Chapter 1

Biology and Its

Themes

Lecture Presentations by
Nicole Tunbridge and
© 2018 Pearson Education Ltd. Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Inquiring About Life

 An organism’s adaptations to its environment are the

result of evolution
 For example, the color of the beach mouse has come
to be well matched, or adapted, to its local
background
 Evolution is the process of change that has
transformed life on Earth

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 Biology is the scientific study of life
 Biologists ask questions, such as: How does a single
cell develop into an organism?
 Biology is a quest, an ongoing inquiry about the
nature of life
 Life defies a simple, one-sentence definition
 Life is recognized by what living things do

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Figure 1.2

Order

Regulation

Evolutionary Reproduction
adaptation

Response
Energy processing to the
environment
Growth
and development
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Concept 1.1: The study of life reveals unifying
themes
 Biology is a subject of enormous scope
 There are five unifying themes
 Organization
 Information
 Energy and Matter
 Interactions
 Evolution

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Theme: New Properties Emerge at Successive
Levels of Biological Organization
 Life can be studied at different levels, from
molecules to the entire living planet
 This enormous range can be divided into different
levels of biological organization

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Figure 1.3

7
1 The Tissues
Biosphere

2 6 Organs
Ecosystems

3 8
Communities 10 Cells
Mole-
5 cules
Organ-
isms
4
Populations

9 Organelles

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Emergent Properties

 Emergent properties result from the arrangement

and interaction of parts within a system
 Emergent properties characterize nonbiological
entities as well
 For example, a functioning bicycle emerges only when
all of the necessary parts connect in the correct way

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 The reductionist approach studies the isolated
components of the living system
 To explore emergent properties, biologists
complement reductionism with systems biology,
analysis of the interactions among the parts of a
biological system
 Systems biology can be used to study life at all
levels

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Structure and Function

 At each level of the biological hierarchy we find a

correlation between structure and function
 Analyzing a biological structure gives us clues about
what it does and how it works
 Conversely, knowing the function of something
provides insight into its structure and organization

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Figure 1.UN01

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The Cell: An Organism’s Basic Unit of Structure
and Function
 The cell is the smallest unit of organization that can
perform all activities required for life
 Every cell is enclosed by a membrane that regulates
passage of materials between the cell and its
environment
 The cells of bacteria and archaea are prokaryotic,
while all other forms of life are composed of
eukaryotic cells

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 A eukaryotic cell has membrane-enclosed
organelles, the largest of which is usually the
nucleus
 By comparison, a prokaryotic cell is simpler and
usually smaller and does not contain a nucleus or
other membrane-enclosed organelles

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Figure 1.4
Prokaryotic cell
DNA
Eukaryotic cell (no nucleus)
Membrane Membrane

Cytoplasm

Nucleus
(membrane-
enclosed)

Membrane- DNA (throughout

enclosed organelles nucleus) 1 μm
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Theme: Life’s Processes Involve the Expression
and Transmission of Genetic Information
 Within cells, structures called chromosomes contain
genetic material in the form of DNA
(deoxyribonucleic acid)

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Figure 1.5

10 μm
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DNA, the Genetic Material

 Each chromosome contains one long DNA molecule

with hundreds or thousands of genes
 Genes are the units of inheritance
 They encode information for building the molecules
synthesized within the cell
 The genetic information encoded by DNA directs the
development of an organism

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Figure 1.6

Nuclei containing DNA

Sperm cell

Egg
cell

Fertilized egg
with DNA from
both parents Embryo’s cells
with copies of
inherited DNA
Offspring with
traits inherited
from both parents

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 The molecular structure of DNA accounts for its
ability to store information
 Each DNA molecule is made up of two long chains
arranged in a double helix
 Each chain is made up of four kinds of chemical
building blocks called nucleotides and abbreviated
A, G, C, and T

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Figure 1.7

A
Nucleus C
DNA Nucleotide T
A
Cell T
A
C
C
G
T
A
G
T
A

(a) DNA double helix (b) Single strand of DNA

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 For many genes, the sequence provides the
blueprint for making a protein
 Protein-encoding genes control protein production
indirectly
 DNA is transcribed into RNA, which is then
translated into a protein
 Gene expression is the process of converting
information from gene to cellular product

