INTRO - What is Cell Biology?

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1. it is a science - of its own? or as a sub-discipline of other studies.

e.g., Botany = Anatomy/Morphology, Taxonomy, Ecology, Pathology, Physiology = Cell Biology

2. It is a route to understand other natural sciences.

 
3. It is interdisciplinary:

cells do universal functions, e.g., membrane transport, work.
there is intuitive predictability, e.g., collagen vs cellulose (fibrillar, self assembly).
they obey the laws of chemistry and physics.


BUDD's LAW = In Biology, one can never say never or never say always.


If you understand cells, you understand, to a large extent, microbes, plants and animals.

Hierarchy of integration in biology:

 STUDY OF:

X - OLOGY

 MOLECULES

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

CELLS

CELL BIOLOGY

TISSUES

PHYSIOLOGY

ORGANS

ANATOMY-MORPHOLOGY

ORGANISMS

ZOOLOGY, BOTANY, MICROBIOLOGY

 GROUPS OF ORGANISMS

 ECOLOGY

 

How do we classify cells?

1. Source - eg. plant, animal, microbe.
root cap cell, kidney cell, hair cell.

2. Structure - astrocyte, hair cell, parenchyma, collenchyma, schlerenchyma.

3. Function - chlorenchyma, dermal, meristematic.

4. Pro & eucaryotic = primitive vs advanced?
= non-compartmentalized vs compartmentalized
= DNA loop+binding proteins vs large DNA+histones in a bag.
= microbes vs animals vs plants? - no
phylogenetic (evolutionary) threshold - yes

Most of the time we find that cells can be classified using all of the above categories. Artificial classification simply allows us to study cells and to group differences that we find among different cells. The problem is that cells don't read our books.

 

While there is some universality among many cell functions and structures, there are many special differences as well.

UNIVERSALITY:

membranes - first cells? ordered structures, closed systems
proteins - do everything, do work, all living cells do work.
coupled reactions - thermodynamics.
most cells make and give off stuff, e.g., viruses
most cells are totipotent
respiration - basic biochemistry, E. coli wild type ---> us
central dogma, genetic code, etc.
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