1.

1 Introduction to Cells
Essential Idea: The evolution of multicellular organisms allowed cell
specialization and cell replacement.

300 Years Ago

-People used simple compound microscopes
-Anton van Leeuwenhoek: made first models of microscopes
-Robert Hook: examined a cork under a microscope, and named them
cellulae
-Mattias Schleiden: concluded all plant parts consisted of cells
-Theodor Schwann: concluded animals are made of cells
-Robert Virchow: proposed that all living cells come from other cells (radical
idea, people believed in spontaneous generation)
-Louis Pasteur: experimented to disprove spontaneous generation

Cell Theory
-All living things are made of cells
-Cells are the smallest (basic) structural/functional unit of life
-All cells come from pre-existing cells
-Cells contain hereditary information which is passed from one generation to
another

Molecules-1nm
Virus-100nm
Cell membrane thickness-10nm
Bacteria-1um

Organelles-up to 10um
Cells-up to 100um

-Generally, plant cells are larger than animal cells

Light Microscope
-Easiest to use, 2 lenses
-Magnification: enlargement of an object
-Resolution: ability to see 2 adjacent points as separate

Electron Microscope
-Instead of using light it uses a beam of electrons (since electron beam uses
smaller wavelength, should be more sensitive than white light compound
microscope)
-Instead of using light and lenses, it uses an electron beam and magnetic
field for focusing
-Much higher resolution and magnification than light microscope
-Expensive, complicated, needs a lot of electricity and specialized tools

2 Main Types:
-Scanning: shows 3D structure (surface) of samples
-Transmission: more like light microscope, beam goes through specimen to
see interior

Resolution
-human eye: 0.1mm
-light microscope: 0.0002mm
-electron microscope: 0.000001mm (1nm)

Questioning the Cell Theory

Cells vary in size and shape, but they share certain characteristics:
-All cells are surrounded by a membrane
-separates cells contents from surroundings

-All cells contain genetic material which has all the instructions for the cells
activities
-e.g: chemical reactions catalyzed by enzymes produced by the cell
-All cells have some sort of process that releases energy to power the cells
activities

Some atypical examples that call into question the cell theory:
Striated muscle:
-Involved in the movement of body parts
-Made up of tissue fibres that dont resemble normal cells
-much larger than most animal cells (30mm in humans vs. 0.03mm of
other human cells)
-have many nuclei (as many as several 100!)

Giant algae:
-Photosynthetic organisms, but simpler than most terrestrial plants
-Numerous kinds of unicellular algae are found in oceans
-they form basis of most marine food chains, but these are usually
microscopic and very simple

-Giant algae can grow up to 100mm in length, but are still unicellular!
-e.g: Acetabularia acetabulum

Fungi:
-Made up of fibres or thread-like structures called hyphae
-have cell membrane that is surrounded by cell wall
-Some fungi have hyphae that are divided into separate cell-like sections by
walls called septa
-In aseptate fungi, hyphae dont have septa (walls)
-instead the hyphae are continuous tubes with multiple nuclei

Unicellular Organisms
-Earliest life forms are protists (e.g: bacteria)
-single celled, but can still carry out functions of all living things:

Metabolism: includes respiration

Response: reacts to change in environment
Homeostasis: able to maintain and regulate internal conditions
Growth: increase in size and volume
Reproduction: in unicellular organisms this is cell division
Nutrition: synthesis of organic molecules (photosynthetic) or
absorption of organic matter (if unicellular)

Limits to cell size

-Homeostasis largely depends on movement of materials in/out of organism
-e.g: exchange of food
-This is especially true in cells
-Rate of exchange depends on a cells surface area in contact with the
surroundings
-All materials are exchanged through the cell membrane
-as cell size increases, SA of membrane also increases to allow for more
transport of materials

-However, bigger cells also require more nutrients, produce more waste
(things like the rate of waste production, heat production, resource
consumption depends on cells volume)
-However, the rate of exchange of materials and heat (energy) depends on
surface area
-Consider SA:V ratio of a cell (or a organism)
-As the cell size increases, SA:V ratio decreases, therefore the rate of
exchange decreases
-Square:
Length of side
1
2
3
4
5
8

SA
6
24
54
96
150
384

V
1
8
27
64
125
512

SA:V ratio
6:1
3:1
2:1
1.5:1
1.2:1
0.75:1

-Cells can only grow so large until it needs to divide, otherwise it cannot
maintain homeostasis
-Overall, the surface area to volume ratio limits cell size

Multicellular Organisms
-Organisms contain many cells, leading to complex interactions between all
these cells
-Multicellular organisms are said to show emergent properties, such as the
occurrence of characteristic or properties that arise from the interaction of
component parts (the whole is greater than the sum of its parts)
-Individual cells in a group can organize themselves and interact to form a
living organism with distinct properties
-eg: in organ systems, individual organs have their functions, but when
they work together they are more useful and important to the organism

-Cells dont all have to do the same things or many things

-Differentiation refers to the development of cells in different ways within a
multicellular organism

-specialization of cells for different functions

-All cells contain necessary genes to develop in any way (220 different types
in humans)
-When cells differentiate, only specific functions are turned on or expressed
to make particular protein or product (25000 genes in the human genome,
less than half is used in any given cell)
-different cells develop when genes are expressed in a certain sequence
-controlling gene expression key to the development of cells
-Once the cell has begun certain pathway of development, it usually cannot
change (committed)
-eg: in muscle cells, only genes needed to produce specific protein fibres
are expressed. Genes used for other cells like nerve cells arent used
-Specialized cells with the same function often form tissue
-Embryology is the study of the development of an embryo; involves how
cells become specialized

Stem Cells
-Stem cells is the name given to zygote and embryo cells
-Has not yet received signals to express certain genes and produce certain
proteins that will turn it into a certain cell type
-Can divide continuously to produce large quantities of new cells
-Can be obtained from human embryos, umbilical cord blood, and adult stem
cells
-Can be used to treat various conditions such as Parkinsons, leukemia

Therapeutic Cloning:
-The act of obtaining stem cells from adults and causing them to differentiate
-useful for treatment because they do not promote immune response
because it uses individuals own cells
-Can produce new tissue to treat burn victims, treat genetic diseases (type 1
diabetes: pancreatic cells malfunction; dont produce insulin, could use)
-embryonic stem cells can be used to make new pancreatic cells