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Biology Themes

cell theory - all organisms consist of cells (basic units of life)  

  • Robert Hooke - discovered cells
  • Schleiden/Schwann - concluded that all organisms have cells
  • all cells form from other cells
  • foundation for understanding growth/reproduction of all organisms

molecular basis of inheritance - each cell contains detailed plan in its DNA  

  • nucleotides - DNA building blocks, 4 total types; 2 strands in each DNA molecule
  • A can only pair w/ T, C can only pair with G (knowing 1 strand guarantees that you know the other strand in DNA)
  • gene - specific sequences of thousands of nucleotides; could code a protein or RNA
  • proteins/RNA determine what the cell is like
  • genome - entire set of DNA instructions

evolutionary change/diversity - 3 main groups (Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya)  

  • Archaea group is prokaryote like Bacteria, but more closely related to Eukarya
  • Kingdom Protista - contains all unicellular eukaryotes except yeast, multicellular algae
  • Kingdom Plantae - organisms w/ cellulose cell walls and perform photosynthesis
  • Kingdom Fungi - organisms w/ chitin cell walls and perform absorbtion
  • Kingdom Animalia - organisms that ingest other organisms, lack cell walls

evolutionary conservation/similarity - belief that all organisms descended from a single one  

  • characteristics of that single organism still exist in cells today
  • all eukaryotes have nucleus w/ chromosomes
  • flagellae in animal kingdom all have 9+2 arrangement of microtubules
  • homeodomain protein - found in animal, fungi, plant kingdoms; developed early on and hasn't been replaced by better versions
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