I.B.

Biology – Unit 1, Cells

The Cell theory:

1. The cell is the basic unit of life
2. All living things are composed of cells
3. Cells can only come from other (pre-existing) cells

Contributors to cell theory Time Contribution

Jansen Aprox. 1590
 Developed 1st compound
microscope
Hooke 1663  Named the cell
 Examined Cork cells
under microscopes
Van Leeuwenhoek 1675  Ground lenses to make
powerful microscopes
(aprox. 200X)
 Observed blood cells,
and bacteria, and
protozoa.
Oken 1805  “All living things
originate from and are
made of cells”
Brown 1833  Discovered and named
the nucleus
Schleiden 1838  Studied plant cells
 All plant cells had a
nucleus
Schwann 1839  Studied animal cells
 All animal cells had a
nucleus
Virchow 1855  “All cells come from pre-
existing cells”
Pasteur 1860  Did experiments to
disprove spontaneous
generation

Differences
between plant cells
and animal
cells:
Plant Cells Animal Cells
 Have a cell wall  Have no cell walls
 Have chloroplasts  Have no chloroplasts
 Have no flagellum  Can have a flagellum
 Have a larger central vacuole  Smaller vacuole, if present
 Have no centrioles  Have centrioles

Differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells:

Prokaryotic Eukaryotic
 Have pili  Have no pili
 No nucleus  Have a nucleus
 DNA is in cytoplasm and it is “naked”  DNA is in nucleus and associated with
 Reproduce using binary fission (Pg. 215 proteins
figure 12.10)  Divide using mitosis/meiosis
 No formal organelles (e.g. mitochondria,  Have membrane bound organelles
E.R., etc…)  Have 80S ribosomes
 Have 70S ribosomes

Phospholipids:
A phospholipid is an amphipatic molecule, meaning that is has both a hydrophilic region (dissolves in
water) and a hydrophobic region (does not dissolve in water). At the surface of a cell, phospholipids are
arranged in a bilayer, or double layer. The hydrophilic heads of the molecules are on the outside of the
bilayer, in contact with the aqueous solutions inside and outside of the cell. The hydrophobic tails point
toward the interior of the membrane, away from the water. The phospholipid bilayer forms a boundary
between the cell and its external environment.
Cell Membrane: The fluid mosaic model
How do proteins fit into the cell membrane?

Unlike proteins
dissolved
in the cytosol,
membrane
proteins
are not very
soluble in water . Membrane proteins have hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions ; they are amphipathic, as
are their phospholipid partners in membranes. If proteins were layered on the surface of the membrane,
their hydrophobic parts would be in an aqueous environment. Proteins are placed in a location compatible
with their amphipathic character. Membrane proteins are dispersed and individually inserted into the
phospholipid bilayer, with only their hydrophilic regions protruding far enough from the bilayer to be
exposed to water. This molecular arrangement would maximize contact of hydrophilic regions of proteins
and phospholipids with water while providing their hydrophobic parts with a non aqueous environment.
According to this model, the membrane is a mosaic of protein molecules bobbing in a fluid bilayer of
phospholipids ; hence the term fluid mosaic model.

What is meant by selectively permeable?

Selectively permeable means that the cell membrane can select what goes in and out, such as water or
ions. For example the hydrophobic core of the membrane impedes the transport of ions and polar
molecules, which are hydrophilic. Cell membranes also use transport proteins to allow certain molecules to
pass through it. Each transport protein is specific for the substances it translocates (moves), allowing only
a certain substance of closely related substances to cross the membrane. For example, glucose carried in
blood to the human liver enters liver cells rapidly through specific transport proteins in the plasma
membrane.

How is the Membrane a fluid mosaic model?

Fluid = can flow/has movement
Mosaic = Made of different components

The cell membrane has a hydrophobic as well as a hydrophilic region because it’s a phospholipid bilayer
(made up of phospholipids).

The cell membrane contains proteins

 Transmembrane proteins (span the bilayer)
 Integral proteins –only inside the membrane
 Peripheral proteins
 Glyco proteins (act as a receptor/landing sites
 Cholesterol inside the bilayer (cholesterols makes the bilayer fluid)

How things go in and out of the cell

1)Passive transport
 movement of molecules without spending energy
 movement DOWN concentration gradient
a) Simple Diffusion
 movement of molecules down concentration gradient through cell membrane
ex: 02 and other small molecules

b) Osmosis
 diffusion of water through a membrane. Water moves from where there is more (dilute solution) to
where there is less water (high concentration)
Osmotic Conditions:
• Isotonic solution: same concentration
• Hypertonic solution: solution is more concentrated
• Hypotonic solution : solution that is less concentrated

c) Facilitated diffusion:
Specialized transport proteins allow particles to diffuse
Proteins are highly selective, based on size, shape, and charge.
Carrier proteins (ferry) :
 Protein that “carries” substances across
Channel proteins (tunnel):
 Tunnel for particles
 Usually charged particles

