BIOLOGY 201/Winter 2018 Dr.

Ian Ferguson

Lecture 6 (week 3)

Cellular Respiration & Photosynthesis

 Net reaction of photosynthesis: 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + light energy  C6H12O6 + 6 O2

 Net reaction of cellular respiration: C6H12O6 + 6 O2  6 CO2 + 6H2O + energy in ATP

Cell Division – Prokaryotes:

 Bacteria
 The only particular division in the cell, the only one special is the nucleoid because of
the DNA
 The cells grow to double its size
 The DNA is duplicated in two perfectly equal copies
 The cytoskeleton pulls these DNA copies apart and the cell splits in half, creating two
daughter cells equal to the mother
 This process is called Binary Division and it’s the reproduction method for unicellular
beings (each division takes about 20 minutes)

Cell Division:

 There are unicellular eukaryotes that use binary division too

 Multicellular beings, like us, divide to grow and develop. Even after the organism stop
growing, division continues to provide replacement for reuse (such process is called The
Cell Cycle)
 Cell Cycle:
o The mitotic phase is the part of the cell cycle in which you have cell division
(minority)
o The rest of the cell cycle is referred to as interphase, which is simply down time
between cell divisions (majority). The first part of interphase is referred to as G1
(Gap 1, nothing special happens, just cell growth). At some point a chemical signal
triggers a change, which begins the S part of interphase, which constitutes the
Synthesis of DNA (replication, after which the chromosomes have an “X”
appearance). After the S period, a G2 period starts (Gap 2, nothing special happens,
just growth and final preparations for mitosis, in particular two centrosomes)
 o The first part of this phase is mitosis, which happens after G2, and refers to the
division of the cell nucleus (mitosis happens through prophase, prometaphase,
metaphase, anaphase, and telophase).
o Following mitosis, cytokinesis happens, which refers to division of the cytoplasm.
o After cytokinesis, the cell goes into interphase one, to G1 again, restarting the cycle.
o The DNA, in the mess of chromosomes and protein that is in the chromatin, has of
its chromosomes in their double helix form associated with a specific protein in the
nucleus. The DNA molecules are tight up and tangled together there
o After duplication in the S period of interphase, now with 92 DNA strands, it gets
even more crowded. The chromatin condenses and creates two strands with each
one copy of duplicated DNA; held together by centromere (typical presentation of
chromosomes)
o Each of these chromatin condensed pieces are called chromatids (one copy of a
newly copied chromosome which is still joined to the original chromosome by a
single centromere). In other words, a chromosome is made of condensed
chromatids which is made of chromatin where each strand is one duplicated DNA
piece, forming a double strand. The term chromatid only applies when there’s two
of them together; otherwise single strands are just chromosomes.
 It’s possible to note we’re in the interphase because the chromatin looks like one big
grey area all mushed up (appears the same through all phases of interphase). During G2,
the cell duplicates its centrosome creating two of them
 This marks the beginning of the mitotic phase:

o Prophase: Here the duplicated DNA in the chromatin are condensed into
chromosomes. At the same time the nucleolus disperses, and the spindle
(reorganized cytoskeleton) begins to form around the centrosomes
o Prometaphase: The nuclear envelope and the membrane that holds it breaks up.
The spindle attaches to chromosomes at their centromeres.
o Metaphase: Chromosomes line up at the metaphase plate (imaginary line that runs
down the centre of the cell), chromosomes start to be pulled apart by the spindle,
attaching to their centromeres
o Anaphase: The spindles pull the chromosomes until they split, and get pulled to
opposite ends of the cell. At the same time the cells elongate, stretch out. Each
former chromatid is now a chromosome
o Telophase: Last part of mitosis. Chromosomes disperse again, DNA becomes
unwound and the nucleolus (nucleoli) reform on each side of the cell. The nuclear
envelopes assemble. The spindles break up on each side, and by the end of this part,
 cytokinesis has begun. Each of these two daughter cells has the same amount of
chromosomes the mother cell had before DNA replication

 Cytokinesis: The plasma membrane pinches the cytoplasm in two creating a cleavage
furrow (indentation of the cell’s surface) until the two cells are completely separated;
each going into interphase from G1 again.