Biology Study Guide -- Biology 100

Chapter 4: A Tour of the Cell

• Remember that cells are constrained to a small size because of the need to
efficiently take in nutrients and discard wastes via the plasma membrane. As
cell size increases, which changes more rapidly, volume or surface area?
Many egg cells are not microscopic, as is true of most cells, but are visible
with the unaided eye. Which cells have a greater surface area relative to their
volume, large cells or small cells?

• Vocabulary (be familiar with the correct spelling and formal definition or
explanation of each term).

Become familiar with the functions for each organelle. For instance the
rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) modifies polypeptides into proteins,
synthesizes phospholipids, and transports molecules to the Golgi apparatus
for further modification:

(I recommend creating a table and filling in the pertinent information for each
cell component.)

prokaryotic chromosome chromatin Golgi apparatus

eukaryotic nuclear envelope rough ER lysosome

organelle nucleolus smooth ER peroxisome

vacuole

chloroplast: mitochondrion:

granum cristae

stroma matrix

• I will include an illustration of a plant and animal cell on the exam. Can you
label the various organelles?

• Plant cells and animal cells have important differences. Remember that plant
cells have these structures that are absent from animal cells: cell wall, large
central vacuole, and chloroplasts.

• Internally how do prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells differ? One of the
most important ways is the absence of a nucleus within prokaryotic cells. In
 what other ways do they differ? Consider size in your answer. Which group
of organisms has prokaryotic cells?

• I mentioned four characteristics common to all cells (prokaryotic and

eukaryotic). What are these? (Hint -- One of these is the presence of a
plasma membrane.)

• Remember that the cytoskeleton is composed of fibers called

microfilaments and microtubules. What are the functions of these fibers,
and which is hollow and which solid?

• Remember that cilia and flagella are both surface structures found on some
cells, and both have a 9 + 2 arrangement of microtubules. What does this
say about the arrangement of microtubules? Which of the two structures
(cilia or flagella) is smaller and more abundant on the cells on which they
occur?

• Remember that plant cell walls are largely made of cellulose, and adjacent
cells share molecules via plasmodesmata. Animal cells lack a cell wall, and
adjacent cells share molecules via cell junctions. What are
plasmodesmata?

Chapter 5: The Working Cell

• Vocabulary (be familiar with the correct spelling and formal definition or
explanation of each term):

kinetic energy endergonic reaction

potential energy exergonic reaction

1st law of thermodynamics metabolism

2nd law of thermodynamics

• What is the ultimate source of energy for nearly all life on Earth?

• Which releases and which stores energy, endergonic or exergonic

reactions? Which results in products that have more energy than the
reactants?

• Remember that ATP is the cell's main energy currency and couples
endergonic and exergonic reactions. When ATP is broken down into ADP +
Pi, is this an endergonic or exergonic reaction? Which type of chemical
 reaction is the break down of ATP, hydrolysis or dehydration synthesis?
When small molecules combine to make large molecules, are these
endergonic or exergonic reactions? In which organelle is most of a cell's
ATP produced? Remember that ATP is a nucleotide in which the atoms are
covalently bonded. Are the electrons shared or transferred between
covalently bonded atoms?

• Be familiar with the more important traits of enzymes. For instance, they are
usually proteins, and they speed up the rate of chemical reactions by
reducing the amount of activation energy required. What other traits are
common to enzymes? How do temperature and pH affect enzyme activity?
What are cofactors? What is an active site for any enzyme, and what is
meant by induced fit?

• One way to control the amount of substances produced in cells is to control

the synthesis of enzymes. Alternatively, it is possible to control the activity of
enzymes. Be familiar with these means of control: competitive inhibition,
noncompetitive inhibition, and negative feedback. Which method uses
the end product to control enzyme activity?

• Remember that all cell membranes are selectively permeable. Cell

membranes are made of phospholipids, containing hydrophilic (polar)
heads (phosphate + glycerol) and hydrophobic (nonpolar) fatty acid tails.
Because of this certain molecules pass freely, others require some input of
energy for passage, and others cannot pass at all. Be familiar with the
meanings of these terms as related to movement across cell membranes:

passive transport hypertonic facilitated diffusion endocytosis

diffusion hypotonic active transport exocytosis

osmosis isotonic phagocytosis pinocytosis

In which direction is the net flow of water if the cell is 1) hypertonic, 2) hypotonic, or 3) isotonic with
regard to the surrounding tissues? Why is the fluid mosaic model a good concept for cell membranes?

Chapter 6: How Cells Harvest Energy

• Remember that all organisms undergo cellular respiration. What is the

importance of cellular respiration? It is to generate ATP from food,
particularly glucose. Some organisms undergo aerobic respiration, while
others undergo anaerobic respiration. How do these two types of cellular
respiration differ with regard to the requirement for oxygen and the amount of
 ATP produced? What is ATP used for? Aerobic respiration yields much
ATP. However, most of the energy (~60%) of glucose cannot be harvested to
yield ATP. Why? What happens to this energy?

• Can you memorize the summary equation for aerobic respiration?

Does aerobic respiration (breakdown of glucose) involve largely exergonic

or endergonic reactions? Is the breakdown of glucose a hydrolysis or
dehydration synthesis reaction? Is glucose oxidized or reduced as a result of
cellular respiration? (Hint -- see the bulleted statement above)

• Know the difference between oxidation (LEO) and reduction (GER), and
know that these reactions are always coupled.

• What are the three stages (e.g., glycolysis) in aerobic respiration, and in
which region of the cell do the stages take place? For each stage, know the
net yield of ATP. The production of ATP is not the most important event for
either glycolysis or Krebs cycle. What is the most important event? During
which stage of aerobic respiration is CO2 released? What are substrate
level phosphorylation and chemiosmotic coupling? Which yields more
ATP?

• Remember that fermentation is a type of anaerobic respiration, and

glycolysis is the first stage. What is the net yield of ATP? Pyruvic acid is
converted to ethanol during alcoholic fermentation, and it is converted to
lactic acid during lactic acid fermentation. Why is it important to convert
pyruvic acid? Which organisms produce the alcoholic beverages sold for
human consumption?

• What is the most important source of energy storage in our bodies? If

someone consumes a high protein or high carbohydrate diet, will the diet
indeed be fat free?