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Figure 1.8
(b) A lens cell uses information in DNA to make
crystallin.
Crystallin gene

(a) Lens cells are Lens

tightly packed cell A C C A A A C C G A G T
with transparent DNA
proteins called T G G T T T G G C T C A
crystallin.
TRANSCRIPTION

mRNA U G G U U U G G C U C A

TRANSLATION

Chain of amino
acids

PROTEIN FOLDING

Protein
Crystallin protein
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Genomics: Large-Scale Analysis of DNA
Sequences
 An organism’s genome is its entire “library” of
genetic instructions
 Genomics is the study of sets of genes in one or
more species
 Proteomics is the study of whole sets of proteins
and their properties
 The entire set of proteins expressed by a given cell,
tissue, or organ is called a proteome

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 The genomics approach depends on
 “High-throughput” technology, which yields enormous
amounts of data
 Bioinformatics, which is the use of computational
tools to process a large volume of data
 Interdisciplinary research teams

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Theme: Life Requires the Transfer and
Transformation of Energy and Matter
 The input of energy from the sun and the
transformation of energy from one form to another
make life possible
 The chemical energy generated by plants and other
photosynthetic organisms (producers) is passed
along to consumers
 Consumers are organisms that feed on other
organisms or their remains

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Figure 1.9

ENERGY FLOW

Chemicals
pass to
organisms
that eat the
plants.

Light Plants
energy convert Heat is lost
comes sunlight to from the
from the chemical ecosystem.
sun. energy. Organisms use
chemical energy to
do work.
Decomposers
Plants take up return
chemicals from chemicals to
the soil and air. the soil.

Chemicals

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 When organisms use energy to perform work, some
energy is lost to the surroundings as heat
 As a result, energy flows through an ecosystem,
usually entering as light and exiting as heat
 Chemicals cycle within an ecosystem, where they
are used and then recycled

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Theme: From Molecules to Ecosystems,
Interactions Are Important in Biological
Systems
 Interactions between the components of the system
ensure smooth integration of all the parts
 This holds true equally well for components of an
ecosystem and the molecules in a cell

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Molecules: Interactions Within Organisms

 Interactions between components—organs, tissues,

cells, and molecules—that make up living organisms
are crucial to their smooth operation
 Many biological processes can self-regulate through
a mechanism called feedback

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 In feedback regulation, the output, or product of a
process, regulates that very process
 The most common form of regulation in living
organisms is negative feedback, in which the
response reduces the initial stimulus
 A less common form of regulation is positive
feedback, in which an end product speeds up its
own production

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Figure 1.10

Insulin-producing Glucose
cell in pancreas in blood
Insulin
1 High blood glucose stimulates the
pancreas to secrete insulin.

2 Insulin circulates throughout the

Negative feedback

body.

3 Insulin binds to body cells,

causing them to take up glucose
and liver cells to store glucose.

4 Lowered blood glucose does not

stimulate insulin secretion.

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Animation: Negative Feedback

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Animation: Positive Feedback

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Ecosystems: An Organism’s Interactions with
Other Organisms and the Physical Environment
 At the ecosystem level, each organism interacts with
other organisms
 These interactions may be beneficial or harmful to
one or both of the organisms
 Organisms also interact continuously with the
physical factors in their environment, and the
environment is affected by the organisms living there

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Figure 1.11

Sunlight

Leaves absorb light Leaves take in

energy from the sun. CO2 carbon dioxide
from the air and
release oxygen.
O2

Leaves fall to the

ground and are
decomposed by
organisms that
return minerals
to the soil.

