Introduction to Cell Biology

What you'll learn

• Describe the properties of living things, explain the cell theory and how it was established, relate cell size to surface area to volume ratio, and distinguish prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and the three domains of life, including the evidence for endosymbiosis.
• Explain covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds and the hydrophobic effect, relate the properties of water to its polarity, prepare and dilute solutions using molarity and C1V1 = C2V2, and calculate pH and buffer composition with the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation.
• Describe the structure and functions of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, explain dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis, the four levels of protein structure and denaturation, and complementary base pairing in DNA.
• Compare light and electron microscopy, calculate magnification, resolution with the Abbe limit and real sizes from scale bars, describe fluorescence and cryo-EM, cell fractionation by centrifugation, and the chemical and biosafety rules that apply in a cell biology laboratory.
• Identify the structures of bacterial, animal and plant cells and their functions, trace a secreted protein through the endomembrane system, outline the flow of genetic information from DNA to protein, and relate organelle abundance to cell function.
• Explain the fluid mosaic model of membranes, the permeability of lipid bilayers, the factors that control membrane fluidity including cholesterol and fatty acid saturation, and the structure and functions of membrane proteins and the glycocalyx.
• Explain diffusion and its dependence on distance, predict the effects of tonicity and calculate water potential, and compare facilitated diffusion, primary and secondary active transport, and endocytosis and exocytosis, with examples such as the sodium–potassium pump and oral rehydration.
• Apply the laws of thermodynamics and free energy (ΔG = ΔG°′ + RT ln Q) to cellular reactions, explain how ATP couples energy, and describe how enzymes lower activation energy, how their activity responds to conditions, Michaelis–Menten kinetics and regulation by inhibitors and feedback.
• Trace glucose through glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation, explain chemiosmosis and the role of oxygen, account for an ATP yield of about 30 to 32 per glucose, and compare aerobic respiration with fermentation.
• Explain how chloroplasts capture light, the light reactions and the Calvin cycle and how they are linked by ATP and NADPH, calculate photon energies and the cost of fixing carbon, and compare C3, C4 and CAM photosynthesis.
• Describe the types and stages of cell signaling, the main classes of receptors, second messengers, phosphorylation cascades and amplification, and the structure and functions of microfilaments, intermediate filaments, microtubules and motor proteins.
• Describe the cell cycle, mitosis, meiosis and their control, estimate phase durations and growth rates, relate failures of control to cancer, and design, analyze and ethically conduct a simple cell biology investigation with controls, replication and statistics.