MBG 110
Introduction to Modern Biology
Erdem Erikçi
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Email: erdemerikci@[Link]
Assessment:
Midterm: Essay/written 20% -> 19 October
Midterm: Essay/written 25% -> 23 November
Final: Essay/written 25%
Essay Based Assignment 5%
Moodle Quiz (X3) 15%
In-class Quiz (X3) 5%
In-class attendance and participation 5%
Minimum Requirements to Qualify for the Final Exam:
> 0 grade per midterm exam
70% attendance
Syllabus
1. Chapter 1 - Biology: Exploring Life
2. Chapter 2 – The Chemical Basis of Life
3. Chapter 3 - The Molecules of Cells
4. Chapter 4 – A Tour of the Cell
5. Chapter 8 – The Cellular Basis of Reproduction and Inheritance
6. Chapter 9 – Patterns of Inheritance
7. Chapter 10 – Molecular Biology of the Gene & GATTACA (Movie)
8. Chapter 10 – Molecular Biology of the Gene
9. Chapter 11 – How Genes are Controlled?
10. Chapter 12 – DNA Technology and Genomics
11. Chapter 13 – How Populations Evolve & What Darwin Never Knew (Documentary)
12. Chapter 19 – The Evolution of Vertebrate Diversity & Ape to Man (Documentary)
13. Chapter 19 – The Evolution of Vertebrate Diversity
14. Chapter 24 – The Immune System
Campbell Biology: Concepts &
Connections
Tenth Edition, Global Edition
Chapter 1
Biology: Exploring Life
Copyright © 2022 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights
Reserved.
1.1 All forms of life share common properties
Biology is the scientific study of life.
What is Life ??
Living vs Non-Living ??
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
1.1 All forms of life share common properties
(1) Order (3) Growth and (4) Energy
development processing
(2) Reproduction
(5) Response to the
(6) Regulation
environment (7) Evolutionary adaptation
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
1.1 All forms of life share common properties
Properties of life include
(1) Order—the highly (2) Reproduction—the ability
ordered structure that of organisms to reproduce
typifies life, their own kind,
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
1.1 All forms of life share common properties
Properties of life include
(3) Growth and development— (4) Energy processing—the
consistent growth and use of chemical energy to
development controlled by power an organism’s
inherited DNA, activities and chemical
reactions,
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
1.1 All forms of life share common properties
Properties of life include
(5) Response to the (6) Regulation—an ability to
environment—an ability to control an organism’s
respond to environmental internal environment within
stimuli, limits that sustain life,
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
DNA Prokaryotic
Eukaryotic cell (no nucleus) cell
Membrane
Organelles
Nucleus
(membrane-enclosed)
DNA
(throughout nucleus)
(1) Order
(2) Reproduction
(3) Growth and development
(4) Metabolism
(5) Response to stimuli
(6) Homeostasis
(7) Adaptation & Evolution
(1) Order
(2) Reproduction
(3) Growth and development
(4) Metabolism
(5) Response to stimuli
(6) Homeostasis
(7) Adaptation & Evolution
Obligate
Condition of Life Mitochondria Chloroplasts Viruses Viroids Intracellular
Bacteria
Double Double
No cells; protein Naked RNA, no True cells (tiny
1. Order membrane, DNA, membrane, DNA,
coat + genome coat but complete)
ribosomes ribosomes
Photosynthesis, Limited
Respiration, ATP
2. Metabolism some own None None metabolism inside
production
metabolism host
Depend on host Depend on host Cannot maintain
3. Homeostasis None None
cell cell outside host
4. Growth & Grow & divide Divide (binary Do not grow; No growth, just Grow and divide
Development (binary fission) fission–like) self-assemble replicate (inside host)
Respond to host
5. Response to Respond to host No direct Respond to host
signals (e.g. light None
stimuli signals response conditions
regulation of activity)
Cannot Cannot Need host, but
6. Reproduction Need host Need host
reproduce alone reproduce alone divide inside
7. Adaptation & Only via host Only via host Evolve, though
Rapid evolution Mutate quickly
Evolution lineage lineage host-dependent
A T
C G
The four
building blocks
C G
of DNA
part of a
DNA double helix
A T A
C G
T
A T
A T
C
G G C
Five Unifying Themes in Biology
Theme 1: Evolution Is the Core Theme of
Biology
• Life is distinguished by its unity and its diversity.
• The scientific explanation for this unity and diversity is
evolution, the process of change that has transformed life
on Earth from its earliest forms to the vast array of
organisms living today.
Diversity: Descent with modification
▪ Diversity is the defining characteristic of living
system.
– Biologists have identified about 1.8 million species.
– Estimates of the actual number of species ranges
from 10 to 100 million.
▪ Taxonomy names species and classifies them
into a system of broader groups.
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
The diversity of life can be arranged into three
domains
▪ The diversity of life can be arranged into three
domains.
1. Bacteria are the most diverse and widespread
prokaryotes.
