living
~ Vitalists, who developed this theory argued that living things were not only
composed of unique types of substances, but they carried out processes that were
unmatched in the inanimate world and even chemist could not duplicate them.

 Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895)

~ renowned vitalist
~ contended that only the living yeast could carry out the fermentation of
sugar to alcohol. He considered that fermentation is a vital process.
  Edward Buchner (in 1897)
~ proved Pasteur wrong by demonstrating that a “non-living” extract
prepared from broken yeast cells could change grape juice into wine
~ due to this demonstration of a biological process, Vitalism, as an acceptable
idea died

 Reductionism
~ this theory states that life has a purely chemical basis and its operation
can be explained entirely in terms of the physical laws that pertain to all
natural phenomena
~ life and its processes could be studied using the powerful analytical
tools of the chemist and physicist.
~ given the natural properties of molecules found in cells, there is nothing
mystical or “vital” about the chemical processes in which they participate.
~ the phenomenal advances in biochemical research have brought us to
the point where we can manipulate the genetic constitution of certain types of
cells almost at will.
e.g. bacteria  produce human hormones
~ with new advances in molecular biology coming every now and then,
we can look forward to solve some medical problems.

BRANCHES OF BIOLOGY

Botany – the study of plants

Zoology – the study of animals
Anatomy – the study of internal structures of living things
Biochemistry – the use of chemistry in the study of living things
Biological Earth Science – the use of earth sciences, such as geography in the study of living
things
Biological Psychology – the use of biology in psychological studies
Biomathematics – the use of mathematics in the study of living things
Biophysics – the use of physics in the study of living things
Ecology – the study of the relationships of living things to each other and to their
environment
Pathology – the study of diseases, generally in animals
Phytopathology – the study of diseases in plants
Physiology – the study of normal functions of living things
Taxonomy – the classification and naming of living things
Genetics – the science of heredity and the lifelong development of living things
Embryology – the study of the formation and development of living things from fertilization
to birth as independent organisms
Endocrinology – the study of hormones and their actions
Pharmacology – the study of the actions of chemicals on and in living things
Cytology – the study of cells
Histology – the study of tissues
Protozoology – the study of one-celled organisms
Bacteriology – the study of bacteria
Virology – the study of viruses
Mammalogy – the study of mammals
Ornithology – the study of birds
Herpetology – the study of reptiles and amphibians
Ichthyology – the study of fishes
Entomology – the study of insects
Helminthology – the study of worms
Microbiology – the study of microorganisms
Mycology – the study of fungi
Phycology – the study of algae
Lichenology – the study of lichens
Paleontology – the study of fossils
Biogeography – the study of geographical distribution of living things
Phytogeography – the study of the land and its plants
Zoogeography – the study of the land and its animals

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

The making of careful observation and experiments, and later using the data obtained to
formulate general principles.

 BIOLOGY is a natural science and it has certain implications with regard to how
biologists study life
 Three (3) General Recognized Ways to Obtain New Knowledge in Biology :

1. Intuition
 “mental flash” or insight
 An important process in our daily lives
 Not always reliable

2. Authority
 sources of facts
 authorities often contradict one another

3. Observation and Experiment

 are the tools of the 3rd means for gaining knowledge, the scientific method.

 Entails a series of biological steps that in actual practice are not always taken in
sequence. In fact, discoveries are often made by mistakes in the application of this
method.

 The Scientific Method begins with:

1. Recognizing the problem
 curiosity helps us recognize a problem

2. Gathering and organizing the data regarding the problem

 instead of discovering things already discovered, the scientist utilizes the
work of preceding scientists

3. A Working Hypothesis
 made even before an experiment is made
 a prediction regarding the problem or a tentative solution to the problem

4. Testing the validity of the Hypothesis

 if the experiment supports the hypothesis, the scientist can formulate a
more definite theory to explain the observed facts
 BASIC CHEMISTRY

Biologists nowadays have seen the importance of the contributions of chemistry in biology.

A. MATTER, MASS, AND WEIGHT

Matter – anything that occupies space and has mass.

Mass – the quantity of a matter in any body.

Weight – refers to the gravitational attraction exerted by a large body of matter on an object.
~ it is dependent on gravity, therefore, it depends upon the distance of the body from
the center of the earth and so may vary from place to place.

B. PROPERTIES OF MATTER

1. Physical Properties
- properties of matter which can be observed without changing the substance into some
new kind of matter.
- E.g. odor, color, taste, transparency, and physical states are determined by our senses
and therefore, they are not always reliable.
- Density, boiling point, and freezing point are physical properties that are reliable
because they can be measured and numerical values are assigned to them.

2. Chemical Properties
- those properties that can be observed only when the substance undergoes a change in
composition.
- Determines the ability of the substance to react with other substances
e.g. C + O2  CO2;
FeO2 + coke  metallic iron + CO2

C. PHYSICAL STATES OF MATTER

Four Physical States of Matter:

1. Gas
- substance(s) that neither have definite shape nor definite volume.

2. Liquid
- substance(s) that have definite volume but no definite shape; they just follow the
shape of the container.

3. Solid
- materials that have definite volume and definite shape

4. Plasma
- mixture of sub-atomic particles  nuclei and electrons
D. STRUCTURE OF AN ATOM

 Atom – basic building blocks of matter

~ extremely small
~ < 1 or 2 An

 Parts of an Atom

i. Nucleus
- the tiny central part of an atom that contains the protons and neutrons

ii. Sub-atomic Particles

a. Protons
- positively charged particles of an atom
- electronic charge of +1.

b. Neutrons
- the neutral particles of an atom

 protons and neutrons have roughly the same mass.

