Biology 1

Course Description

COURSE CONTENT

Cell Biology

• Scale in the living world. Organic molecules in a cell. Structure and chemical composition of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell. Differences in structure between plant and animal cell.
• Types of organelles. Cell membrane – structure and function. Endoplasmatic reticulum. Golgi apparatus. Lisosomes. Vacuoles. Peroxisomes.
• Cytoskeleton. Cilia and flagella. Cellular connections in animal and plant tissues. Plant cell wall. Cell wall in bacteria, archaea, algae and fungi.

Cell Metabolism

• Introduction to metabolism – anabolic and catabolic processes in a living cell. Energy. Laws of thermodinamics. Enzymes and activation energy. Cellular work. Glycolysis. Mitochondria. Krebs cycle. Oxidative phosphorilation. Fermentation.
• Chemoautotrophs, photoautotrophs. Plastids. Characteristics of light. Pigments. Absorption and action spectrum. Photosystems. Photosynthesis: light dependent reactions (non-cyclic and cyclic photophosphorilation) and Calvin cycle. Photorespiration. Adaptations of C4 and CAM plants.
• Structure of DNA and RNA. Eukaryotic genome organization genoma. Nucleus and nucleolus. DNA replication in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
• Gene transkription in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Ribosomes. Protein modifikation.

Cell cycle

• Binary division in prokaryotes. Eukaryotic cell cycle. Interphase (G₁, S i G₂ phase, G  phase). Mitotic phase. Karyokinesis (prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase). Plant and animal cell cytokynesis. Role of cytoskeleton in cell division. Control of the cell cycle. Checkpoints in the cell cycle.
• Asexual and sexual reproduction. Life cycle. Somatic celles and gametes. Meiosis – reduction division. Interphase, the first and the second mejotic division. Sources of variability of gametes in mejosis. Plant and animal gametogenesis. Mutations. Mutagens. Classification of mutations according to functionality and span.

Basics of genetics

• Mendel's laws of inheritance. Monohybrid cross. Test cross. Dihybrid cross. Allelic interactions. Multiple alleles. Pleiotropy. Epistasis. Poligenic inheritance. Modifications i polyphenism. Morgan's experiment with fruit fly. Linked genes. Recombination frequency. Gene map. Sex-linked inheritance. Determination of sex (chromosomal and phenotypic). Chromosome number mutations.

Basics of evolution

• Development of evolution as an idea. Geologic and chemical evolution; evolution of living beings. Evidence for evolution of living beings: paleontological, anatomical, embryological, molecular and genetic, geodistribution of species, direct observation.
• Concept of population and species. Hardy-Weinberg equation. Causes of microevolution. Speciation. Macroevolution.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. describe and compare the structure of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
2. identify and distinguish structures in plant and animal cell after acquired basic  microscope techniques
3. explain the biological function of certain parts of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and linked differences in the cell structure with the differences in basic cellular processes
4. recognize and interpret phase of the cell cycle and illustrate cells in various stages of the cycle
5. demonstrate the fundamental principles of Mendelian genetics
6. demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of evolution
7. use the Hardy-Weinberg principle to explain when microevolution occurs

Lectures

Lectures: 24 (N: 20) hours

Laboratory exercises: 39 (N: 30) hours

Literature

1. Lecture material on the web of the Faculty and Merlin
2. Internal script "Priručnik za vježbe iz Biologije 1" on the web of the Faculty and Merlin
3. Campbell NA, Reece JB (2005) Biology. 7th Ed. The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, San Francisco, CA, USA
4. Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P (2002) Molecular Biology of the Cell. 4th Ed, Garland Science, Taylor & Francis Group, New York, SAD. Poglavlja: 3-7.