GENERAL BIOLOGY 1

Course code: BIO 101

Credit units: 2

Instructor: Olukemi Aromolaran (Ph.D.)

Office: COAES Building, Room 36
Office hours: 8 am – 5 pm
 Recommended text
• Taylor, D.J., Green, N.P.O and Stout, G.W. (2010). Biological
Sciences. Cambridge University Press, 10th Edition, South
Africa.

• Jones, M., Fosbery, R., Gregory, J. and Taylor, D. (2014).

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology. Cambridge
University Press, 4th Edition, United Kingdom

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 Course Outline
Cell structure and organization

Characteristics of living things

Classification of living things

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Cell structure and
organization
Learning Objectives

At the end of the class, the students should

understand:
The biological cell,
The cell theory
Features of cells
Cell organelles and their functions

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 Introduction
• All living things are made up of cells

• Cells are composed of:

genetic material,
cytoplasm,
ribosomes
cell membrane

• Cell communicates with each other……..

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 Introduction
• Robert Hooke (1665) examined thin slices of the bark of plant
and he saw ‘pore like’ regular structures – ‘cella’.

• The cell looks like an empty box

surrounded by a wall.

Robert Hooke’s cells 7

The cell theory

• Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann found the cell

theory (1838):

1. All organisms are made up of cell.

2. Cell is the basic unit of structure and function of all
living organisms.

• Rudolf Virchow (1855) proposed the third theory:

3. All cells arise from pre-existing cells by cell division.

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 What is a cell?
• A bag - the chemistry of life,
separated from the outer environment
by a thin membrane.

• It is the fundamental unit (i.e. building block) of all living

organisms.

• A cell contains organelles which provide the necessary

functions to sustain itself.
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• Two categories a) Prokaryotes
b) Eukaryotes

Differences – nuclear membrane, genetic material, organelles, ribosomes, and

size.

Cytology - study of the structure and components of cell.

Cells can be study using microscope, such as the light and

electron microscopes

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 Plant cell 11
Image source: https://www.britannica.com/science/plant-cell
Animal cell
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Image source: https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/cells/bacteriacell.html
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 Bacteria cell

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Image source: https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/cells/bacteriacell.html
Common features in animal and plant cells
Small structures within the cell - organelles:

• Cell membrane Cytoplasm

• Nucleus Mitochondria
• Golgi bodies Vacuole
• Endoplasmic reticulum Ribosomes
• Cytoskeletons

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Differences - animal and plant cells
oStructures commonly found in animal cells but ABSENT in
plant cells - centriole, microvilli.

oPlant cells possess cell walls, large permanent vacuoles and

chloroplasts.

Cell wall and plasmodesmata

• Cell wall gives the definite shape.

• Prevents bursting during osmosis.

• Plant cells are linked to one another by plasmodesmata

(singular: plasmodesma)
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Vacuoles
• Plant cells often possess a large,
central vacuole, surrounded by a
tonoplast.

• The fluid in the vacuole contain pigments, enzymes, sugars,

organic compounds, mineral salts, oxygen and carbon dioxide.

• Vacuoles - regulate the osmotic pressure within the cell.

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Chloroplasts
• Found in the green parts of the plant.

• Contains the chlorophyll (green pigment which absorbs light

during photosynthesis).

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 Structures and
functions of organelles
 Nucleus
• The largest cell organelle surrounded by two membranes (nuclear
envelope).

• The outer membrane of the nuclear envelope is continuous with the

endoplasmic reticulum.

• The nuclear envelope has many small pores called nuclear pores for
exchange of materials between the nucleus and the cytoplasm
(mRNA, ribosomes, nucleotides, ATP, thyroid hormone T3).

• Chromosomes are loosely coiled (chromatin) within the nucleus.

• Chromosomes contain DNA, which is organized into functional units

called genes.

• Genes control the activities of the cell and inheritance -the nucleus
controls all the activities in the cell.
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• The nucleus divide first prior cell division.

• The nucleolus use the information in its own DNA to make ribosomes.