2)Active transport:
Active transport is when transport proteins can move solutes against their concentration gradients, across
the plasma membrane from the side where they are less concentrated to the side where they are more
concentrated. This transport is “uphill” and therefore requires work. To pump a molecule across a
membrane against its gradient, the cell must expand its own metabolic energy ; therefore, this type of
membrane traffic is called active transport. Active transport is a major factor in the ability of a cell to
maintain internal concentration of small molecules that differ from concentrations in its environment. For
example, compared to its surroundings, an animal cell has a much higher concentration of potassium ions
and a much lower concentration of sodium ions. The plasma membrane helps maintain these steep
gradients by pumping sodium out of the cell, and potassium into the cell. One example of this happening is
the sodium-potassium pump, which exchanges sodium for potassium across the plasma membrane of
animal cells. The membrane potential, the voltage across a membrane, acts like a battery, an energy
source that affects the traffic of all charged substances across the membrane. Because the inside of the
cell is negative compared to the outside, the membrane potential favours the passive transport of cations
into the cell, and anions out of the cell,. Thus, not one (as in simple diffusion) but two forces drive the
diffusion of ions across the membrane: a chemical force (the ion’s concentration gradient) and an electrical
force (the effect of the membrane potential on the membrane potential on the ion’s movement). This
combination of forces acting on an ion is called the electrochemical gradient. An ion does not simply
diffuse down its concentration gradient, but diffuses down its electrochemical gradient. For example, the
concentration of sodium ions (Na+) inside a resting nerve cell is much lower than outside it. When the cell is
stimulated, gated channels that facilitate Na+ diffusion will open. Sodium ions then “fall” down their
electrochemical gradient, driven by the concentration gradient of Na+ and by the attraction of cations to
the negative side of the membrane, resulting in concentration of Na+ building up on one side of the
membrane. Some membrane proteins that actively transport ions contribute to the membrane potential.
For example, the aforementioned sodium-potassium pump. The pump does not actually translocate Na and
K one for one, but actually pumps three sodium ions for every two potassium ions it pumps into the cell.
With each crank of the pump, there is a net transfer of one positive charge from the cytoplasm to the
extracellular fluid, a process that stores energy in the form of voltage. Large molecules, such as proteins,
generally cross the membrane by a different process than their smaller compatriots. They become
transported by either exocytosis or endocytosis. (For the purpose of this question, we will not explore
exocytosis). In endocytotsis, the cell takes in macromolecules and particulate matter by forming new
vesicles from the plasma membrane. A small area of the plasma membrane sinks inward to form a pocket.
As the pocket deepens, it pinches in, forming a vesicle containing material that had been outside the cell.
Phagocytosis, and pinocytosis are both types of endocytosis. In phagocytosis, a cell engulfs a particle by
wrapping pseudopodia (a cellular extension of amoeboid cells used in moving and feeding.) around it and
packaging it within a membrane-enclosed sac large enough to be classified as a vacuole. The particle is
digested after the vacuole fuses with a lyosome containing hydrolytic enzymes. In pinocytosis, the cells
“gulps” droplets of extracellular fluid in tiny vesicles. Because any and all solutes dissolved in the droplet
are taken into the cell, pinocytosis is unspecific in the substances it transports. As can be seen, active
transport is very important towards cell function.

Exocytosis: See figure 8.7 on page 135

Exocytosis is when the cell secretes macromolecules by the fusion of vesicles with the plasma membrane
(exportation). A transport vesicle budded from the golgi apparatus is moved by the cytoskeleton to the
plasme membrane. When the vesicle membrane and the plama membrane come into contact, the lipid
molecules of the two bilayers rearrange themselves so that the two membranes fuse. The contents then
spill to the outside of the cell.
  EX. Certain cells in the pancreas manufacture the hormone insulin and secrete it into the blood
cells by way of exocytosis.

Endocytosis: See figure 8.18 on page 144

Endocytosis is when the cells take in macromolecules and particulate matter by forming new vesicles from
the plasma membrane, basically the reverse of exocytosis. A small area of the plasma membrane sinks
inward to form a pocket. As the pocket deepens, it pinches in, forming a vesicle containing ,material that
had been outside of the cell.
 There are three types of endocytosis:
1. Phagocytosis
2. Pinocytosis
3. Receptor mediated endocytosis
*Number 1 and 2 were explained in active transport, number three we do not need to know

Some Quick definitions :

Diffusion: is the spontaneous tendency of a substance to move down its concentration gradient from a
more concentrated area, to a less concentrated area.
Solute: A substance that is dissolved in a solution
Solvent: The dissolving agent of a solution. Water is the most versatile solvent known.
Solution: A homogeneous, liquid mixture of two or more substances.
Osmosis: The diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane.
Hypertonic: A solution with a greater solute concentration than another, hypotonic solution.
Hypotonic: A solution with a lesser solute concentration than another, hypertonic.
Isotonic: Solution of equal solute concentration.
Osmotic pressure: A measure of the tendency of a solution to take up water when separated from pure
water by a selectively permeable membrane.
Flaccid: Limp; walled cells are flaccid in isotonic surroundings, where there is no tendency for water to
enter.
Turgid: Firm; walled cells become turgid
Cytolysis: cell lysis; occurs when a cell bursts due to an osmotic imbalance that has caused excess water
to move into the cell.
Lysis: The disintegration or rupture of the cell membrane, resulting in the release of cell contents or the
subsequent death of the cell.