This is the study guide that I offer students for the final of the Introductory Cell Biology course that I teach. Even if you are taking Cell Bio with a different instructor, or if you just have questions about cell biology, you may find this guide helpful.
Cell Biology Lecture Power Points
Click here to go to the main page of Cell Biology PowerPoints; a page with links to each of the PowerPoint lectures that this study guide is based on.
Study Guide for Introductory Cell Biology
Lecture Topic 1 – Scientific Method
o
Know the names and scientific contributions of any historical figures
that we covered and how the examples we discussed relate to the
scientific method (such as spontaneous generation debate and Edward Jenner's first vaccine).
o What is Scientific Method and what are the steps involved?
o Difference between scientific law and theory.
o What is the difference between science, nonscience & pseudoscience?
o Understand how to apply the steps of the scientific method as if you were describing the implementation of an actual experiment (such as our pillbug experiment).
Lecture Topic 2 – Inorganic Chemistry
o Understand atoms, molecules, compounds, isotopes and the basics of chemical shorthand as we discussed.
o Understand the different types of bonds that we discussed: ionic, covalent and hydrogen.
o Understand the different types of reactions that we discussed: synthesis (such as dehydration reaction), decomposition (such as hydrolysis reaction), and exchange.
o What is a redox reaction? What does it mean for something to be oxidized? Reduced?
o What is an ion and how does it relate to acids, bases and salts?
o What is an isotope?
o Compare and contrast acids bases and salts.
o Know enough about the pH scale to understand which numbers represent acidic, neutral and basic substances.
o What are buffers, and why are they important in the study of microorganisms?
Lecture Topic 3 - Organic Chemistry
o What is the difference between an inorganic and an organic molecule?
o What are carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids made of? What is the monomer (subunit) of each organic molecule called? What is the polymer called?
o Understand the 4 levels of protein structure.
o What is the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat?
o What are the different types of lipids that we discussed?
o What is a nucleotide made of? What are some of the important nucleotides and nucleic acids that we discussed?
Lecture Topic 4 – Prokaryotic Cells
o What is a cell (and what is not)?
o Know the three components of cell theory.
o Understand differences and similarities between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells; Be able to ID prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic.
o Know the structural components of prokaryotic cells.
o Diffusion, osmosis, different types of transport. Understand the different ways that molecule can move across the plasma membrane.
o Understand osmosis and tonicity (isotonic, hypertonic, hypotonic), and be able to solve a tonicity problem (i.e. If I describe a situation of a specific type of cell sitting in a specific type of solution, be able to tell me which way water would move, into or out of the cell.)
o Understand the importance of the prokaryotic cell wall. What makes a Gram+ cell different than a Gram- cell; how the differences impact control of microorganisms.
o Know the example prokaryotes that we discussed in lecture and the information that was provided with each example.
Lecture Topic 5 – Eukaryotic Cells
o What is a cell (and what is not)?
o Know the structural components of eukaryotic cells (organelles & other cellular components).
o
Know the components of the eukaryotic endomembrane system and how this
system of membranes functions to move materials into, out of, and
within the cell.
o Diffusion, osmosis, different types of transport. Understand the different ways that molecule can move across the plasma membrane.
o Understand osmosis and tonicity (isotonic, hypertonic, hypotonic), and be able to solve a tonicity problem (i.e. If I describe a situation of a specific type of cell sitting in a specific type of solution, be able to tell me which way water would move, into or out of the cell.)
Lecture Topic 6 – Enzymes
o What is an enzyme? What is it made of? What does it do / How does an enzyme work?
o Is an enzyme used up in a chemical reaction?
o Can a specific enzyme facilitate any chemical reactions or only a specific type? If specific, what is the enzyme specific to?
o What is the enzyme-substrate complex?
o What is the difference and similarity between a substrate and a reactant?
o What factors can affect enzyme activity?
o What is the term for when an enzyme’s shape is changed so that it can no longer work?
o What is a cofactor?
o What are the two types of enzyme inhibitors that we discussed and how do they affect the enzyme?
o We discussed 2 enzyme examples in class: catecholase and bromelain. What reactions do each of these enzymes catalyze?
