beginnings of cellular life

Question 1

what do amino acids polymerise into?

Answer 1

Proteins

Question 2

What do purines and pyrimidines polymerise into?

Answer 2

Polynucleotides

Question 3

What is the base pairing of DNA?

Answer 3

When polynucleotides directly guide the formation of exact copies of themselves?

Question 4

What are the 4 important functions of the plasma membrane?

Answer 4

• maintain homeostasis
  -selectively permeable
  -important in communicating with outside environment
• aids in binding and adhering

Question 5

what are the three terms of cell theory?

Answer 5

-cells are the fundamental units of life
-all organisms are composed of cells
-all cells come from pre-existing cells

Question 6

who was the cell first discovered by and in what year?

Answer 6

Robert Hooke - 1665

Question 7

Who was the first man to witness live cells and in what year?

Answer 7

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek - 1674

Question 8

what is the smallest object a person can see?

Answer 8

one of 0.2mm [200um] in size - most cells are smaller than this

Question 9

what is cell size limited by?

Answer 9

a cells surface area to volume ratio.

Question 10

what is the surface area of a cell?

Answer 10

The area that interfaces with the cells environment

Question 11

what is a cells surface area to volume ratio?

Answer 11

The total surface area divided by the volume

Question 12

For any given shape what decreases the surface area to volume ratio?

Answer 12

increasing the volume

Question 13

what does the volume of a cell determine?

Answer 13

How much chemical activity it can carry out per unit of time

Question 14

what does the surface area of a cell determine?

Answer 14

the amount of substance it can take in from the external environment and how much waste material it can release into the environment

Question 15

What do prokaryotes not have?

Answer 15

a nucleus or any other membrane bound compartments

Question 16

what do eukaryotes have?

Answer 16

a membrane enclosed nucleus and other membrane enclosed compartments and organelles

Question 17

what are mycoplasma?

Answer 17

Bacteria that lack a cell wall

Question 18

What does lacking a cell wall mean for some bacteria?

Answer 18

They’re unaffected by some antibiotics such as penicillin

Question 19

what is the function of Pili?

Answer 19

To help prokaryotic cells to adhere to one and other during the exchange of genetic material and to animal cells for protection or food

Question 20

what are endospores?

Answer 20

compartments which are resistant to environmental stresses such as high or low temperature or drought

Question 21

what is the nucleus responsible for?

Answer 21

• the replication of DNA and the first steps in decoding it for protein production to take place in the nucleus

Question 22

How much of the interior volume of a cell can the ER take up?

Answer 22

10%

Question 23

what does the RER do?

Answer 23

segregates newly synthesised proteins away from the cytoplasm and transports them to other areas of the cell

Question 24

What can be achieved whilst the proteins are inside of the RER?

Answer 24

they can be chemically modified to alter the function and destination

Question 25

what are the two apparent differences between the RER and SER?

Answer 25

- more tubular than the RER -lack ribosomes on the outside

Question 26

what is the SER responsible for?

Answer 26

-the modification of small molecules taken into the cell- drugs

Question 27

what does the SER in animal cells do to glycogen?

Answer 27

hydrolyses them

Question 28

what are the two sites where ribosomes are found in Eukaryotic cells?

Answer 28

- the cytoplasm where they may be free or attached to the surface of the endoplasmic reticulum -inside the mitochondria or chloroplasts

Question 29

what happens in ribosomes?

Answer 29

Protein synthesis

Question 30

what is the Golgi apparatus made up of?

Answer 30

flattened membrane sacs called cistarnae

Question 31

what does the GA do?

Answer 31

- receives proteins from the RER and may further modify them -concentrates, packages and sorts proteins before sending them to their final destination

Question 32

what is the GA the site of?

Answer 32

the synthesis of polysaccharides for cell walls

Question 33

what are lysosomes?

Answer 33

-vesicles containing digestive enzymes that come in part of the golgi

Question 34

what are lysosomes the site of?

Answer 34

the breakdown of food and foreign material brought into the cell by phagocytosis

Question 35

what is Autophagy?

Answer 35

the process in which spent cellular components are digested

Question 36

whats special about mitochondria?

Answer 36

they have their very own genome which is similar to bacterial genomes

Question 37

What does the mitochondria do to the energy stored in carbohydrates and fatty acids?

Answer 37

converts it into a more useful form of energy for the cell called ATP

Question 38

what is the production of ATP called?

Answer 38

ATP synthase

Question 39

How many mitochondria are there in Human and Rat hearts?

Answer 39

rats -940 Humans -650

Question 40

Name one type of plastid?

Answer 40

Chloroplasts - site of photosynthesis