 Atomic Number – the number of protons in the nucleus that is unique for
each element
 Atomic Mass – the total number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus

c. Electrons
- negatively charged particles of an atom that are found outside and revolving around
the nucleus
- electronic charge -1
- have very little mass, the total mass of an atom is contributed by the protons and
neutrons in the nucleus.

iii. Shells
- traveling electrons at the same average distance from the nucleus

E. KINDS OF MATTER

1. Pure Substances
- those whose composition in terms of its elemental constituents does not change when
subjected to process such as freezing, boiling, condensation, evaporation,
recrystallization, and solution
- e.g., Cu2+, sugar cane, distilled water

- Two (2) Kinds of Pure Substances:

i. Elements – made up of only one kind of atom

a. Metals
~ good conductor of heat and electricity
~ e.g., Zn, Fe, Al, Tu, Ag, Pb
 b. Non-metals
~ good insulators against heat and electricity
~ e.g., Na, H+, O2, He

c. Metalloids
~ borderline forms of elements or intermediate elements
since they possess both the characteristics of metals and non-
metals
~ e.g., arsenic, boron, germanium, silicon

ii. Compounds – made up of two or more different kinds of atom.

May be organic or inorganic

a. Organic Compounds
~ contain carbon atoms
~ e.g., Methan, CHO, CHON, Gasoline, Kerosene

b. Inorganic Compounds
~ do not have carbon atoms
~ e.g., CO2, NaCl, H2O, SO2, NH4+

2. Mixture
- made up of two or more pure substances jumbled together either homogenously or
heterogeneously
- Homogenous mixtures are made up of components that cannot be easily distinguished
even though with the aid of a powerful microscope
e.g., salt + H2O; sugar + H2O
- Heterogenous mixtures are made up of components that are easily identified
e.g., oil + H2O; rock + H2O

F. CHEMICAL BOND
- Three (3) Kinds of Chemical Bonding:

i. Electrovalence (Ionic Bond)

~ involves the transfer of electrons from one atom to another so
the atom either loses or gains electrons
~ e.g., Na+ + F-  NaF (Sodium fluoride)

ii. Covalence (Covalent Bond)

~ involves sharing of electrons
~ e.g., Cl- + Cl-  Cl2 (Chlorine gas)

iii. Hydrogen Bond

~ extremely important in biological systems
~ forms only between a few small electronegative atoms like
O2, fluorine, and nitrogen
~ it is a low energy bond
G. IMPORTANT INORGANIC MOLECULES

1. Water
 60 – 90% of the protoplasm
 Universal solvent
 Retain heat well

2. O2 and CO2
 repiratory and circulatory organs

3. Minerals and Organic salts

 present in skeleton
 e.g., CaCO3; Ca3(PO4)2; NaCl

H. IMPORTANT ORGANIC COMPOUNDS

1.CHOs
 the simplest and most abundant
 primary products of photosynthesis in green plants
 Three (3) Classes:
a. sugars
b. starches
c. cellulose
 Function – main energy source

2. CHONs
 most important organic compound
 contain C, H, and O2, plus nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorous, and iron
 20 Amino Acids  building blocks of proteins
 Functions:
 energy source
 enzyme and hormone
 Antigens and antibodies

3.Lipids
 are fats
 contain C, H, and with less oxygen than in carbohydrates
 insoluble in H2O
 soluble only in organic liquids (e.g., chloroform, acetone)
 Two Kinds:
 simple lipids
 complex lipids
 Glycerol and Fatty acids  building blocks of lipids

4. Nucleic Acid
 large and the most complex organic molecules
 Functions:
 protein synthesis
 heredity
 Two (2) Kinds:
 DNA – found only inside the nucleus of the cell
 RNA – found both inside and outside the nucleus
 Polypeptides  building blocks of nucleic acids
I. KINDS OF VITAMINS

1. Vitamin A (Retinol)
- essential for normal bone and skeleton growth
- for healthy skin
- for normal night vision

2. B1 (Thiamine)
- prevents Beri-beri and diseases of the nervous system
- for good appetite
- for good muscle tone
- for carbohydrate metabolism

3. B2 (Riboflavin)
- for growth
- for healthy skin and eyes
- promotes the body’s use of O2 in converting food into energy

4. B6 (Pyridoxine)
- helps the body utilize amino acids
- for healthy teeth and gums, blood vessels, nervous system, and red blood cells

5. B12 (Cyanocobalamine)
- essential for proper development of RBCs
- for proper functioning of the nervous system

6. Folic Acid
- needed for RBC production

7. Pantothenic Acid
- helps the body convert carbohydrates, fats and proteins into energy

8. Biotin
- needed for healthy circulatory system
- for maintaining healthy and beautiful skin

9. Niacin
- essential for cell metabolism and absorption of carbohydrates
- helps maintain healthy skin

10. Vit C (Ascorbic Acid)

- essential for bones and teeth
- for tissue metabolism and wound healing

11. Vit D
- prevents Rickets
- called the sunshine vitamin

12. Vit E (Tocopherol)

- anti-strerility
- helps body convert fatty acids into energy
- essential in the formation and proper functioning of RBCs, muscles, and other tissues

13. Vit K
- essential for normal blood clotting
J. MINERALS

 Trace elements needed in small amounts by plants, animals, and human beings
 E.g., Iron Phosphorous
Sulfur Copper
Calcium Cobalt
Manganese Magnesium
Zinc Iodine
Chlorine Flourine