What Is Science?

• Purpose of science: to know and explain the natural universe

• Science starts with a question
• Science assumes that the universe is orderly and can be explained.
• Science is unbiased (objective, not subjective).
• Science is a system of knowledge based on facts or principles.

BIOLOGY

- is the study of animals, plants, and microorganism which are all living things possessing life features such as
gathering and using energy for survival, adapting and evolving on Earth, reproducing and continuing the
circle of life, living and interacting with the environment
- 3.8 billion years ago, First living cells came about as a result of ancient events wherein lifeless matter: ATOMS
the smallest particle of a substance that can exist by itself or be combined with other atoms to form molecule.
MOLECULES the smallest possible amount of substance that has all the characteristics of that substance.
became organized into an entity capable of capturing and using energy and raw materials, sensing and
responding to the environment and reproducing its own kind

THREE MAJOR DIVISIONS OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

1. MICROBIOLOGY
- study of microorganism
2. BOTANY
- study of plants
3. ZOOLOGY
- study of animals
TRADITIONAL BRANCHES OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

1. TAXONOMY
- study of naming and classifying organisms.
2. CYTOLOGY
- study of structures and functions of cells.
3. EMBRYOLOGY
- study of development of organism
4. ANATOMY
- study of structures and parts of organism
5. PHYSIOLOGY
- study of functions of living organisms and their parts
6. BIOCHEMISTRY
- study of biochemical compositions and processes of living things
7. GENETICS
- study of heredity and variation
8. EVOLUTION
- study of origin and differential of various organism
9. ECOLOGY
- study of relationships of organisms with each other and their environment
MODERN BRANCHES OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

1. BIOINFORMATICS
- Study of biological data using computer programs.
2. GENOMICS
- Study of the entire genetic material of an organism
3. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
- Study of molecules that make up the cell of living organisms.
4. PHARMACOGENOMICS
- Study of how genes affect a person’s response to drugs.
5. PROTEOMICS
- Study of the different proteins in an organism.
6. SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
- Study of combined biology and engineering.
7. SYSTEMS BIOLOGY
- Study of systems of biological molecules such as cell, organism or species.

BIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

TWO MAIN APPROCHES IN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS

1. DISCOVERY-BASED SCIENCE
- Discovery-based science relies mainly on verifiable observations and measurements.
- Based on inductive logic.
2. HYPOTHESIS-BASED SCIENCE
- Involves the use of the scientific method, which is used as a guide by biologist in solving
problems.
- Involves testing a proposed hypothesis through a controlled experiment.
- Based on deductive logic
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
- is a series of processes that people can use to gather knowledge about the world around them,
improve that knowledge, and, through gaining knowledge, attempt to explain why and/or how
things occur.
Steps of the Scientific Method
1. Problem/Question
2. Observation/Research
3. Formulate a Hypothesis
4. Experiment
5. Collect and Analyze Results
6. Conclusion
7. Communicate the Results

Independent Variable
- The independent, or manipulated variable, is a factor that’s intentionally varied by the
experimenter.
Dependent Variable
- The dependent, or responding variable, is the factor that may change as a result of changes
made in the independent variable.
Control Group
 - is the group that serves as the standard of comparison

Life and Its Beginnings

➢ ABIOGENESIS OR SPONTANEOUS GENERATION
- It is the idea that life originates from non-living matter.
- This idea was proposed by Aristotle in the fourth century and held its position as the belief on
the origin of life until the seventeenth century.
➢ BIOGENESIS
- Is the belief that life originates from preexisting life.

EARLY BELIEFS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

➢ FRANCESCO REDI’S EXPERIMENT

- Redi predicted (formed a hypothesis) that "If flies are kept away from meat then there would be no
appearance of maggots." Redi set up an experiment in which he controlled all the variables
(constants)-except one. He put meat in two jars. Redi left one jar of meat open so that flies could enter
(control group), and he covered the mouth of the other jar of meat with gauze. (experimental group).

➢ JOHN NEEDHAM’S EXPERIMENT

- John Needham tested Redi's experiment. He disagreed with Redi and thought that spontaneous
generation could occur under the right conditions. Needham developed his own experiment. He
sealed a bottle of broth and heated it. He thought that heat killed living things. He found "little
animals" (microbes) grew in the broth. Needham assumed that the animals must have come from the
gravy.