Nucleus
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Image source: https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/cells/nucleus/nucleus.html
Endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes
• The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a tubular network of
membranes that extends through the cytoplasm.

• Interconnected to form the

reticulum.

• The ER is continuous with the

outer membrane of the nuclear
envelope.

Image source: https://www.britannica.com/science/plant-cell

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• ER can be rough ER or smooth ER.

• Rough ER is covered with many tiny organelles called

ribosomes.

• Ribosomes (about 25 nm) are the sites for protein synthesis.

• Ribosomes are found freely in the cytoplasm as well as on

the rough ER.

• They are made of RNA (ribonucleic acid) and protein.

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• Proteins on the rough ER enter the sacs and move through
them.

• Small sacs called vesicles can break off from the ER and
these can join together to form the Golgi body.

• Smooth ER do not have ribosomes attached to it.

• The ER serves for storage, synthesis of protein and

metabolism of lipids.

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Golgi body (Golgi apparatus/complex)
• The Golgi body is a stack of flattened sacs, may be more than
one in a cell.

• The stack is formed at one end from vesicles which bud off
from the ER.

• The stack of sacs together with the associated vesicles is

referred to as the Golgi apparatus or Golgi complex.

• The Golgi body collects (e.g. protein) from the rough ER and
transport it via the Golgi vesicles to other parts of the cell or
out of the cell (secretion).
- For example, Golgi body add sugars to protein to make – glycoprotein; removes the
amino acid methionine from newly formed proteins to make a functioning protein.
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• In plants, enzymes in the Golgi body convert sugars into cell wall
components.

• Golgi vesicles are also used to

make lysosomes

Golgi apparatus
Image source: https://www.britannica.com/science/plant-cell
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 Lysosomes
• They are spherical sacs, surrounded by a membrane layer
(about 0.1– 0.5 μm).

• Lysosomes breakdown (digestion) unwanted materials

(e.g. old organelles).

• Forms phagolysosome in white blood

cells to digest pathogens.

• Also, sperm cell contain acrosome

(a kind of lysosome),for digesting a
path to the ovum.
Lysosome 27
 Mitochondria
• The mitochondria (0.75 – 3 µm) often appear as oval-shaped,
surrounded by two membranes.

• It is the power houses of the cell.

• It generate the energy currency of the cell (adenosine

triphosphate); also in signaling between cells and cell death
(apoptosis).

• The inner membrane is folded to form finger-like cristae and an

interspace between the two membranes.

• The number of mitochondria in a cell is dependent on the

energy demand (liver - >2,000; RBC - none).
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ATP is produced in the mitochondria (via Kreb’s cycle).

Mitochondrion
Image source: https://byjus.com/biology/mitochondria/ 29
Cell membrane
A semi-permeable thin layer that surrounds the cytoplasm
of a cell.

• Functions of the cell membrane

- Mechanical barrier (protects the contents of the cell).

- Selectively permeable (controls the movement of substances).

- Transportation of materials (transportation of nutrients and waste

products).

- Signaling and receptor site (cell to cell communication).

- Some metabolic activity (e.g. respiration, secretion, absorption). 30

 Fluid mosaic structure of the membrane
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Image source: https://www.bing.com/th?id=OIP.QhUXn0t2ZYxH8OXwQRp0bQHaDP&w=299&h=131&c=7&o=5&pid=1.7
 Microvilli (only in animal cell)

• Microvilli (singular: microvillus) - finger-like extensions of the

cell surface membrane.

• To increase the surface area of the cell surface membrane

(absorption in the gut; reabsorption in the proximal convoluted tubules of the kidney).

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Microtubules and microtubule organizing
centres (MTOCs)
• Microtubules - long, rigid, hollow tubes (25 nm).

• Microtubules are made of a protein called tubulin.

• Microtubules + actin filaments + intermediate filaments =

cytoskeleton.

• The cytoskeleton determines the cell’s shape.

• Membrane bound organelles are held in place by the cytoskeleton.

• The microtubules form part of the structure of centrioles.

• The MTOCs controls the assembly of microtubules from tubulin 33
molecules