BIOLOGY 0610

CHAPTERS 1-2-3-4 REVISION

Characteristics of living organisms

Every living organism have certain traits that it needs to be demonstrating in order for it
to classify as “living”. There are 7 characteristics that we need to go through. If even a
single one of these characteristics are not present in an organism, then it not alive.

1. Movement – An action by an organism or part of an organism causing a change

of position or place
2. Respiration – The chemical reactions in cells that break down nutrient molecules
and release energy for metabolism
3. Sensitivity – The ability to detect or sense stimuli in the internal or external
environment and to make appropriate responses
4. Growth – Permanent increase in size and dry mass by an increase in cell number
or cell size or both
5. Reproduction – The processes that make more of the same kind of organism
6. Excretion – Removal from organisms of the waste products of metabolism
(chemical reactions in cells including respiration), toxic materials, and substances in
excess of requirements
7. Nutrition -Taking in of materials for energy, growth and development; plants
require light, carbon dioxide, water and ions; animals need organic compounds and
ions and usually need water

Concept and use of classification system

Organisms can be classified into groups by features that they share. Classification systems
aim to therefore classify groups of organisms in a systemic way, in order to reflect their
evolutionary relationships.

Before the advance of technology and science, classification was traditionally based on
morphology and anatomy. Basically this means that if certain organisms “looked” similar
and shared similar features, then they would be classified under the same umbrella. But it
is important to understand that now, we can more accurately classify organisms by
analyzing their DNA (rather than look at appearance alone). Organisms which share
similar DNA base sequences and protein amino acid sequences are more likely to be closely
related.
Every organism has a scientific name. The binomial system is an internationally
agreed system in which the scientific name of an organisms is made up of two
parts (Genus & Species). The Genus is a generic term used in the classification of
living organisms or binomial nomenclature and species is a group of organisms
that can reproduce to produce fertile offspring.

For example: Homo sapiens

It is important to understand here that Homo represents the genus and is always starts
in capital letters. Sapiens is the species and is all lower case and in italics.

Features of organisms

All organisms are made of cells. Although the cellular structure may be different
depending on the type of organism, there are certain things that are universally shared
across every single organism:

 Cytoplasm
 Cell membrane
 DNA
 Ribosomes
 Enzymes

Now, we can actually organize every single organism into 5 main categories called
“kingdoms”. Here are the 5 kingdoms that you need to know:

 Animal (i.e. Lion)

 Plant (i.e. Tree)
 Fungus (i.e. Yeast)
 Prokaryote (i.e. Bacteria)
 Protoctist (i.e. Marimo)

You need to know the features of these 5 kingdoms so that for a given example of an
organism, you can determine the kingdom it belongs in. Here is a simple table to help you
Now that we understand the features of the 5 kingdoms, we can actually branch further.
The syllabus wants you to understand how to classify different “types” of animals and
plants. In the animal kingdom, animals they can further be classed as vertebrates (with
backbone) or invertebrates (no backbone).

In the plant kingdom, plants can be classed into either flowering plants or ferns. The table
below (Oxford Revision Guide 2018) demonstrates the further classification of both the
animal and the plant kingdom.
Dichotomous keys

A dichotomous key is a tool that allows the user to determine the identity of items in the
natural world, such as trees, wildflowers, mammals, reptiles, rocks, and fish. Keys consist
of a series of choices that lead the user to the correct name of a given item.

For example, use the key to answer the question

1. Wings present ……………………………………… Go to 2

Wings absent ……………………………………….. Go to 3
2. One pair of wings visible ………………………………. A
Two pairs of wings visible …………………………….. B
3. Three pairs of legs …………………………………………. C
Two pairs of legs …………………………………………… D

Since this insect has wins, and has two pairs visible, the answer is B!
CHAPTER 2

Cell structure and organisation

First of all, all organisms are mode of cells. They are like the lego blocks of life. The
syllabus wants you to know how to draw a basic animal and plant cell, label its structures,
and also explain the functions of each of the structures too.

At a very basic level, please refer to the diagram was below. The plant cell has everything
that an animal cell has, plus some added structures which are are in green text. The
functions of each of these structures will be discussed further down the page.

So all cells have a cell membrane which is what allows or disallows certain things entering
and exiting the cell. The nucleus contains genetic information (DNA) and the cytoplasm is
a jelly-like substance in which everything else in the cell is suspended in. The
mitochondrion is the “power house’ of the cell and the reason for this name is due to the
fact that respiration occurs here. Plants have some extra structures such as cell walls (to
support the cell) and chloroplasts for photosynthesis. You will learn more about these in
future topics. Plants also have a permanent vacuole, whereas animal cells have small
temporary ones.

Whilst the above diagram but be sufficient for the core syllabus, the extended course
wants you to know two extra structures:

 Rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER)

 Ribosomes

The RER is basically a set of tubular membranes near the nucleus which have ribosomes
studded onto it, and the ribosomes are then used for protein synthesis.
These ribosomes can ether be found on the RER (as mentioned before) but it can be found
free in the cytoplasm as well. If you are comfortable with the first diagram, take a look at
this one!