➢ LAZZARO SPALLANZANI’S EXPERIMENT

- Lazzaro Spallanzani also tested Redi's findings. Spallanzani thought that Needham was on the right track
but should have heated the jar more. Spallanzani heated 2 jars. He sealed one, and one he didn't. The
open jar developed "little bugs" (microbes) in it and the sealed one did not. This supported Redi's findings.
➢ LOUIS PASTEUER
- Louis Pasteur‘s 1859 experiment is widely seen as having settled the question of spontaneous generation.
- He boiled a meat broth in a flask that had a long neck that curved downward, like that of a goose or swan.
- The idea was that the bend in the neck prevented falling particles from reaching the broth, while still allowing
the free flow of air.
- The flask remained free of growth for an extended period. When the flask was turned so that particles could
fall down the bends, the broth quickly became clouded.
- This work was so conclusive; that biology codified the “Law of Biogenesis,” which states that life only comes
from previously existing life.

CURRENT BELIEFS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

➢ DIVINE CREATION THEORY

- This theory believe that everything was made by a supreme being in a six-day period.
➢ SPONTANEOUS ORIGIN

-
Electric sparks can produce amino acids and sugar from an atmosphere loaded with preexisting
materials like water, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen.
- The famous Miller-Urey experiment suggests that lightning may help trigger the creation of the key
building blocks of life.
➢ PANSPERMIA
- The theory which states that life on earth originated from microorganisms present in outer space.
- A meteor or a cosmic dust may have carried to earth significant number of molecules, which started
the evolution of life.

UNIFYING THEMES OF BIOLOGY

Living organisms are diverse but share certain characteristics:

1. ORGANIZATION
Cell Structure & Function
- Cell is the basic unit of structure & function
- All organisms are made of one or more cells; Unicellular (one celled) or Multicellular (more than one
cell)
- Cells are small but highly organized; they contain specialized structures that carry out the jobs of a
cell called organelles.

2. REPRODUCTION & INHERITANCE

- All organisms reproduce new organisms like themselves by transmitting hereditary material to their
offspring
- DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) is a large molecule containing the hereditary material of the cell
3. EVOLUTION
 - Populations of organisms change over time or evolve (Theory of Evolution)
- Natural selection or “survival of the fittest” is the process that drives evolution
- Organisms with favorable traits are better able to survive & reproduce
- The survival of organisms with favorable traits causes a gradual change in populations of organisms
over many generations
- Evolution by natural selection is driven by competition for resources such as food, habitat, mates

4. INTERDEPENDENCE OF ORGANISMS
- Ecology is the study of the interaction of organisms with each other and their environment
- Sunlight is the ultimate energy for all organisms
- Energy from the sun is passed from one organism to another; producers (plants) to herbivore (plant
eater) to carnivore (meat eater) to decomposers (break down dead organisms)
- All living organisms depend on one another and their environment
5. METABOLISM
- Living organisms obtain and use energy to stay alive, grow, and develop
Nutrition
- The process by which organisms acquire food
Energy
- Is the ability of organisms to do work that allows us to move.
6. STABILITY/ HOMEOSTASIS
- All living organisms respond to their environment and can maintain homeostasis.
- All organisms maintain stable internal conditions such as body temperature & water content
- Stable level of internal conditions called homeostasis
7. RESPONDSE TO THE ENVIRONMENT
TROPISM/RESPONSE
- The reaction of an organism to stimuli
SENSITIVITY/IRRITABILTY
- The ability of an organism to respond appropriately to a stimulus.
8. ADAPTATION
- Adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process that
fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness.
- Mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of
another species.
- Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment,
either by making animals or objects hard to see (crypsis), or by disguising them as something else
(mimesis).
9. GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Accretion
-The process of growth or increase, typically by the gradual accumulation of additional layers or
matter
Intussusceptions
- Growth exhibits by the living cells

LEVELS OF ORGANIZATIONS
 THE NATURE OF THE CELL

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

ROBERT HOOKE (1665)

➢ British scientist observed mass of tiny cavities from thin slices of cork with his self-made microscope.
➢ He named these structures “cells” since these structures reminded him of the small rooms in a monastery

ANTON VAN LEEUWENHOEK (1674)

➢ Dutch scientist made pioneering discoveries concerning protozoa, red blood cell, capillary systems, and the
life cycle of insects.
➢ He also perfected the construction of the compound microscope.

MATTHIAS SCHLEIDEN (1838)

➢ German botanist
➢ Formulated the plant cell theory (plants are composed of cells)
➢ Considered as father of botany

THEODORE SCHWANN (1839)

➢ German zoologist
➢ Formulated the animal cell theory (animals are composed of cells)
➢ Considered as father of zoology

RUDOLF VIRCHOW (1858)

➢ Australian pathologist concluded that all cells must come only from pre-existing cells.
➢ The three principles of modern cell theory evolved directly from Virchow’s statements.

THE CELL THEORY

1. Every living organism is made up of one or more cells,

2. All cells arise from pre-existing cells
3. Cell is the basic unit of organisms

COMMON FEATURES OF ALL CELLS

a. MOLECULAR COMPONENTS
• Proteins, amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, sugars, nucleotides, DNA and RNA
• All cells use DNA as a hereditary blueprint that stores the instructions for making other parts of the
cell and for producing new cells.
b. STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS
• Plasma membrane, cytoplasm and ribosomes
• Plasma membranes encloses the cell and mediates interaction between the cell and its environment
c. METABOLISM
• Extracts energy and nutrients from the environment; uses energy and nutrients to build, repair, and
replace cellular parts.
• Essentially all the energy powering life on earth originates in sunlight
•
CELL SIZE AND SHAPE
• Most cells are small, ranging from 1-100 micrometers
• Smallest cell, a bacterium known as mycoplasma, is 0.0001mm in diameter
• Largest cells are the nerve cells in a giraffe’s neck 3.0m in length
• In human, variety of sizes, from small red blood cells that measure 0.00076 mm to liver cells that maybe ten
times larger
• About 10,00 average sized human cells can fit on the head of a pin
• The shape of the cell is related to its functions:
o Long for contraction (muscle cell)
o With protoplasmic processes for conduction of impulses (nerve cell)
o Concave disc for distribution of oxygen (blood cell).
TYPES OF CELL

1. PROKARYOTIC CELLS
• (Greek words: pro- before; and karyon- nucleus)
• cells without a true nucleus
• characteristic of BACTERIA and ARCHAEANS
• Major features:
➢ Small and possess specialized surface features
• less than 5 micrometers long, with a simple Internal structure
• outer boundary is composed of stiff cell wall and plasma membrane, which shapes and protects the
bacterial cell
• Some bacteria can move, propelled by flagella (different from eukaryotic flagella)
• Surface features- help them adhere to specific host tissues. Include:
o Capsule and Slime Layers (polysaccharide coatings that some bacteria secrete outside their
cell walls)
o Pili and Fimbriae- proteins that project outward from the bacterial wall and help certain
infectious bacteria adhere to host tissues.
➢ Have fewer specialized structures within their cytoplasm
• Nucleoid- a region in the prokaryotic cell NOT separated from the rest of the cytoplasm by a
membrane. Contains a single, circular coiled chromosome consisting of DNA that carries all the
essential genetic information for the cell.
• Plasmids- small rings of DNA located outside the Nucleoid; usually carry genes that give the cell
special properties
• Lack nuclei and other membrane enclose organelles.
• Bacterial cytoplasm contains ribosomes, innumerable enzymes and food granules.
2. EUKARYOTIC CELLS
• (Greek words: EU- true; and karyon- nucleus)
• cells with true nucleus
• characteristic of PROTISTS (unicellular), FUNGI, PLANTS and ANIMALS (multicellular)
• Major features:
▪ usually larger than eukaryotic cells (typically more than 10 micrometers in diameter)
▪ outer membrane is composed of plasma membrane made up of phospholipid bilayer with
embedded proteins
▪ consists of plasma membrane, cytoplasm and a distinct nucleus
▪ nucleus is membrane-bounded containing multiple chromatin
▪ cytoplasm contains compartmentalized organelles.
 MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF EUKARYOTIC CELL

Structures in Plant and Animal Cells

1. PLASMA MEMBRANE- gatekeeper of the cell”

Structure of the Plasma Membrane

• called as the FLUID-MOSAIC MODEL was developed by cell biologists S.J. Singer and G.L Nicholson in 1972

o According to this model, a membrane, when viewed from above, looks something like a lumpy,
constantly shifting mosaic of tiles. A double layer of phospholipids forms a viscous, fluid grout” for
the mosaic; assorted proteins are the tiles, which can move about within the phospholipid layers.

o Thus, all the components within the plasma membrane remain relatively constant; the overall
distribution of proteins and various types of phospholipids can change over time.

• molecular bilayer of phospholipids and with the proteins arranged at random outer half, inner half of the
lipid or extend entirely through the bilayer.
o All the membranes of a cell have a similar basic structure: proteins floating in a double layer of lipids.
Lipids are responsible for the isolating functions of membranes, whereas proteins regulate the
exchange of substances and communication with the environment.

Prepared by:

Marc Joseph H. Canindo