Duties of Professor

Duties of Professor
Inspire class to read the book
Stress important concepts
Clarify complex matters
Show examples
Test knowledge - memory and reasoning

The Professor is NOT a
Dictation giver
Personal trainer - use T/As and peers
Judge of character
Duties of class
Take lecture notes

Read assigned text to clarify lecture notes.

Log into Canvas - be responsible for material and
quizzes there

Register with TopHat.com by the 10
th
fFeb

Come to labs and finish assignments on time

Practice problem solving individually first - later as a
group.
Depth of material
All material presented in lecture and review
material on Canvas is examinable - even a
definition given by a single sentence or a single
illustration
Lecture exams are based upon a thorough
understanding of this material.

The textbook and any websites assigned
should be used by you to clarify lecture
material.

Any extra material presented by T/As in lab is
not examinable in the lecture exams.



Canvas
All course communications

Lecture notes and review material for Quizzes
Quizzes for points
Syllabus and grading policies
Lab schedule
Lab manual
Discussion Boards

Are accessed through Canvas www.elms.umd.edu

First four quizzes on review material are due Monday
Feb 3
rd
at 11:59


The Cell Theory 1838-1855
Schleiden, Schwann and Virchow
All living organisms are composed of nucleated
cells
Cells are the functional units of life
Cells arise only from pre-existing cells by a
process of division

10-100 million species on Earth
Many are single celled
Some multicellular (humans comprise 10
13
cells) but
still generated by cell divisions from a single cell
(fertilized ovum)


Figure 1-1 Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition ( Garland Science 2008)
Universal Features of Cells
Cells are the vehicle for the hereditary
information that defines a species

All cells store their hereditary information as
linear DNA code

All cells replicate their hereditary information
by templated polymerization

All cells transcribe portions of their hereditary
information into the same intermediary form
(DNA -> RNA)


Figure 1-2 Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition ( Garland Science 2008)
Universal Features of Cells
All cells use proteins as catalysts

All cells translate RNA into protein the same
way expression of genes is through a
universal mechanism
Figure 1-4 Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition ( Garland Science 2008)
Entire sequence
=expression of
a gene
Figure 1-7a Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition ( Garland Science 2008)
Figure 1-7b Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition ( Garland Science 2008)
Universal Features of Cells
The fragment of genetic information
corresponding to one protein is one gene

A living cell can function with as few as 500 genes (145,018
bytes of information). E.g. Mycoplasma genitalium, a
mammalian parasite
Associated with non-gonococcal urethritis
(since not free living is this cheating?)

Only about 60 of the genes in a given species will have close
relatives in all other species on the planet.
But species that are closely related by evolution will share many,
many more closely related genes.

As an aside, see the The Minimal Genome Project site
description on Wikipedia

Figure 1-14a Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition ( Garland Science 2008)
Figure 1-14b Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition ( Garland Science 2008)
Universal Features of Cells - Genes
New genes arise from existing genes by
intragenic mutation or gene duplication

As a result of mutation and selection, some
genes evolve rapidly, others are highly
conserved

Gene duplications give rise to families of related
genes within a single cell

Gene transfer
Genes are usually transferred to new daughter cells following
during mitosis and meiosis. This handing down of genes to
daughter cells during cell division, asexual and sexual
reproduction is referred to as vertical gene transfer

Outside of reproduction, genes can sometimes be transferred
horizontally between existing organisms or cells both in
nature and the lab.
prokaryote - prokaryote
prokaryote - eukaryote (or vice versa)
via viral vectors (DNA + protein coat) or plasmids (DNA
alone)
eukaryote eukaryote [very rare]
See this Nature article for a summary if you are interested
in horizontal gene transfer in eukaryote evolution.
http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v9/n8/full/nrg2386.html

Figure 1-23 Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition ( Garland Science 2008)
A digression on sex - not a universal feature of cells,
but important nevertheless
In eukaryotes, sex results in large scale transfer
of genes from one cell lineage to another within
a species

Sexual reproduction involves a form of horizontal
gene transfer that combines genes from the two
parent lineages, followed by vertical gene transfer
to offspring.

Reproduction through sex is generally limited to
members of the same species



These mechanisms of gene transfer and duplication,
combine with mutation (divergence), natural
selection and speciation to create diverse gene
families of homologous genes coding for related
proteins.

Homologous genes in a family can be further
subdivided into orthologs and paralogs,
depending on whether they diverged following
speciation or by gene duplication within a species

Orthologous genes often code for proteins with the
same function in different species. Paralogs may
not.
Figure 1-25 Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition ( Garland Science 2008)