Structure & function summary

 Cell membrane – Selective control of what goes in and out of the cell
 Nucleus – Carries genetic material (DNA)
 Cytoplasm – Jelly like substance in which chemical reactions take place
 Vacuole – The vacuole has many functions
 Stores/isolates harmful material
 Stores small nutrients
 Maintains water balance
 Structural support for plant cells via turgor pressure
 Rough endoplasmic reticulum – Studded with ribosomes
 Ribosomes – Site of protein synthesis
 Mitochondria – Site of aerobic respiration (cells with high metabolism rates will
need lots of these to offer sufficient energy)
 Cell wall – Structural support for plant cells
 Chloroplast – Site of photosynthesis in plant cells

Levels of organisation

There are levels of organisation that you need to be aware of. As we discussed before, the
smallest unit of a living thing is a cell. So that’s a good place to start. A group of cells are
called tissues, a group of tissues are called organs, and a group of organs are then called
organ systems. Take a look here:

 Cell – The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism

 Tissue – Group of cells with similar structures working together to perform a
shared function
 Organ – Structure made up of a group of tissues, working together to perform
specific functions
 Organ system – Group of organs with related functions, working together to
perform body functions

Now some cells have structures that help them with their particular function. There are a
couple of these examples that CIE wants you to know:

 Ciliated cells
 Root hair cells
 Xylem vessels
 Palisade cells
 Nerve cells
 Red blood cells
 Sperm and egg cells

Each of the things above will naturally be covered in more detail in other topics in the
syllabus and therefore will not be covered here.

Size of specimens (APPERARS IN ALL THE

CHAPTERS EVEN IN YOUR WORST NIGHTMARES )

In the lab, a lot of biology is done under a microscope. For example, we can’t exam the
cells of a human tissue with our naked eyes right? Therefore the purpose of the
microscope is to magnify ourspecimen so that it appears bigger for us to be able to
actually see.

Naturally, the CIE syllabus wants you to be able to perform basic equations regarding
magnification, the image size (of the specimen) and the actual size (of specimen). Please
memorize the following equation:
CHAPTER 3

Diffusion

Diffusion is the net movement of particles from a region of their higher concentration to
a region of their lower concentration down a concentration gradient, as a result of their
random movement.

The constant random movement of particles (and their kinetic energy) allows diffusion to
occur. Ultimately this means that particles will spread out.

It is also important to understand that diffusion is quite often how molecules move in and
out of our cells through the cell membrane.

For example, the diagram below demonstrate a cell surrounded by nutrients (red dots).
We can see that on the left, there are a lot more nutrients outside the cell than inside the
cell.

By diffusion, the nutrients will diffuse into the cell (from higher to lower concentration)
until the number of nutrients inside and outside the cell are balanced.
There are certain factors that affect the rate of diffusion:

 Surface area
 The larger the surface area, the higher the rate of diffusion. This is because
more molecules at a given time will be diffusing.
 Temperature

 The higher the temperature, the higher the rate of diffusion. This is
because molecules are faster and have more kinetic energy with higher
temperatures.

 Concentration gradients

 The higher the concentration gradient, the higher the rate of diffusion.

 Distance

 The shorter the distance, the higher the rate of diffusion. This is quite self-
explanatory. The shorter the distance the particles have to move, the quicker the
process is going to be.

Osmosis

Concept of osmosis

Osmosis is the net movement of water molecules from a region of high water potential
(dilute solution) to a region of low water potential (concentrated solution) through a
partially permeable membrane.

Think of osmosis as the diffusion of water across a partially permeable membrane. When
we are talking about water, we cannot use the term ‘concentration’ anymore because a
concentration denotes the amount of substance dissolved in water.

Because water cannot be dissolved in water, we need to use another term instead: Water
potential.

 For a very dilute solution, because it has a lot of water, it has a high water
potential.
 For a very concentrated solution, because it has less water, it has a low water
potential.
So lets apply this concept to osmosis. Refer to this diagram:

The left hand side of the beaker has less solutes dissolved so therefore the solution is more
dilute (or less concentrated) compared to the right hand side.

Under normal circumstances, the sugar themselves will diffuse across from RHS to the
LHS via diffusion (as we talked about earlier). However, the sugar molecules are too large
to pass through the partially permeable membrane, and therefore cannot diffuse.

Water molecules however can pass by freely through the membrane. The molecules will
travel from the region of high water potential to low water potential so therefore in this
case, water will move from the RHS to the LHS via osmosis.

Osmosis in plant & animal cells

Cell membranes are partially permeable so cells absorb or remove water via osmosis.

Consider these scenarios:

1. Adding cell into pure water / dilute solution

 There will be higher water potential outside the cell than inside the cell
and therefore water will move in to the cell
 As water enters the cells they become ‘turgid’
 An animal cell can burst if too much water enters
  A plant cell has support from its cell wall and therefore will most
likely maintain its turgidity without bursting
2. Adding cell into concentrated solution

 There will be higher water potential inside the cell than the outside and
therefore water will move out of the cell
 As the water moves out, cells become ‘flaccid’
 An animal cell can become crenated if too much water is lost
 A plant cell can become plasmolysed if too much water is lost. This
is when the cytoplasm shrinks due to the loss of water but the cell wall fails to
shrink due to its tough structure. The cytoplasm eventually tears away from
the cell wall.

