Lesson 3.

1 : The Cells’ Need to Divide

* Cell division plays important roles in the lives of organisms

* two trillion cells are produced by the adult human body each day, 25million new cells per second

- Allows organisms to reproduce asexually, grow, and repair worn-out or damaged tissues (cell replacement)

Growth and Development

- cell division is associated with growth and development.
* even humans are products of numerous cellular divisions, as life begins with only a single cell from the fusion of
the parents’ sex cells

Cell Replacement
- occurs when old cells in the body dies and new cells form.
- cell devision occurs in the red bone marrow of our bones such as in the ribs, breastbone, vertebrae, and hips
to continuously make new blood cells to replace dying ones

Asexual Reproduction
- it is the production of offspring from a single parent without the involvement of gametes.
- meanwhile, sexual reproduction involves two specialized cells, called gametes, coming from the parents that will
result to a unique offspring
- the offspring is genetically identical with each other and to the single parent

- Binary fission, in this process, an organism duplicates its genetic material, or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA),
and then divides into two parts (cytokinesis), with each new organism receiving one copy of DNA.

*Cell division is important for both unicellular and multicellular organisms.

*Prokaryotes use cell division for reproduction, while multicellular organisms use it for growth,
development, and repair
*Cell division makes it possible for organisms to reproduce even asexually.
Lesson 3.2 : Chromosomes
- DNA carries the genetic information inherited from the parents and it makes the body function normally throughout
our life

-DNA, a double-stranded molecule, is tightly coiled in an organized structure called chromosome

- a simply long, continuous thread of DNA wounded together by DNA-associated proteins, referred as histones

* RNA is called chromatin

- chromatin is responsible form packaging the DNA efficiently into smaller volume so that it fits the nucleus of a cell
to protect the DNA structure and sequence, to prevent DNA damage, to control gene expression and DNA
replication, and to reinforce the DNA molecule to allow mitosis and meiosis

*Chromatid refers to each strand of the duplicated chromosomes. Together they are called sister chromatids, which are
held together by centromere, a region of condensed pinched chromosomes. — center of centromere, group of proteins
called kinetochore: attached to a long spindle fibers.