BIO 1090 EXAM NOTES (DON’T FORGET LECTURE 13 AND 14)

Lecture 13

1. Cells are the fundamental units of life

2. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
3. General overview of components of the cell

Cell theory

1. All living organisms are composed of one or more cells

2. The cell is the most basic unit of life
3. All cells arise from pre-existing cells

Basic properties of cells

1. Highly complex and organized

2. Activity controlled by a genetic program
3. Can reproduce – make copies of themselves
4. Assimilate and utilize energy
5. Carry out many chemical reactions (enzymes)
6. Engage in mechanical activities
7. Respond to stimuli
8. Capable of self regulation
9. They evolve

What does it take to make a cell?

1. Information
a. DNA – hereditary material of genes
b. RNA – provides the information necessary to build various proteins (enzymes, kinases,
receptors) – the cell’s primary machinery
c. Control is also very important (the central dogma)
d. Genetic information is passed on from one cell to the next during cell division/growth
e. Replication rate: bacteria<fungi<higher eukaryotic cells
f. Cells go through differentiation
g. Enucleation – RBCs eject nucleus to have maximum hemoglobin carrying capacity
2. Chemistry
a. Billions of years ago earth’s atmosphere did not have oxygen
b. It is hypothesized that inorganic compounds + energy make simple organic compounds,
and this made formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide, which when electrouted again,
made urea, formic acids, and amino acids
c. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins which can be generated in conditions
that mimic those on early earth
3. Compartments
a. Usually defined by single or double lipid layer membrane
b. Examples include mitochondria, chloroplasts, the nucleus, vesicles, ER
Prokaryotes were the only form of life on Earth for Millions of years until more complicated eukaryotic
cells came into being through the process of evolution

Archea found in extreme environments, bacteria ubiquitous habitats (soil, water, animals, plants)

Typical features of prokaryotic cell

- Single cell organism

- 1-10 UM
- Ribosomes present but smaller
- Reproduce sexually and asexually
- No nucleus or organelles
- Genetic material found in nucleoid
o DNA arranged in circular chromosome and circular plasmids

Eukaryotic cells include protozoa, fungi, plants and animals

- Found in multicellular organisms but can be unicellular as well

- 10-100 um
- Nucleus contains genetic material arranged in linear chromosomes
- Membrane bound organelles
- Ribosomes larger

Animal vs plant cell

- Plant cell wall : rigid barrier composed of polysaccharides for cell structure
- Vacuoles: organelles contribute to structural rigidity of plants by maintaining turgor pressure
against cell walls
- Chloroplasts: enable plants to harness energy from sun to synthesize sugars
- Plasmodesmata connect neighbouring plant cells
- Animal cells have lysosomes and microvilli

Takeaways from lecture 13

- The cell is the structural unit of all living organisms

- Cells arise from division of pre-existing cells
- The genome is a dynamic information system
- Cells are complex and organized
o Contain a large number of components
o Organized with respect to time and space
o Fidelity of interactions is maintained through control of regulation of components
o Provides great precision in cellular activities
- Cell function is dependent on chemical reactions occurring in compartments

Slime molds

- Single cell organism – in protist family

- Use primitive form of sexual reproduction and has 1000 of nuclei per cell and amazing capacity
to move around and respond to their environment
Viruses

- There must be millions of distinct viruses

- Viruses are not cells, they are macromolecular packages that can function and reproduce only
within living cells
- Outside of cells they are called virions and are inanimate particles
- Viruses are also highly complex and organized, activity controlled by a genetic program, can
reproduce and make copies, and evolve

Structure of viruses

- Protein coat (capsid) that surrounds nucleic acid

- Enclosed in a protein-containing membrane enveloped or not (naked and unenveloped)
- Nucleic acid either RNA or DNA encodes viral
- Baltimore classifies viruses as type of genome and method of replication
- HIV is a retrovirus – RNA virus that can insert copy of its genome into the DNA of a host cell.
Causes acquired immunodeficiency
- Hepatitis B is a member of the hepadnavirus family – DNA type. Affects human liver and can
cause serious infections
- Ebola virus is part of the filoviruses family – encode their genome in the form of single-stranded
negative-sense RNA. Cause hemorrhagic fever
- Adenoviruses are a group of viruses that can cause respiratory illness or conjunctivitis
- Bacteriophage is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archea

Viruses are very small – tobacco mosaic virus was one of the first viruses to be characterized

As a way to battle the contuous attacks from the bacteriophages, bacteria have evolved an immune-
like system called CRISPR-cas

Viruses: host range

- Viruses bind to a cell surface via specific proteins and then enter into the cell
- Narrow host range – like human cold and influenza can infect epithelial cells of human
respiratory system
- Wide host range like rabies can infect cells in dogs, foxes, bats, racoons and humans

Viruses: types of infection

- Once inside a cell, virus hijacks cellular machinery to synthesize nucleic acids and proteins,
which are then assembled to make new virus particles to infect other cells
- Two main types of viral life cycle:
- Nonlytic (lysogenic)
o Viral nucleic acid is replicated in the host; viral proteins produced
o Virus reproduces without destroying the host cell
- Lytic
o Production of virus particles ruptures and kills host cell (ex, bacteriophages; ebola virus)
- A combination of both lysogenic and lytic life cycles are often found
- Infected cells can survive often with impaired function
 Rabies life cycle: encodes five genes : Nucleocapsid protein (N), phorphoprotein (P), matrix
protein (M), glycoprotein (G), and viral RNA polymerase (L)

