KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY (KAU)

FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DEPTARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

General Biology
Bio 110

Chapter 1
CONTENTS

Part 1 Life on Earth: An Overview Chapter 1

PART II Chemistry of Life
a. Basic Chemistry Chapter 2

b. Chemistry of Organic Molecules Chapter 3

PART III The Cell
a. Cell Structure and Function Chapter 4
b. Membrane Structure and Function Chapter 5
CONTENTS: Con.
PART IV The Diversity of Life Chapter 6
PART V Microbiology Chapter 7
PART VI Plant Chapter 8
PART VII Animal Chapter 9
PART IX Genetics Basic of Life
a. Cell Cycle and Genetic Disorders. Chapter 11
b. Classical Genetics and Modern Chapter 12
Biotechnology.
 Part 1.1

1.1 LIFE ON EARTH

An Overview
PART I: LIFE ON EARTH: An Overview

1.1 HOW TO DEFINE LIFE

• a. Life is Plentiful and Diverse
• b. Levels of Biological Organization
• c. Acquirement of Materials and Energy and Homeostasis
• d. Behavior of Living Things
• e. Reproduction of Living Things
1.2 Adaptation and biodiversity of Living Things
• a. Organizing Diversity
1. Domains
2. Scientific Name
• b. Natural Selection
• c. Biodiversity
1.1 How to Define Life

a. Life is Plentiful and Diverse:

 Organisms or living things behave in ways different from those of
humans:
 Some frogs swallow their embryos and give birth to them later
by throwing them up !!
 Some sharks kill and eat their siblings while they are still
inside their mother !!
 Some bacteria's life is 15 minutes, while some pine trees
outlive as long as ten generations of humans !!

Stomach of undelivered shark is swollen due to consumption of eggs

New born frog is given birth while still in the body of the mother
by being thrown by mother
Cont.
 Living things (organisms) as well as non-living things are
composed of chemical elements and obey the same universe
laws of chemistry and physics of life (Figure 1.1).
 Organisms can be distinguished by how they get their food:
 Fungus digests its food externally by absorption.
 Sunflower, a photosynthetic plant, makes its own food.
 Snow goose, an animal, ingests its food.

Figure 1.1 Diversity of life on Planet Earth.

b. Levels of Biological Organization, Moving up the
Hierarchy:
 Begin with atoms, the basic units of matter (Figure 1.2).
 Atoms combine with other atoms to form molecules.
 The cell, composed of a variety of molecules, is the basic unit of
structure and function of all living things.
 Some cells are unicellular (ex. Paramecia) and many are
multicellular, in which similar cells combine to form a tissue.

Source:
http://easysn.wikispaces.com/file/view/levels_of_organization_01.jpg/494435566/levels_of_organization_01.jpg
Cont.
Tissues make up organs, as when various tissues
combine to form the brain.
 Organs work together in systems; the brain works with
the spinal cord and a network of nerves to form the
nervous system.
 Organ systems are joined together to form a complete
organism, such as an elephant.
 All the members of one species in a particular area
belong to a population.
 The population of various animals and plants in the
forest makes up a community, which interacts with the
physical environment and forms an ecosystem.
Finally, all the Earth’s ecosystems make up the
biosphere
Level of Biological Organization:

Figure 1.2 Levels of biological organization.

c. Acquirement of Materials and Energy and Homeostasis:

- Food provides nutrients, which are used as building blocks or for

energy (Figure 1.3).
 Energy is the capacity to do work. When cells take nutrient
molecules, they carry out a sequence of chemical reactions
through metabolism.
 The ultimate source of
energy for all life on
Earth is the sun.
 Plants and certain
other organisms can
capture solar energy
and carry-on
photosynthesis, eg.,
transform solar energy
into the chemical
energy. Figure 1.3
Cont..
 Organism’s ability to maintain a state of biological balance is
called homeostasis.

 For life to continue,

temperature, moisture
level, acidity and other
physiological factors must
remain within the
tolerance range of the
organism.
 Control mechanism; eg.,
when you forget to eat,
your liver releases stored
sugar to keep blood sugar
levels within normal limits. Figure 1.3
d. Behavior of Living Things:

 Multicellular, rather than unicellular organisms, can

manage more complex responses.
 The ability to respond often results in movement; eg.,
 Leaves of a plant turn toward the sun.
 These activities are termed behavior of the organism
to maintain homeostasis and search and compete for:
 Energy
 Nutrients
 Shelter
 Mates
e. Reproduction of Living Things:

 Life comes only from life.

