To regard man, the most ephemeral and rapidly evolving of all species, as the final and unsurpassable achievement of creation, especially in his present-day particularly dangerous and disagreeable stage of development, is certainly the most arrogant and dangerous of all untenable doctrines. If I thought of man as the final image of God, I should not know what to think of God. But when I consider that our ancesters, at a time fairly recent in relation to earth's history, were perfectly ordinary apes, closely related to chimpanzees, I see a glimmer of hope. It does not require considerable optimism to assume that from us human beings something better and higher may evolve. Far from seeing in man the irrevocable and unsurpassable image of God, I assert--more modestly and, I believe, in greater awe of the Creation and its infinite possibilities--that the long-sought missing link between animals and the really humane being is ourselves!
-Konrad Lorenz, On Aggression

Biology is the study of life on Earth.

Assignment
Audesirk, Audesirk and Byers, Chapter 1, Many selections throughout text

Today's musical selection
Sam Cooke "What a wonderful world" ("Don't know much about biology...")

What is unique to life?

Fig. 1-2
Cell membrane contains protoplasm and somehow inside, cells are "alive."
(1) Complex - Cells have very complex macromolecules (DNA, RNA, protein).
In general, entropy (disorder) increases [we will return to this point in a later lecture]. However, in Biology, small systems are defined, enclosed in cells, that defy this generalization
(2) Movement, Responsiveness (irritability, sensitivity, excitability)
(3) Development, Growth, Form
(4) Metabolism - exchange energy
-Catabolic (breakdown)
-Anabolic (build-up)
*(6) Homeostasis (regulation)
Example#1 Thermostat, servo mechanism, negative feedback.
Example#2 Weight regulation 1 cookie/day = 25 lb/yr
*(7) Evolution is major unifying principle
Life on Earth is 3 1/2 billion yrs old (and presumably all organisms have common ancestor)
History from primordial "soup" of molecules to biology, extinctions, etc.
*(8) Reproduction -
"Survival" in biology is to and reproduce and produce fertile offspring.
Example#1- One species definition: Reproduce, fertile offspring
Horse - donkey (differenty species) mate to produce the mule -- the mule is sterile: Mule, (here is my late friend's dad proudly posing with his Missouri mules)
Example#2- Consider this: so much energy is devoted to reproduction that reproductive structures constitute most of the human diet. Oh? Well, grain, fruit (and vegetables that are fruits), dairy products and eggs.

The virus story

Figure E9-1
To tell the next story, let us introduce reproduction in the bacteriophage (a virus that "eats" bacteria). Is a virus alive? Compare the terms "infectious" with "living." Is the virus the oldest form of life because it is so simple? (Made up of just Protein and DNA) No, it cannot be because it is a Parasite and therefore could not exits until its host existed.


Figure E9-2
(Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase 1952 work) radioactive sulfur seen in protein coat of bacteriophage, radioactive phosphorus seen in bacteria where DNA is orchestrating the manufacture of new virus.

"Is it animal, vegetable or mineral"
- a question on an old quiz show called "20 questions"

Fig. 1-11
Kingdoms (At one time, 2 kingdoms were proposed (plants and animals), but there were problems, for instance some organisms have properties of both kingdoms. Now 5 are generally accepted.

Sometimes more are also proposed. How can the number of kingdoms be subject to debate? Classification is not an exact science.
5 Kingdoms:

Kingdoms and domains

Monera (prokaryotes) are very diverse (2 of the 3 domains)

These cells do not have a nucleus. The suffix "karyote" refers to the nucleus, and comes up in words like "perikaryon" (the part of a nerve cell near its nucleus) and "karyotype" (the chromosomal constitution of a cell).
The other four kingdoms have eukaryotic cells.
Protista (single celled "plants" and "animals") are also very diverse
Fungi
Plantae
Animalia

Do they make their own food?

Fig. 1-10
Fig. 28.1
Autotroph vs. Heterotroph (self- other-feeder)
Food web (from ecology chapter)

Phylogeny vs Taxonomy

Fig 18-5
Fig. 18-6
Fig. 24-1
Taxonomy is sometimes called "Systematics" and is based on the Linnean system (Linnaeus 1705-1778 botanist)

Table 18-1
Kingdom - Phylum - Class - Order - Family - Genus - Species

(phylogeny and systematics.) Here, domain is more inclusive than kingdom
Genus - Species: binomial nomenclature
Phylum = Division for plants fungi bacteria
Homo sapiens people
Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies
Canis familiaris dogs
In phylogeny we try to draw conclusions (and diagrams) of how related organisms are.

Figure 18-5
There can be various levels of artistic license in such evolutionary diagrams.

Here is a display at the Carnegie museum in Pittsburgh. It is actually a graph. Diversity is on the X axis (abscissa). That diversity in this example is the location on Earth. The Y axis (ordinate) is time with long ago on the bottom and now on top and split up into epochs of the geological time scale (Eocene, etc.). Of note is that animals lower in the diagram are not just "simpler" animals of today. Rather, today's animals are only at the top, and some further down may be extinct, for instance, horses in the New World until they were re-introduced.

Such a diagram branches out, hence the term "divergent evolution," a concept so fundamental that you should see it now even though evolution will be covered in detail in the last quarter of the semester. One very fundamental concept is that of homology. The wing of a bird and the flipper of a porpoise are homologous and are descended from the same common structure that led to your arm and hand.

Molecular biologists borrowed this strategy and produce divergent evolution diagrams of their own (at first much to the chagrin of the comparative anatomists).