Papovavirus: a large family of viruses that includes HPV

RNA vaccines

- work by tricking the body’s cells into producing a fragment of a virus, an antigen, from an RNA
template
- One effective strategy to make them more effective at lower doses or in a single dose is to
incorporate instructions for assembling a replicase, which can make lots of copies of the RNA
template for producing antigens

Lecture 15

Functions of biological membranes

1. Define cell boundary (plasma membrane)

2. Define enclose compartments (organelles ex. Mitochondria, golgi, etc)
3. Control movement of materials into and out of cell/organelles (plasma membrane + organelles)
4. Allow response to external stimuli (plasma membrane)
5. Enable interactions between cells (plasma membrane)
6. Provide scaffold for biochemical activities (energy transduction: mitochondria, chloroplast

Phospholipids and membranes

- Lipid molecules, like phospholipids spontaneously aggregate to bury their hydrophobic tails in
the interior and expose hydrophilic heads to water
- A molecule will always be in a conformation in which it is the most stable
- Micelles are usually formed by fatty acids with only one hydrophobic chain

Phospholipid synthesis
 - Synthesis occurs in preexisting membrane
- Synthesis occurs in a multistep process at the interface of the cytosol and outer endoplasmic
reticulum membrane
- ER membrane contains all the molecular machinery (enzymes) for synthesis and distribution

Membrane proteins

- Integral membrane proteins span the lipid bilayer

- Peripheral membrane proteins associate with the surfaces of the lipid bilayer
- Lipid anchored proteins attach to a lipid in the bilayer

Integral protein functions: examples

Different integral (transmembrane) proteins have different functions for example:

1. Transport nutrients and ions

2. Cell – cell communication (gap junction)
3. Attachment

Dynamics of plasma membrane

- Lipids move easily laterally within leaflet

- Lipid movement between leaflets is difficult and slow
- Membrane proteins diffuse within the bilayer
o Movement of proteins is restricted
o Rapid movement is spatially limited
o Long range diffusion is slow
- Biochemical modifications can alter protein mobility in the membrane – an important feature
for signal transduction

Structure of biological membranes: common properties

- Approx 6nm thick with water

- Stable
- Flexible
- Capable of self assembly
- Different membranes contain different types of lipids and proteins, giving them different
functions
- Differences between cells as well as within organelles within a cell

1. Membranes are composed of lipid bilayers

- The trilaminar structure is a lipid bilayer
- Lipid bilayer is made up of phospholipids
- Proteins are embedded in or associated with the phospholipid bilayer
2. Amphipathic (hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts) phospholipids are main structural components
of biological membranes
- Phospholipids consist of a glycerol backbone bound by:
 o Two non-polar fatty acyl molecules “fatty acid chains”
o A polar head group linked by a phosphate residue
- Phospholipids are amphipathic
o Hydrophilic – attracted to water
o Hydrophobic – repelled by water
- Order goes: hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail (choline, phosphate, glycerol, then fatty acid
chains)
3. Fluid mosaic model describes membrane properties
- Fluid – components are mobile
- Mosaic – diverse “particles” like proteins, carbohydrates and cholesterol penetrate the lipid
layer; components can interact
- Outer/exterior cytosol is on the outside and inner cytosolic leaflet is on the inside of the cell
4. Cells with different functions have membranes with different protein compositions
(mitochondria inner membrane vs neuron myelin sheath)
- The inner membrane of mitochondria contains a very high concentration of protein necessary
for electron transport chain and ATP synthesis
- Myelin sheath simply consists of plasma membrane wrapped around the neuron’s axon to
increase speed of electrical impulses – also have low protein
5. Membrane fluidity is important for cell function and is determined by temperature and lipid
composition
- Biological membranes are asymmetrical
- Two leaflets have distinct lipid composition in many plasma membranes, the outer leaflet
contains glycolipids and glycoproteins (lipids and proteins with carbohydrates attached to
them)
- Temperature is an important variable affecting fluidity of biological membranes
- Warming increases fluidity  liquid crystal
- Cooling decreases fluidity  crystalline gel
- Membrane fluidity crucial to cell function and determined by nature of lipids in membrane
o Unsaturated lipids increase fluidity
o Saturated lipids reduce fluidity
- In response to changes in temperature, lipid composition of membranes can be changed by:
o Desaturation of lipids
 Saturated fatty acid chains lack double bonds, resulting in phospholipids with a
straight structure that favours tight packing
o Exchange of lipid chains
 Unsaturated fatty acids have one of more double bonds that introduce kinks in
the phospholipids, reducing tightness of packing
- Balance between ordered (rigid) and disordered structure allows:
o Mechanical support and flexibility
o Membrane assembly and modification
o Dynamic interactions between membrane components (proteins can come together
reversibly)
- Cholesterol modulates membrane fluidity, acting as a bidirectional regulator of membrane
fluidity
 o At high temperatures, it stabilizes the membrane and raises its melting point
o At low temperatures, it intercalates between the phospholipids and prevents them from
clustering together and stiffening
o Alters packing and flexibility of lipids
o If added to liquid crystal membrane, fluidity will decrease
o If added to crystalline gel, fluidity will increase

Lecture 16

1. Movement across membranes

2. Channels and transporters

Integral membrane proteins- are in the plasma membrane

Transmembrane domain: