Cell Biology (Cytology) + Molecular Biology

q Cytology - study of cell structure and function

q Molecular Biology - studies properties of organisms through
the structure of its constituent molecules.
q Cell & Molecular Biology is about energy and activity,
movement and change, action and reaction.
It is a core knowledge area of biology...
... needed to understand cells as the unit of life
... to learn those properties common to all cells

a guesstimate :
10 million to 100 million different species of organisms and each species has many different
types of cells…… adult human body has some 60 trillion total cells...
……. the human body has about 200 different kinds of cells,

CMB asks... what do all these cells have in common?

the answer = "their molecules & chemical reactivity"

q Robert Hooke (1665) - “cell”

q Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1680) - “animalcules”
q Matthias Schleiden (1838) - plant cells
q Theodor Schwann (1839) - animal cells
q Rudolf Virchow (1855) - cell theory (3rd tenet)
q Gregor Mendel (1865) - genetic “factors”
q Walther Flemming (1879) - mitosis and chromosomes
q Thomas Morgan (1911) - chromosome mapping
q Ernts Ruska (1931) - electron microscope
q Barbara McLintock (1944) - jumping genes (transposons)
q George Gey (1951) - Hela cells
q James Watson/Francis Crick (1953) - DNA helix structure
q Arthur Kornberg (1955) - DNA polymerase
q Stanley Cohen/Herbert Boyer (1972) - Recombinant DNA
q Phillip Sharp/Richard Roberts (1977) - introns/exons
q Roslin Institute, UK (1997) - “Dolly” (cloned sheep)

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 q Exhibits LIFE
q High degree of complexity and organization
Cells organelles molecules atoms

q Possess a genetic program q Capable of reproduction

• Genes - blueprints of cell

structure and functions.
• Genetic material can mutate –
variability and evolution

q Capable of acquiring and utilizing energy q Cells undergo metabolism

q Cells engage in mechanical
activities
q Cells respond to stimuli
• With receptors (bind hormones,
growth factors, etc)
• Apoptosis, cell division, altered
Ulothrix metabolism, movement
q Cells are capable of self-
regulation
• Mitosis checkpoints
• Proof-reading during DNA Development of sea urchin
synthesis embryo (Hans Driesch)

Volvox

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q Prokaryotic cells
• Bacteria
q Eukaryotic cells
• Protists
• Fungi
• Plants
• Animals
q Similar construction of plasma membrane
q Common code of genetic material
q Similar pattern of gene expression
q Shared metabolic pathways
q Shared apparatus for conservation of
chemical energy as ATP
q Similar mechanism of photosynthesis
q Similar construction of proteasome
q Oldest known filamentous cyanobacteria
q 3.5 Billion years old
q Found in Western Australia
q Division of cells into nucleus and
cytoplasm (nuclear envelope with pores)
q Packaging of genetic material into
chromosomes
q With endomembrane systems
q Specialized cytoplasmic organelles for
aerobic respiration and photosynthesis
q Complex cytoskeletal system
q Ability to endocytose and phagocytose
q Cell walls with cellulose (plants)
q Cell division using microtubule-
containing spindle that separates
chromosomes
q Diploidy
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 Human Sperm Cells

Salmonella

q Archaea (Archaebacteria)
q Bacteria (Eubacteria)
q Bacteria are present in every conceivable habitat on earth
(Antarctic ice shelf, driest African deserts, internal confines
Archaea (archaeons or archaebacteria)
of plants & animals, rock layers several km deep)
• groups of primitive bacteria (related DNA sequences)
• closest relatives of first cells;
Example: Mycoplasma - smallest living cells (0.2 µm dia);
• live in extremely inhospitable environments (extremophiles)
Cyanobacteria (formerly blue-green algae)
A. Methanogens - capable of converting CO2 & H2 gases
q Some do N2 fixation - convert N2 gas into reduced nitrogen
into methane (CH4) gas
forms (e.g. NH3) used to make amino acids & nucleotides
B. Halophiles - live in extremely salty environments (Dead
Sea & Great Salt Lake)
q Those species capable of both photosynthesis & nitrogen
C. Acidophiles – acid-loving prokaryotes that live at pHs as
fixation survive on barest resources – light, N2, CO2, H2O
low as 0
D. Thermophiles - live at very high temperatures
Example: Cyanobacteria (first to colonize bare rocks left
*Hyperthermophiles (ex.: Pyrolobus fumaril) - live in
lifeless by volcano)
hydrothermal vents of ocean floor; reproduce at
temperatures above 109°C & won't grow below 90°C

Cell Differentiation
q Unicellular eukaryotes
• Protists
• Example: Vorticella (most
complex eukaryotic cells)

q Multicellular eukaryotes
• Protists, Fungi, Plants,Animals
• Undergo tissues differentiation
• Division of labor

Slime mold

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 Arabidosis thaliana Caenorhabditis elegans Mus musculus

120 Mb 100 Mb 3000 Mb

Rapid generation time ~1000 cells (defined no.)
Large seed production Precise pattern of cell div.
Small genome Transparent body
Short generation time
Same organelles but different in number, shape and distribution Facility for genetic anal.
Easy to breed and handle
Availability of no. of strains
Athymic/nude mice present

q Most genes exists only in 2

copies limiting the number
of mRNA synthesized. q Ostrich egg & others
Larger volume requires little living protoplasm spread over top of lots
longer synthesis time. of inert yolk nutrient
q With small size, the surface
area / volume ratio is q Giraffe (and other large animal) nerve cells
greater. Surface area is
very long but very small diameter
involve in the exchange of
substances with the
environment. q Plant cell interior filled with large fluid-filled
q With small size, distance
vacuole;
from cell surface to interior
is shorter resulting in short q Intestinal epithelium specialized for absorption
diffusion time of molecules. with microvilli to increase surface area

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 q Pathogens smaller and simpler than
smallest bacteria

q First identified in late 1800’s in tobacco

plants (now called tobacco mosaic
virus or TMB)

q TMB first crystallized in 1935 by Wendell

Stanley (rod shaped particle)

q Viruses responsible for many human

diseases, some cancers (AIDS,
polio, influenza, cold sores, measles, a
few types of cancers)

q come in different shapes, sizes &

constructions

q Obligatory intracellular
parasite q Lytic infection
q Living only when inside a
living cell q virus usually arrests
normal host activities
q Exist as virion outside a host
q redirects cell to make
q genetic material HIV new viral nucleic acids &
(single/double stranded DNA proteins that self-assemble
or RNA)
into new virions
q Genetic material surrounded
by protein capsule (capsid) q cell lyses to release new
viral particles & infect
q Viral & host protein interaction neighboring cells
determines virus specificity
(GP 120 and CD4 of WBC) q Bacteriophage
Bacteriophage Adenovirus

Formation of provirus q Research tool to study host DNA replication/gene

q integrates its DNA into host expression
DNA, but no immediate q Pest control (Insect-killing viruses)
host cell death
q up to 1% of human DNA is DNA q Used to introduce foreign genes into human cells as
from proviruses treatment (gene therapy)
q bacterial cells with provirus behave
normally until exposed to some
stimulus (bacterial lambda (l) virus)
q animal cells with provirus may
make new viruses by cell surface
budding without lysis (HIV)
q animal cells with provirus may
lose growth & division
control -> malignant (tumor
viruses)

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 q Discovered by T. O. Diener (1971) - an agent causing potato spindle- q Recombinant DNA Technology
tuber disease (potatoes get gnarled and cracked)
q Recombinant protein Expression
q Infectious agent was small circular RNA lacking protein coat (viroids)
q Viroid traits:
q Microarray
-RNAs range from about 240 to 600 nucleotides (10% size of smaller q Agarose Gel Electrophoresis
viruses)
- No evidence that RNA codes for proteins; viroids use host enzymes q SDS-PAGE
& proteins completely q Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Example: duplication of viroid RNA in infected cell uses host RNA
polymerase II q Immunoassays (Western Blot, ELISA etc.)
q May cause disease by interfering with cell's normal path of gene q Site Directed Mutagenesis
expression (e. g. monopolize RNA polymerase II to duplicate viroid
RNA) q Cell / Tissue Culture
q Viroid diseases can have serious effects on crops q Chromatography
- Cadang-cadang viroids of coconut palms (Philippines)
- chrysanthemum viroid (U. S.)
q Microscopy
q Ultracentrifugation

• Totipotent Stem Cells

• CD34+ cells – Can differentiate into any cell type in the body plus the placenta
• Ability to differentiate into any – Zygote and its first few daughter cells (32 cell stage)
type of cells • Pleuripotent Stem Cells
• First found in mammalian – Descendants of totipotent stem cells
embryo in liver then spleen – Develop up to four days after fertilization (human embryo)
– Can differentiate into any cell except totipotent cells
• Less than 0.1% of all cells in
the adult bone marrow • Multipotent Stem Cells
– Descendants of the pleuripotent stem cells and antecedents of specialized
• Limited proliferative capacity progenator cells
(to maintain the population) – Give rise to a family of related cells
• Promising therapeutic potential – Ex: Hematopoietic stem cells and neural stem cells
• Unipotent Stem Cells (Progenator cells)
– Can differentiate only into one type of cell
– Ex. Erythroid progenator cells

Human embryonic stem cells grown for 10 months in

the absence of mouse feeder cells

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q Give one potential application of Stem
Cells in the therapy of human diseases.
q Answer must be based on a journal article.
q Summarize your answer in NOT more than
500-word essay.
q Include the complete citation reference
material used (not included in word count)
q Submit printed copy of answer next
meeting.