Characteristics of Living Organisms 1
1.1 Characteristics Of Living Organisms
Organisms are single-celled (unicellular) like bacteria or made of many cells (multicellular) like plants and animals
All organisms show seven characteristics of life; these make living things differ from non-living
The letters in the mnemonic MRS GREN are the first letters of these characteristics:
Characteristic Definition Extra information
An action by an organism or part of ๏ Movement in plants is limited to the directional growth
Movement an organism causing a change of towards stimuli; these movements are called tropisms
position or place (page: 67)
The chemical reactions in cells that Metabolism: all types of chemical reactions that take
Respiration break down nutrient molecules and place in an organism which include building up and
release energy for metabolism breaking down reactions such as respiration
The ability to detect or sense stimuli in ๏ Stimulus: (plural stimuli) any change that can be
Sensitivity the internal or external environment
detected in the environment like light, sound or heat…
and to make appropriate responses
๏ Dry mass: the total mass of an organism (or part of an
organism) without its water; the water content of living
Growth A permanent increase in size and dry mass
things continuously changes
๏ Multicellular organisms grow by producing new cells
The processes that make more of the ๏ Reproduction is one of the most important characteristics
Reproduction
same kind of organism of life; it applies to all living organisms and even to viruses
The removal from organisms of the ๏ Excretion takes place all the time while we are breathing
waste products of metabolism, toxic
Excretion out carbon dioxide. Excretion also applies to plants when
materials and substances in excess of
they get rid of excess oxygen and water (page: 22)
requirements
The taking in of materials for energy, ๏ Photosynthesis is not a characteristic of life, this type of
Nutrition
growth and development nutrition only applies to plants
Mrs. Gren
Movement Nutriton
Respiration Excretion
Sensitivity Growth Reproduction
Classification 2
2.1 The Concept Of Classification
Organisms are classified using features that they have in common
A species is a group of organisms that can reproduce to produce fertile offspring
The binomial system of naming species gives a scientific name to every organism
There are three rules to be followed when writing the name of an organism using the binomial system:
1. It is made of two parts; the genus name comes first, and then comes the species name
2. Genus name must start with a capital letter, while species name starts with a small letter
3. The binomial name is written in Latin so that it can be recognised internationally
Written in Latin
Pa n t h e r a l e o
Genus name starts
with a capital letter Species name second
E 2.2 Classification Reflects Evolutionary Relationships
In the past, classification was based on morphology (appearance) like wings or anatomy (structure) like a skeleton
However, this was not very accurate because many organisms have common visible features, but they are not
closely related
According to the modern classification system, the similarities between all present-day organisms indicate the
presence of a common ancestor (an early organism) from which all known species, living and extinct, have
come through the process of evolution (page: 96)
Modern classification is based on studies of the genetic material (DNA) and proteins
DNA classification is more accurate; it is cheaper and only requires a trace of the organism to be identified
DNA is made of simple bases named A, T, C and G (page 71)
Organisms that share a more recent ancestor (more closely related) have more similar DNA bases
DNA contains instructions for the making of proteins; proteins are made up of building blocks called amino acids
If two organisms share a common ancestor, then they also share similar amino acid sequences
The diagram below shows the DNA bases for four organisms:
Organism 1 is more closely related to organism 2 than it is related to any of the other organisms
This is because it only has one different DNA base (the last base)
Note that organism 4 is the least related one because it has four different bases
Organisms 1 and 2 have a recent common ancestor (shown in the diagram as )
Organisms 1, 2 and 3 share a more distant ancestor . While organism 4 is the most distant
Nonetheless, all organisms must have had a common ancestor due to the similarities in their DNA bases
Organism 1
Organism 1
Organism 2
Common
ancestor Organism 2
Organism 3 Organism 3
Organism 4
Organism 4 2