BIOL 1107K Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Photosynthesis, Archaea, Natural Selection
Document Summary
What is biology: the scientific study of living things, all descended from a common origin 4 billion years ago, share characteristics that distinguish them from the nonliving world. Made up from a common set of chemical components. Cells convert molecules from their environment into new biological molecules. Cells extract energy from the environment and use it for biological work. Organisms contain genetic information that uses a nearly universal code to specify the assemble of proteins. Similarities among fundamental set of genes and replicate genetic information when reproducing. Organisms exist in populations that evolve through genetic variants. Self-regulates internal environment: life arose from non-life via chemical evolution. Appearance of nucleic acids was critical step for evolution. Molecules that can reproduce themselves and are templates for synthesis of proteins: cellular structure evolved in the common ancestor of life. Fatty acids played (cid:272)ru(cid:272)ial role (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause the(cid:455) do(cid:374)"t dissol(cid:448)e i(cid:374) (cid:449)ater. Cellular specialization allowed multicellular eukaryotes to increase in size.
