Unit 1B – The Variety of Living Organisms and Unit 1A Part 2

Student Book

Eukaryotes Eukaryotes: Organisms that contain a nucleus in their cells such as ANIMALS, PLANTS, FUNGI,
PROTOCTISTS

Animal:

 Multicellular organisms
 Gain nutrition by feeding on other organisms such as animals and plants.
 Movement usually involves coordination by a nervous system
 Store carbohydrates in their cells as a compound called glycogen.
 They have no cell wall
 Don’t contain chloroplast

Plants:

 Multicellular organisms
 Their cells contain chloroplast and carry out photosynthesis
 They have cell wall made of cellulose
 Store carbohydrates in their cells as starch
 plants have many ways of reproducing – not all use flowers

Fungi:

 their bodies are normally organised into a mycelium

made from thread-like structures called hyphae, which
contain many nuclei
 Cell wall made out of chitin
 May store carbohydrates as glycogen
 Yeast  Unicellular
 Mucor  Multicellular
 they feed by excreting digestive enzymes onto food and
then absorbing the products = saprotrophic nutrition

Protoctists:

 some have features of animal cells whereas some have features of plant cells such as chloroplasts in
Chlorella
 most protoctists live in water (like Amoeba)
 Some have cell wall
 Most are unicellular  Amoeba Multicellular Seaweed
Prokaryotes Prokaryotes: Organisms that don’t contain nucleus in their cells such as BACTERIA

Bacteria:

 Unicellular
 Very small
 Have cell wall made out of peptidoglycan

Bacteria shapes:

 Rods (bacilli)
 Spherical (cocci)
 Spiral-shaped

Pathogens Pathogen: Pathogens are disease-causing organisms such as FUNGI, BACTERIA, PROTOCTISTS,
VIRUSES

Viruses:

 Non-living as they don’t carry out characteristics of living organisms

 Smallest of all microorganisms
 Can only be seen using an electron microscope
 Don’t have cellular structure
 They need to infect host cell and use it to reproduce
 Cause diseases or kill other organisms
Example: HIV, TMV, Influenza, Covid-19

Structure:
Stem Cells Stem Cell: A stem cell is a cell that has the ability to divide
many times by mitosis while remaining undifferentiated.
Later, it can differentiate into specialized cells. They are
important in development, growth and repair.

Advantages
 Treatment of a range of
diseases (type 1 diabetes
and spinal cord injuries)
 No rejection if it is taken
from the patient’s own
cells
 Testing of potential drugs
without animal testing
 Cells easy to find / isolate
Disadvantages
 Ethical issues as you are
destroying embryos
 May be rejected by
immune system (if not
from patients body)
 Expensive
 Limited success
 Difficult to find suitable
stem cell donors
 Could turn into cancerous
cells (mutation)
 Risk of transmission
disease
Cell
differentiation
Levels of What is a tissue?
Organisation A group of cells with similar structures working together to carry out a shared function is called a tissue.

What is an organ?
A group of tissues working together to perform a specific function is called an organ.

What is an organ system?

A group of organs working together to perform a body function is called an organ system.

Diffusion Diffusion meaning:

Diffusion is the net movement of molecules from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration through a
partially permeable membrane, moving down a concentration gradient. It passive as it doesn’t require energy.
Osmosis Osmosis meaning:
Osmosis is the net movement of water molecules from high water potential to low water potential through a partially permeable
membrane, moving down a concentration gradient. It passive as it doesn’t require energy.

HIGH WATER POTENTIAL  LOW WATER POTENTIAL

OSMOSIS IN ANIMAL CELL:

(Red blood cell)
 OSMOSIS IN PLANT CELL:

Isotonic  Concentration of water is the same inside and outside the cell
Hypertonic  Net movement of water out of cell
Hypotonic  Net movement of water into the cell

Active Active Transport meaning:

Transport Movement of molecules from a region of low concentration to a region of high concentration through a cell membrane, going
against the concentration gradient. It is active process as it requires energy (ATP) to move against concentration gradient.