General Biology 1
Pasteur's Experiment
Lesson 1: CELL THEORY
The cell theory states that:
1. All organisms are made up of
cells
2. The basic unit of life is the cell
3. All cells come from preexisting
cells
HISTORY OF THE CELL THEORY
Zacharias Janssen
- 1590
- Invented the first compound
microscope.
Robert Hooke
- 1665
- Examined a thin slice of cork
under the microscope that he built.
- he was able to see and observe
small compartments of the cork
and initially named them “cellula”
because they reminded him of the
‘little rooms’ in the monastery.
These eventually became known
as cells.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
- 1673
- First to see living microscopic
organisms (in pond water)
- Termed these microorganisms
‘animalcules’.
Matthias Jakob Schleiden
- 1838
- Professor of botany at the
University of Jena, Germany.
- Concluded that: “All living plants
are made of cells”.
- Credited for developing first two
tenets of cell theory (with
Schwann).
Theodor Schwann
- 1839
- Professor of physiology at the
University of Louvain, Belgium.
- Concluded that: “All living animals
are made of cells”.
- Credited for developing first two
tenets of cell theory (with
Schleiden).
Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow
- 1858
- Credited for developing the third
tenet of the cell theory upon
studying how cells played a role in
body diseases. He noticed that the
existence of diseases in the organs
and tissues come from affected
cells.
- Concluded that: “Omnis cellula e
cellula” which means that all cells
arise from preexisting cells.
THE THEORY OF
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION
> It states that organisms can
come from nonliving sources.
> Spontaneous generation is the
incorrect hypothesis that nonliving
things are capable of producing
life. It was once believed that life
could come from nonliving things,
such as mice from corn, flies from
bovine manure, maggots from
rotting meat, and fish from the mud
of previously dry lakes.
> Several experiments have been
conducted to disprove
spontaneous generation.
1. Redi's Experiment and
Needham's Rebuttal
• In 1668, Francesco Redi, an
Italian scientist, designed a
scientific experiment to test the
spontaneous creation of maggots
by placing fresh meat in each of
two different jars.
• One jar was left open; the other
was covered with a cloth. Days
later, the open jar contained
maggots, whereas the covered jar
contained no maggots. He did note
that maggots were found on the
exterior surface of the cloth that
covered the jar.
• Redi successfully demonstrated
that the maggots came from fly
eggs and thereby helped to
disprove spontaneous generation.
Or so he thought.
• In England, John Needham
challenged Redi's findings by
conducting an experiment in which
he placed a broth, or “gravy,” into a
bottle, heated the bottle to kill
anything inside, then sealed it.
Days later, he reported the
presence of life in the broth and
announced that life had been
created from nonlife. In actuality,
he did not heat it long enough to
kill all the microbes.
2. Spallanzani's Experiment
• Lazzaro Spallanzani, also an
Italian scientist, reviewed both
Redi's and
Needham's data and experimental
design and concluded that perhaps
Needham's heating of the bottle
did not kill everything inside.
• He constructed his own
experiment by placing broth in
each of two separate bottles,
boiling the broth in both bottles,
then sealing one bottle and leaving
the other open. Days later, the
unsealed bottle was teeming with
small living things that he could
observe more clearly with the
newly invented microscope. The
sealed bottle showed no signs of
life. This certainly excluded
spontaneous generation as a
viable theory. Except it was noted
by scientists of the day that
Spallanzani had deprived the
closed bottle of air, and it was
thought that air was necessary for
spontaneous generation. So
although his experiment was
successful, a strong rebuttal
blunted his claims.
3.
• Louis Pasteur, the notable French Image 1.2
scientist, accepted the challenge to
re-create the experiment and leave
the system open to air.
• He subsequently designed
several bottles with S-curved
necks that were
oriented downward so gravity
would prevent access by airborne
foreign materials.
He placed a nutrient-enriched
broth in one of the goose-neck
bottles, boiled the broth inside the
bottle, and observed no life in the
jar for one year. He then broke off 2. Spallanzani's Experiment
the top of the bottle, exposing it
more directly to the air, and noted Image 2.1
life-forms in the broth within days.
• He noted that as long as dust and
other airborne particles were
trapped in the S- shaped neck of
the bottle, no life was created until
this obstacle was removed. He
reasoned that the contamination
came from life-forms in the air.
• Pasteur finally convinced the
learned world that even if exposed
to air, life did not arise from nonlife.
3. Pasteur's Experiment
1. Redi's Experiment and
Needham's Rebuttal Image 3.1
Image 1.1
Lesson 2: CELL STRUCTURE
PARTS OF THE CELL
The basic components of a cell are
cell membrane, cytoplasm and
nucleus.