 Every type of living thing can reproduce; make another organism like
itself (Figure 1.4).
 Bacteria and protists split in two. Most multicellular organisms
reproduce by pairing of a sperm from one partner and an egg from the
other partner to form an embryo.

 Then, many cell divisions take place

and organism grows to become an
adult.
 When living things reproduce, their
genes are passed on to the next
generation. DNA, over time, also
undergoes mutations (changes) that
may be passed on to the next
generation. These events help to
Figure 1.4 Penguins with their
create diversity of life. offspring.
 Part 1.2

1.2 Adaptation and Biodiversity of

Living Things
1.2 Adaptation and Biodiversity of Living Things

Adaptation is the modifications that make organisms

better able to function in a particular environment, ex.:
 Penguins are adapted to an aquatic existence by
an extra layer of short, thick feathers that form a
waterproof coat.
 They also slide on their bellies across the snow in
order to conserve energy when moving quickly.
- The unity of living things suggests that they are descended from a common ancestor—the
first cell (Figure 1.5).

Figure 1.5 Evolutionary tree of life.

a. Organizing Diversity:

 Taxonomy is the discipline of identifying and grouping organisms

according to certain rules.
 Several of the basic classification categories, or taxa going from
least to most inclusive are species, genus, family, order, class,
phylum, kingdom and domain (Table 1.1).

 Species is defined as a
TABLE 1.1
group of interbreeding
individuals.
 Species placed within one
genus share many specific
characteristics and are the
most closely related, while
species placed in the same
Family share only general
characteristics.
 a. Organizing Diversity (continued)

I. Domain
Biochemical evidence suggests that there are only three domains:
1- Bacteria (Figure 1,6) 2- Archaea (Figure 1.7). 3- Eukarya

 Both domains Bacteria and Archaea are evolved from the

first common ancestor soon after life began.
 They are prokaryotes, which lack the membrane-bounded
nucleus found in the eukaryotes of domain Eukarya.
 Archaea cell walls & membranes are chemically more
similar to eukaryotes than bacteria.

Figure 1.7 Domain Archaea.

Figure 1.6 Domain Bacteria.
Cont.

 Bacteria are variously adapted to living almost anywhere—in the

water, soil and atmosphere, as well as on our skin and in our
mouths and large intestines.
 Archaea can live in aquatic environments that lack oxygen or are
too salty, too hot, or too acidic for most other organisms, perhaps
Archaea are the least evolved forms of life. (Figure1.8)

Figure 1. 8 Domain Archaea ( extreme

environment)
Domain Eukarya:

Domain Eukarya contains four

major groups of organisms:
A- Protists, range from
unicellular (Figure1.9a) to a
multicellular forms. Some are
photosynthesizing, ex. algae.
B- Fungi, the familiar molds Figure 1.9 a Domain Eukarya.

and mushrooms that help

decompose dead organisms
(Figure 1.9b).
C- Plants, multicellular
photosynthetic organisms.
D- Animals, multicellular
organisms that must ingest Figure 1.9 b Domain Eukarya.
and process their food.
II. Scientific Name :

 Biologists use binomial nomenclature to assign each living thing;

a two-part name called a scientific name.

 The first word is the genus, and the second word is the specific
epithet of a species within a genus. The genus may be
abbreviated (e.g., P. tomentosum stand for Phoradendron
tomentosum).

 The species may simply be indicated if it is unknown (e.g.,

Phoradendron sp.).

 Scientific names are based on Latin and are written in italic order.
 b. Natural Selection:

Natural selection is the process that made modification, or

adaptation, possible, where some aspect of the environment selects
which traits to be passed on to the next generation

 Figure 1.9 shows how the dietary habits of

deer affect the characteristics of the leaves
of a particular land plant; though mutations.
How?
 A plant species generally produces smooth
leaves, but an advantageous mutation
occurs to cause one plant to have hairy
leaves, while the deer (the selective agent)
prefer to eat smooth leaves.
 Then, the plant with hairy leaves survives
best and produces more seeds than most of
its neighbors.
Figure 1.9 Natural selection.
c. Biodiversity:

 Biodiversity is the total number and relative abundance of

species, the variability of their genes and the different
ecosystems in which they live.
 The present biodiversity of our planet has been estimated to be
as high as 15 million species and so far, less than 2 million have
been identified and named.
 Extinction is the death of a species or larger classification
category. It is estimated that presently we are losing as many as
400 species per day due to human activities.
 For example, several species of fishes disappeared from the
coral reefs of Indonesia and along the African coast because of
overfishing. The last mass extinction, about 65 million years ago,
caused many plant and animal species, including the dinosaurs,
to become extinct.
 It would seem that the primary bioethical issue of our time is the
preservation of ecosystems.
Thank you