Active transport

Active transport is the movement of particles through a cell membrane from a region of
lower concentration to a region of higher concentration using energy from respiration.

Active transport is used in cases where diffusion or osmosis cannot be relied upon. For
example, what if a cell wanted to absorb extra nutrients from outside the cell despite
having a higher concentration of those nutrients inside the cell? Diffusion wouldn’t work
because the concentration gradient is going the opposite way. These situations are
encountered frequently in:

 Plant root hairs

 Villi epithelial cells

Active transport uses energy to oppose the concentration gradient and forcefully
transport molecules against it. Here is a simple diagram to help you visualize how it all
works:
In the cell membranes of all cells, there are certain embedded protein molecules that
carry out this process. The protein basically ‘captures’ the molecules from one side of the
cell, and it changes shape in a way to transport the captured molecules to the other side
of the cell. Energy (from respiration) is required to alter the protein shape (referred as
ATP in the diagram).
CHAPTER 4

Biological molecules

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are made of carbon,hydrogen, and oxygen. They are used as a source of
energy for the body. There are three types of carbohydrates: Monosaccharides,
disaccharides, and polysaccharides.

 Monosaccharides (i.e. glucose) are the most simplest form of sugars. They are a
single unit and they cannot be broken down any further to make a more simpler
sugar.
 Disacchardies are literally two monosaccharides joined together.
 Polysaccharides are large chains of monosaccharides joined together
 Starch is a polysaccharide made of large chains of glucose
 Glycogen is another polysaccharide made of large chains of glucose
 Cellulose is a polysaccharide made of large chains of glucose

Fats/oils

Fats are made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The oxygen content is lower than in
carbohydrates. Fats have various purposes in the body:
 Source of energy. In fact, they have two times higher energy content than
carbohydrates!
 Heat insulation
 Myelin sheath formation
 Cell membrane formation

Fats are made up of three fatty acid units attached to a single unit of glycerol

Proteins

Proteins are made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sometimes sulfur or
phosphorus. They are extremely important to the body and serve many different
functions. here are a few:

 Growth
 Tissue repair
 Cell membrane formation
 Source of energy

Proteins are made of long chains of amino acids chemically bonded to each other. There
are about 20 different amino acids that are found in the human body. Different
combinations of these amino acids will give rise to different proteins.

For example, each of the different colored circles represent a different amino acid. They
are joined in a specific sequence as shown below:

It is really important to understand here that the final 3D structure of a protein is

derived from the specific interactions between amino acids that are joined in the protein
chain.
The sequence of amino acids in the chain therefore creates the final shape of the protein,
and the shape is what gives the protein its function.

This diagram below represents how a single chain of amino acids eventually turn into a
complex 3D protein structure with a specific function.

For example: Consider amino acids A B C D and E. The hyphens represent a chemical
bond between the amino acids.

Protein 1: A-B-C-D-E
Protein 2: A-C-B-D-E

In the example above, protein 1 has amino acids A through to E joined in order. Protein
2 on the other hand, has a slightly different amino acid sequence. Just from this slight
difference in amino acid order, protein 2 will be completely different from protein 1 in
terms of its function and structure. This is super important for you to understand.

Food testing

We can test for starch, monosaccharides, proteins, and fats in a given sample via the
following tests:

 Starch test [Starch test]

 Add a few drops of iodine solution
 Blue/black coloration means starch is present

 Benedict’s test [Monosaccharide test]

 Add equal amount of benedicts solution into a solution of food and boil
gently
  A colour change (from blue) signifies presence and quantity of
monosacchrides

 Biuret test [Protein test]

 Add an equal amount of sodium hydroxide to a solution of food and mix
 Add a few drops of 1% copper sulphate
 A violet colour signifies the presence of protein

 Emulsion test [Fat test]

 Dissolve food in ethanol and pour the solution into a clean tube of water
 White emulsion signifies the presence of fat

DNA structure

As you may already know, genetic information is stored inside our DNA. Whilst you do
not need to go into full depth with this, CIE wants you to understand the generic
structure of a DNA molecule:
So first of all, a DNA has a double helix structure whereby two strands are coiled together.
Each strands have chemicals called bases. The double helix is held together via pairs of
bases that are attracted to each other from one strand to the other.

Bases will always pair up in the same way. Adenine (A) will always pair with Thymine (T).
Cytosine (C) will always pair with Guanine (G). The diagram above demonstrates this
pairing (i.e. green is always bonded to purple and pink is always bonded to blue).

Water

CIE wants you to understand the importance of water. Indeed, water is essential to the
human body for many things. One of these things being the fact that water is an
important solvent. This means that nutrients and wastes can be dissolved in water so that
it can be transported around the body. Moreover, majority of our chemical reactions
inside our bodies are controlled by enzymes. Enzymes cannot work unless it is in solution
(i.e. in the presence of water).