2. Archaea are prokaryotes that often live in Earth’s
extreme environments.
3. Eukarya have eukaryotic cells and include
– single-celled protists and
– multicellular fungi, animals, and plants.
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
The three domains of life
Domain Bacteria Domain Eukarya
Bacteria
Domain Archaea
Protists Kingdom Plantae
(multiple kingdoms)
Archaea
Kingdom Fungi Kingdom Animalia
Figure 1.12
Ursus americanus
SPECIES GENUS FAMILY ORDER CLASS PHYLUM KINGDOM DOMAIN
Ursus
Ursidae
Carnivora
Mammalia
Chordata
Animalia
Eukarya
Unity: Descent from a common ancestor
• Each species on Earth today has a family history.
• A species represents one twig on a branching tree of life
that extends back in time through ancestral species more
and more remote.
Molecular Evidence for Evolution
• Compare genomes or
-
proteins of different
organisms
&
&
• Phylogenetic trees –
&
based on tracing the
&
origin of particular
&
nucleotide changes to
reconstruct an
-
evolutionary history.
&
28
Theme 1: Evolution Is the Core Theme
of Biology
Darwin synthesized the theory of evolution by natural
selection.
Evolution Connection: Evolution Is
Connected to Our Everyday Lives
• Evolutionary theory is useful in medicine, conservation,
and agriculture.
• Through the selective breeding of plants and animals,
humans also act as agents of evolution.
• As a result of artificial selection, our crops, livestock,
and pets bear little resemblance to their wild ancestors.
Theme 2: Life Depends on the Flow of
Information
• The processes of life depend on the transmission and use
of information.
DNA is responsible for heredity and for programming the
activities of a cell by providing the blueprint for
proteins.
Information from the external and internal environment
includes the stimuli, signals, and pathways that
regulate body processes and gene expression.
Theme 3: Structure and Function Are
Related
• The relationship between structure and function can be
observed at every level of life.
• At the molecular level, the structure of a protein correlates
with its function. For example, hemoglobin molecules
transport oxygen in blood.
• On the cellular level, the long extensions of nerve cells
enable them to transmit impulses from your spinal cord to
your toes.
Theme 3: Structure and Function Are
Related
• Structure is related to function at all
levels of biological organization.
b) Wing bones have a
a) A bird’s wings have an honeycombed internal structure
aerodynamically efficient shape that is strong but lightweight.
Homology of Mammalian Limbs as Evidence
for Evolution
44
Theme 4: Life Depends on the Transfer
and Transformation of Energy and
Matter
• Energy flows through an ecosystem in one direction
entering as sunlight,
converted to chemical energy by producers,
passed on to consumers, and
exiting as heat.
Theme 4: Life Depends on the Transfer
and Transformation of Energy and
Matter
• Ecosystems are characterized by the cycling of matter
from the atmosphere and soil,
through producers, consumers, and decomposers,
then back to the environment.
Life accelerates entropy production
• Entropy = measure of disorder, spreading of energy, or
number of possible arrangements.
• Always tends to increase in isolated systems (Second
Law).
dS = change in entropy
dQ dQ = amount of heat absorbed reversibly by the system
dS =
T T = absolute temperature (in Kelvin) at which the heat is transferred
• The suface layer of
seawater produces
between 30 to 680%
more entropy when
cyanobacteria and
other organic matter
present than when it is
not. How does it
happen?
Life accelerates entropy production
• Cyanobacteria and entropy
Capture a small fraction (5%) of low-entropy solar energy as biomass.
Stored biomass remains low-entropy.
• When higher organisms consume cyanobacteria
Biomass is oxidized → CO₂ + H₂O + heat.
Only a small fraction goes into building/maintaining body structure (local entropy decrease).
Majority is dissipated as heat at ~300 K → entropy increase.
• Why entropy rises further
Each trophic step adds inefficiencies (digestion, respiration, ATP turnover).
Energy becomes progressively more diffuse and disordered.
Multiple transformation stages (photons → biomass → metabolism → waste) generate more
entropy than direct absorption in clear seawater.
• Ecological cascade
Sunlight → cyanobacteria → grazers → predators → decomposers.
At every step: energy narrows, entropy widens.
Life accelerates entropy production by creating new pathways to degrade high-quality energy
into low-quality waste.
Life accelerates entropy production
‘You start with a random clump of atoms and if you shine
light on it for long enough, it should not be so surprising that
you get a plant.’
Jeremy England
Theme 5: Life Depends on Interactions
Within and Between Systems
• The study of life extends from the microscopic scale of the
molecules and cells that make up an organism to the
global scale of the living planet.
• Emergent properties are the result of interactions between
the components of a system.
• Using an approach called systems biology, scientists
attempt to model the behavior of biological systems by
analyzing the interactions among their parts.
In life’s hierarchy of organization, new properties
emerge at each level
1 The Biosphere 7 Tissues
6 Organs
2 and Organ
Ecosystems Systems
10
3 Molecules
Communities
8
Cells
5
Organisms
9 Organelles
4 Populations
In life’s hierarchy of organization, new
properties emerge at each level
▪ Emergent properties are
– new properties that arise in each step upward in the
hierarchy of life,
– from the arrangement and interactions among
component parts.
“the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
Scientific Process
The word science is derived from a
Latin verb meaning “to know.” • Observing nature
Science is a way of knowing. • Asking questions
• Sharing data and ideas
• Finding inspiration
• Exploring the scientific
literature
Testing Ideas
• Forming hypotheses
• Predicting results
• Doing experiments and/or
making observations
• Measuring results
Interpreting Test Results Data may…
• Support a hypothesis
• Contradict a hypothesis
• Inspire a revised or new • Feedback and
peer review
• Developing technology hypothesis • Replication of
• Addressing societal • Prompt revised experiments and
issues assumptions observations
• Informing policy
• Discussion with
• Solving everyday
colleagues
problems • Publication
• Satisfying curiosity
• Devising new ideas
• Building knowledge
and questions
• Theory building
Scientists form and test hypotheses
Question: What is the source of contamination that occurs in a flask of nutrient broth left exposed to the air?
Germ Hypothesis: Preexisting microorganisms present in the air contaminate nutrient broth.
Prediction: Sterilized broth will remain sterile if microorganisms are prevented from entering flask.
Spontaneous Generation Hypothesis: Living organisms will spontaneously generate from nonliving organic molecules in
broth.
Prediction: Organisms will spontaneously generate from organic molecules in broth after sterilization.
Test: Use swan-necked flasks to prevent entry of microorganisms. To ensure that broth can still support life, break swan-
neck after sterilization.
Result: No growth occurs in sterile swan-necked flasks. When the neck is broken off, and the broth is exposed to air,
growth occurs.
Conclusion: Growth in broth is of preexisting microorganisms.
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
1.8 Scientific inquiry is used to ask and answer
questions about nature
▪ Scientists use
– inductive reasoning to draw general conclusions from
many observations. Logic flows from the specific to
the general.
– deductive reasoning applies general principles to
predict specific results. It is the reasoning of
mathamatics and philosophy and it is used to test the
validity of general ideas in all branches of knowledge.
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
Example for deductive reasoning
Eratosthenes (276 BC – c. 195/194 BC)
Chief librarian at Library of Alexandria
SCIENTIFIC THINKING: Hypotheses can be tested using controlled field studies
▪ Scientists conducted a controlled experiment to test the hypothesis that color patterns have
evolved as adaptations that protect animals from predation.
▪ The experiment compared an experimental group consisting of noncamouflaged mice models
and a control group consisting of camouflaged models that matched the mice native to each
area.
▪ The groups differed by only one factor, the coloration of the mouse models.
Florida Inland population
GULF OF
MEXICO Beach
population
Beach population Inland population
Peromyscus polionotus
Results
Beach habitat Inland habitat
100
attacked models
Percentage of
50
0
Light models Dark models Light models Dark models
Camouflaged Non-camouflaged Non-camouflaged Camouflaged
(control) (experimental) (experimental) (control)
Theory: A well-substantiated explanation of
natural phenomena
▪ A scientific theory is
– Explains why laws and observations happen.
– usually general enough to generate many new, specific hypotheses, which can
then be tested, and
– can evolve or be replaced with new evidence.
– supported by a large and usually growing body of evidence.
– Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.
– Germ Theory of Disease.
– Plate Tectonics Theory.
– Theory of Relativity
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
Law: A statement or equation that describes a
consistent natural pattern
▪ Tells us what happens, not why.
▪ Universal, no known exceptions.
▪ Often mathematical.
▪ Predictive power.
▪ Newton’s Laws of Motion.
▪ Law of Universal Gravitation.
▪ Law of Conservation of Mass.
▪ Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance.
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
You should now be able to
1. Describe seven properties common to all life.
2. Describe the levels of biological organization from
molecules to the biosphere, noting the interrelationships
between levels.
3. Define the concept of emergent properties and describe
an example of it.
4. Explain why cells are a special level in biological
organization. Compare prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
5. Compare the dynamics of nutrients and energy in an
ecosystem.
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
You should now be able to
6. Explain how DNA encodes a cell’s information.
7. Compare the three domains of life.
8. Describe the process and products of natural
selection. Explain why individuals cannot evolve.
9. Distinguish between quantitative and qualitative data.
10. Compare the definitions and use of inductive and
deductive reasoning in scientific investigations.
11. Distinguish between a scientific theory and a
hypothesis.
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.
You should now be able to
12. Distinguish between the scientific definition and
common use of the word theory.
13. Describe the structure of a controlled experiment and
give an example.
14. Compare the goals of science and technology.
Explain why an understanding of science is essential
to our lives.
15. Explain how evolution impacts the lives of all
humans.
© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.