Water and
minerals in Animals eat leaves
the soil are and fruit from the
taken up by tree, returning
the tree nutrients and
through its minerals to the
roots. soil in their waste
products.
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 Each organism interacts continuously with physical
factors in its environment
 Humans interact with our environment, sometimes
with dire consequences
 Over the past 150 years, humans have greatly
increased the burning of fossil fuels and the release
of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere
 The resulting global warming is just one aspect of
climate change

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 Wind and precipitation patterns are also shifting
 Extreme weather events such as storms and
droughts are occurring more often
 As habitats deteriorate, plant and animal species
shift their ranges to more suitable locations
 Populations of many species are shrinking in size or
even disappearing

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Concept 1.2: The Core Theme: Evolution
accounts for the unity and diversity of life
 Evolution is the one idea that makes logical sense of
everything we know about living organisms
 The scientific explanation for both the unity and
diversity of organisms is evolution, the concept that
living organisms are modified descendants of
common ancestors
 An abundance of evidence supports the occurrence
of evolution

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Classifying the Diversity of Life

 Approximately 1.8 million species have been

identified and named to date
 Each species is given a two-part name: The genus,
to which the species belongs, and a species name
unique to that species
 E.g., Homo sapiens, the name of our species
 Estimates of the total number of species that actually
exist range from 10 million to over 100 million

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The Three Domains of Life

 Organisms are currently divided into three domains,

named Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya
 The prokaryotes include the domains Bacteria and
Archaea

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 Domain Eukarya includes all eukaryotic organisms
 Domain Eukarya includes the protists and three
kingdoms
 Plants, which produce their own food by
photosynthesis
 Fungi, which absorb nutrients
 Animals, which ingest their food

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 The most numerous and diverse eukaryotes are the
protists
 These are mostly single-celled organisms
 They are classified into several groups
 Some protists are less closely related to other
protists than they are to plants, animals, or fungi

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Figure 1.13

(a) Domain Bacteria (b) Domain Archaea

2 µm
2 µm
(c) Domain Eukarya
Kingdom
Animalia

100 µm

Kingdom
Plantae

Kingdom
Fungi Protists

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Unity in the Diversity of Life

 A striking unity underlies the diversity of life; for

example,
 DNA is the universal genetic language common to all
organisms
 Unity is evident in many features of cell structure
 The history of life as documented by fossils and
other evidence is the saga of a changing Earth,
billions of years old

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Figure 1.14

5 μm

15 μm

Cilia of Paramecium Cilia of windpipe

cells
0.1 μm
Cross section of a cilium

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Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural
Selection
 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species
by Means of Natural Selection in 1859
 Darwin made two main points
 Species showed evidence of “descent with
modification” from common ancestors
 “Natural selection” is the mechanism behind descent
with modification
 Darwin’s theory explained the duality of unity and
diversity

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Figure 1.16

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Figure 1.17
Red-shouldered hawk

American flamingo

European
robin

Gentoo penguin
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 Darwin observed that
 Individuals in a population vary in their traits, many of
which seem to be heritable
 More offspring are produced than survive, and
competition is inevitable
 Species generally suit their environment

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 Darwin reasoned that
 Individuals that are best suited to their environment
are more likely to survive and reproduce
 Over time, more individuals in a population will have
the advantageous traits
 Evolution occurs as the unequal reproductive
success of individuals

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 The natural environment “selects” for the
propagation of beneficial traits
 Darwin called this process natural selection

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Figure 1.18_4

1 Population 2 Elimination 3 Reproduction 4 Increased

with varied of individuals of survivors frequency
inherited with certain of traits that
traits traits enhance
survival

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 Natural selection results in the adaptation of
organisms to the circumstances of their way of life
and their environment
 For example, bat wings are an example of
adaptation

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Figure 1.19

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The Tree of Life

 The shared anatomy of mammalian limbs reflects

the inheritance of the limb structure from a common
ancestor
 Fossils provide additional evidence of anatomical
unity from descent with modification

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 Darwin proposed that natural selection could cause
an ancestral species to give rise to two or more
descendent species
 For example, the finch species of the Galápagos
Islands are descended from a common ancestor
 Evolutionary relationships are often illustrated with
treelike diagrams that show ancestors and their
descendants

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Figure 1.20

Green warbler finch

Certhidea olivacea
(insect-eater)

Vegetarian finch
ANCESTRAL
Platyspiza crassirostris
FINCH
(fruit-eater)

Woodpecker finch
Camarhynchus pallidus
(insect-eater)
Small tree finch
Branch point Camarhynchus parvulus
(insect-eater)

Common cactus finch

Geospiza scandens
Common ancestor (cactus-eater)
of finches in genera
Camarhynchus and Large ground finch
Geospiza Geospiza
magnirostris
(seed-eater)
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