> CELL MEMBRANE
The cytoplasm and nucleus are
enclosed within the cell membrane,
also called the plasma membrane.
The membrane separates cells
from one another and also the cell
from the surrounding medium.
> CYTOPLASM
It is the jelly-like substance present
between the cell membrane and
the nucleus. Various other
components, or organelles, of cells
are present in the cytoplasm.
> NUCLEUS
The cell nucleus acts like the brain
of the cell.
Nucleus is separated from the
cytoplasm by a membrane called
the nuclear membrane.
Nucleus contains thread-like
structures called chromosomes.
The entire content of a living cell is
known as protoplasm.
> THE ENDOMEMBRANE
SYSTEM
The endomembrane system consists
of the nuclear envelope, the
endoplasmic reticulum,
the Golgi apparatus, and several
vesicles (tiny membranous sacs).
This system compartmentalizes the
cell so that particular enzymatic
reactions are restricted to specific
regions.
> THE ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM
• The endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a
complicated system of membranous
channels and saccules (flattened
vesicles), is physically continuous with
the outer membrane of the nuclear
envelope.
• Rough ER is studded with ribosomes
on the side of the membrane that
faces the cytoplasm.
• Smooth ER, which is continuous
with rough ER, does not have attached
ribosomes.
> GOLGI APPARATUS
• The Golgi apparatus is named for
Camillo Golgi, who discovered its
presence in
cells in 1898.
• The Golgi apparatus consists of a
stack of three to twenty slightly
curved saccules
whose appearance can be compared
to a stack of pancakes.
• The Golgi apparatus is also involved
in the formation of lysosomes,
vesicles that contain proteins and
remain within the cell.
• Because this is secretion, the Golgi
apparatus is said to be involved in
processing, packaging, and secretion.
> LYSOSOMES
• Lysosomes are membrane-bounded
vesicles produced by the Golgi
apparatus. Lysosomes contain
hydrolytic digestive enzymes.
> CHLOROPLASTS
• Plant and algal cells contain
chloroplasts, the organelles that allow
them to produce their own organic
food. Chloroplasts are about 4–6 m in
diameter and 1–5 m in length; they
belong to a group of organelles known
as plastids.
> MITOCHONDRIA
• All eukaryotic cells, including those
of plants and algae, contain
mitochondria. This means that plant
cells contain both chloroplasts and
mitochondria. Most mitochondria are
usually 0.5–1.0 m in diameter and 2–
5 m in length.
• Mitochondria, like chloroplasts, are
bounded by a double membrane. In
mitochondria, the inner fluid filled
space is called the matrix. The matrix
contains DNA, ribosomes, and
enzymes that break down
carbohydrate products, releasing
energy to be used for ATP production.
> RIBOSOMES
• Ribosomes are small organelles
where protein synthesis occurs.
Ribosomes occur in the cytoplasm,
both singly and in groups (i.e.,
polyribosomes). Numerous ribosomes
are also attached to the endoplasmic
reticulum.
> VACUOLES
• A vacuole is a large membranous
sac. A vesicle is smaller than a
vacuole. Animal cells
have vacuoles, but they are much
more prominent in plant cells.
• Vacuoles store substances.
> CELL WALL
• In addition to the cell membrane,
there is an outer thick layer in cells of
plants called cell wall. This additional
layer surrounding the cell membrane
is required by plants for protection.
Plant cells need protection against
variations in temperature, high
wind speed, atmospheric moisture
etc. They are exposed to these
variations because they cannot move.
> CYTOSKELETON
• The cytoskeleton is a network of
interconnected filaments and
tubules that extends from the
nucleus to the plasma membrane in
eukaryotic cells. Prior to the 1970s, it
was believed that the cytoplasm was
an unorganized mixture of organic
molecules.
• Similarly, the fibers of the
cytoskeleton maintain cell shape
and cause the cell and its organelles
to move.
> MICROTUBULES
• Microtubules are small, hollow
cylinders about 25 nm in diameter
and from 0.2 to 25 m in length.
> ACTIN FILAMENTS
• Actin filaments (formerly called
microfilaments) are long, extremely
thin fibers (about 7 nm in diameter)
that occur in bundles or meshlike
networks. The actin filament contains
two chains of globular actin
monomers twisted about one another
in a helical manner.
> INTERMEDIATE FILAMENTS
• Intermediate filaments (8–11 nm in
diameter) are intermediate in size
between actin filaments and
microtubules.
> CENTRIOLES
• Centrioles are short cylinders with a
9 + 0 pattern of microtubule triplets
that is, a ring having nine sets of
triplets with none in the middle.
> CILIA AND FLAGELLA
• Cilia and flagella are hair like
projections that can move either in an
undulating fashion, like a whip, or
stiffly, like an oar.