Levels of analysis

Fig. 1-1
element - molecule - organelle - cell - tissue - organ -
organ system - organism - population - biosphere

Questions used in 2007 & 2008 relating to this outline

These days, autotrophs are almost exclusively
(a) herbivores.
*(b) photosynthetic.
(c) predators.
(d) prokaryotes.
(e) ruminants.

I said that a phylogenetic diagram was like a graph. What is on the ordinate (Y-axis)?
(a) binomial nomenclature
(b) bacteria on the left, people on the right
(c) kingdom on the left, species on the right
(d) the independent variable
*(e) time from long ago to present

Comparative anatomy shows similarities in human and bird forelimbs, since humans and birds had a common ancestor. The forelimbs are called
(a) metabolic.
(b) metazoans.
(c) homeostatic.
*(d) homologous.
(e) prokaryotic.

You look at an amoeba in the microscope. Where might you put it in a phylogenetic diagram of eukaryotes?
(a) at the middle at the bottom.
*(b) at the left at the top.
(c) right next to Drosophila melanogaster.
(d) beside all the others that have the nitrogen-containing polysaccharide chitin.
(e) with ancient organisms.

In the food web, high level consumers (predators) would be considered to be
(a) more evolved than anybody else.
*(b) heterotrophs.
(c) lacking in catabolic metabolism.
(d) higher in entropy than any other organism.
(e) ruminants.

The mule was used as an example to show
(a) some organisms of the past are now extinct.
(b) the forelimbs of vertebrates are not homologous.
(c) the dangers of anabolic steroids.
(d) not all reproducing "organisms" are considered to be alive.
*(e) the horse and donkey are different species.

In the Hershey-Chase Experiment, phosphorus and sulfur were used because phosphorus is found in ____________ while sulfur is found in ______________.
(a) Cell membrane, Lipids
(b) Vesicles, Proteins
*(c) DNA, Proteins
(d) Proteins, RNA
(e) Bacteria, Lipids

Why don't most people gain or lose a lot of weight rapidly?
*(a) They eat the right amount.
(b) They count calories rather than kilocalories.
(c) They adjust their caloric loss through the urine to compensate for overeating or undereating.
(d) Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) regulates weight.
(e) Parathormone (PTH) mediates the storage of extra energy.

Terms like Homo sapiens
(a) demonstrate the concept of homology.
*(b) are derived from the Linnean system of taxonomy.
(c) tell you the phylogeny.
(d) tell us the kingdom and phylum in Latin.
(e) relate tissues to organs.

I said that the tree of life is like a graph. What is on the X-axis (abscissa) of the tree of life?
A) Binomial nomenclature.
B) The species is on the left and the genus is on the right.
C) Catabolic is on the left and metabolic is on the right.
*D) Diversity.
E) The dependent variable.

Disorder increases according to the second law of thermodynamics.
A) Homeostasis is the word biologists use for disorder.
B) This is exemplified by anabolic reactions.
*C) Although biology is complex, this law still applies to the whole universe.
D) Entropy is the fundamental unifying principle in biology.
E) Comparative anatomy was used to demonstrate that disorder applies to biology.

Your lab partner tells you that the Paramecium cell you see in the microscope is very primitive. You offer the following correction:
*A) They are present-day organisms with a 3 & 1/2 billion year geneology just like you.
B) Viruses (not Paramecia) are primitive, but cells arose later (than viruses) in the history of life.
C) Because they have photosynthesis, they must be very old.
D) Although Paramecia are prokaryotes without organelles, they are autotrophic.
E) Bacteriophage have infected those Paramecia.

What kind of an organism is a bacteriophage?
A) It is a eukaryote.
B) Scientists consider it to be a predator in the food chain.
C) It is an autotroph.
D) It is a bacterium.
*E) It is not an organism since it is not cellular.

Radioactive phosphorus vs. radioactive sulfur were used by Hershey and Chase
A) to identify membrane glycolipids.
*B) to show that DNA, not protein, is the hereditary macromolecule.
C) to diagnose brain tumors.
D) to show that water dissolves hydrophobic ions.
E) to show the age of fossils and rocks.

Untreated diabetic patients
*A) are the only people who excrete calories.
B) are the only people who have catabolic metabolism.
C) have resistance to malaria.
D) were classified by Linnaeus.
E) are protostomes.

In one table I showed you, it was claimed that bacteria and protists could be either autotrophic or heterotrophic. This dichotomy applies to
A) whether the organism is diploid or haploid
*B) whether they make their own food.
C) presence of a nucleus.
D) embryonic development.
E) whether they are gymnosperms or tracheophytes.



Questions used in 2002 relating to this outline (as well as other outlines)

You were presented with the classification of the wolf (Animalia - Chordata - Mammalia - Carnivora - Canidae - Canis - lupis). Which group would have the most species in it?
*(a) phylum
(b) class
(c) order
(d) family
(e) genus

What happens when bacteriophage T2 infects a bacterium?
(a) Phage RNA enters the cell.
*(b) Only viral DNA enters the bacterium.
(c) Only viral protein enters the bacterium.
(d) The entire virus, enzymes and membranes and all, enter.
(e) The virus injects a poison into the bacterium to kill it.

About how long ago did the first cells appear?
(a) 3.5 million years
*(b) 3.5 billion years
(c) after photosynthesis evolved
(d) not until there was sexual reproduction
(e) 1.5 billion years ago when eukaryotes came into existence

"Membership" in this group is sometimes defined by ability to mate and bear fertile offspring:
*(a) species.
(b) genus.
(c) family.
(d) order.
(e) class.

Bacteriophage were used
(a) to obtain temperature resistant enzyme for PCR.
(b) to make a cDNA library.
(c) by Hershey and Chase to show that DNA but not protein was the hereditary material.
(d) to show that the lac operon is regulated by presence of lactose.
(e) for gene therapy.

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