Lesson 3: PROKARYOTIC &
EUKARYOTIC CELLS
> PROKARYOTIC CELLS <
• Prokaryotes are organisms whose
cells lack a nucleus
• 'pro' = before; 'karyon' = nucleus
• They belong to the kingdom Monera
and have been further classified into
two distinct domains:
- Archaebacteria – found in extreme
environments like high temperatures,
salt concentrations or pH
(extremophiles)
- Eubacteria – traditional bacteria
including most known pathogenic
forms (E. coli, S. aureus, etc.)
• Prokaryotic Features
- Cytoplasm – internal fluid
component of the cell
- Nucleoid – region of the cytoplasm
where the DNA is located (DNA strand
is circular and called a genophore)
- Plasmids – autonomous circular DNA
molecules that may be transferred
between bacteria (horizontal gene
transfer)
- Ribosomes – complexes of RNA and
protein that are responsible for
polypeptide synthesis (prokaryote
ribosome = 70S)
- Cell membrane – Semi-permeable
and selective barrier surrounding the
cell
- Cell wall – rigid outer covering made
of peptidoglycan; maintains shape
and prevents bursting (lysis)
- Slime capsule – a thick
polysaccharide layer used for
protection against dessication (drying
out) and phagocytosis
- Flagella – Long, slender projections
containing a motor protein that
enables movement (singular:
flagellum)
- Pili – Hair-like extensions that enable
adherence to surfaces (attachment
pili) or mediate bacterial conjugation
(sex pili)
> EUKARYOTIC CELLS <
• Eukaryotes are organisms whose
cells contain a nucleus
• ‘eu’ = good / true ; ‘karyon’ =
nucleus
• They have a more complex structure
and are believed to have evolved from
prokaryotic cells (via endosymbiosis)
• Eukaryotic cells are
compartmentalized by membrane-
bound structures (organelles) that
perform specific roles
• Eukaryotes can be divided into four
distinct kingdoms:
- Protista – unicellular organisms; or
multicellular organisms without
specialized tissue
- Fungi – have a cell wall made of
chitin and obtain nutrition via
heterotrophic absorption
- Plantae – have a cell wall made of
cellulose and obtain nutrition
autotrophically (via photosynthesis)
- Animalia – no cell wall and obtain
nutrition via heterotrophic ingestion
Lesson 4: CELL TYPES
PLANT TISSUE
• Meristematic tissue: These tissues
comprise of cells which have the
dividing capacity. They are immature
and help plants to divide continuously
throughout the life.
• Permanent tissue: Permanent
tissues are derivative of meristematic
tissue. They don’t have the dividing
capability but aid in other functions
like conduction of substances, storage
of food etc.
ANIMAL TISSUE
• Epithelial Tissue: All organs in the
body are lined with a group of tissues
called epithelial tissues. They cover
the surface of all internal as well as
external organs.
• Muscle Tissue: This type of tissue
forms three types of muscles, namely
skeletal (striated or voluntary) muscle,
smooth (non-striated or involuntary)
muscle and cardiac (heart) muscle.
• Connective Tissue: As the name
suggests, they connect the different
tissues, organs, and parts of the body.
• Nervous Tissue: These tissues are
made up of specialized cells called
nerve cells (neurons). They conduct
and transmit electrochemical
impulses between neurons.
Lesson 5: SPECIALIZED CELLS
SPECIALIZED PLANT CELLS
• The cell wall and cell membrane of
the root hair cell are greatly
elongated. This increases the cell’s
surface area and maximizes the
amount of water and minerals
absorbed from the soil.
• Palisade cells and guard cells are
found mainly in leaves. Palisade cells
are specialized for photosynthesis:
they are located in the leaf’s upper
layers and have large numbers of
chloroplasts to absorb incoming light.
• Guard cells are located mainly on
the underside of leaves, where they
help regulate gas exchange and water
loss in the plant. The bean-shaped
guard cells surround pores called
stomata that open and close when the
guard cells enlarge or deflate,
respectively.
SPECIALIZED ANIMAL CELLS
• Red blood cells, which transport
oxygen from the lungs to all of the
body’s tissues, contain hemoglobin,
an iron-rich protein that binds oxygen.
The cells are small and highly flexible,
which helps them squeeze through
even the smallest blood vessels, and
their biconcave shape allows for
oxygen exchange at a constant rate.
• Sperm cells have a tail, or flagellum,
that helps propel them up the female
reproductive tract to find an egg to
fertilize. The sperm’s head contains
special enzymes that help it penetrate
the egg cell at fertilization.
• Egg cells are large and contain
abundant nutrient-rich cytoplasm that
will help nourish the developing
zygote after fertilization.
• Ciliated epithelial cells are a
specialized cell found lining parts of
the mammalian reproductive system
and respiratory tract.