Lecture Topic 7 – Biochemical Pathways - Aerobic Respiration
o Understand difference between catabolism / anabolism and what these reactions have to do with metabolism.
o Understand what a redox reaction is and what this type of reaction has to do with metabolism.
o Understand what ATP is and its significance in metabolism.
o Understand the steps of aerobic cellular respiration to the detail that we discussed in class (starting molecule, end product molecule, what is produced in each pathway or subpathway…as we discussed, you do not need to know the name of every molecule at every substage of these processes).
o Where does the energy originate? How is it captured? What organelles and pigments are involved?
Lecture Topic 8 - Biochemical Pathways - Anaerobic Respiration, Fermentation and Metabolism of Other Molecules
o Understand what anaerobic respiration and fermentation are and how they differ from aerobic respiration.
o Which biochemical pathways are involved in fermentation?
o How many ATP molecules can an anaerobic organism that uses fermentation create from one molecule of glucose?
o What other molecules can go through the biochemichal pathways of aerobic respiration.
o How do protein molecules enter the catabolic biochemical pathways of aerobic respiration? How must proteins be processed or changed in order to enter the pathways of aerobic respiration?
o How do fat molecules enter the catabolic biochemical pathways of aerobic respiration? How must fats be processed or changed in order to enter the pathways of aerobic respiration?
Lecture Topic 9 – DNA & Replication
o Compare features of viral, prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes.
o What is DNA made of? Know the structural components.
o Understand the process of replication. (Don’t let the brief sentence fool you; this is a lot of complex info. Make sure you understand it to the level that was presented to you in the lecture PPTs).
o What does semiconservative replication mean?
o Explain how the DNA molecule is antiparallell.
o How does the antiparallell nature of DNA affect replication?
o What is a replication bubble?
o What is the difference between the lagging and the leading strand of DNA?
o What is a genetic mutation?
Lecture Topic 10 – RNA & Protein Synthesis (DNA Transcription & Translation)
o Understand the processes of transcription & translation. (Don’t let the brief sentence fool you; this is a lot of complex info. Make sure you understand it to the level that was presented to you in the lecture PPTs).
o What nucleic acid base is used in the construction of RNA that is not utilized in DNA molecules? What nucleic acid based is not used in RNA molecules that is used in the construction of DNA?
o How is transcription similar to replication? How is it different?
o What types of RNA are involved in translation and what are their roles?
o What is the ‘triple code’? What is its role in the structure of proteins build through translation?
Lecture Topic 11 - Mitosis
o What is the relationship between replication and mitosis?
o What are the two main phases of the cell cycle?
o What are the stages of mitosis, and what happens at each phase?
o If DNA is condensed into chromosomes, is the cell in interphase or mitosis?
o If the DNA is condensed into chromosomes, can replication, transcription and translation occur?
o If the DNA is not condensed, if it is in the form of chromatin, is the cell in interphase or mitosis?
o If a cell has a total of 6 chromosomes, how many chromosomes will each of its daughter cells have?
o What is cytokinesis and when does it occur?
o How does cytokenesis of a plant and animal cell differ?
o What are homologous chromosomes? What does a pair of unduplicated homologues look like?
o What are sister chromatids? How do homologues and sister chromatids differ?
Lecture Topic 12 – Meiosis
o Make a list to contrast and compare mitosis and meiosis. You do have some PPT slides to help you make these comparisons. But after you’ve studied, see if you can make a list on your own, from memory.
o How many nuclear divisions occur in mitosis? Meiosis?
o What separates during meiosis I? What separates during meiosis II?
o What is independent assortment?
o What is crossing over?
o Know the phases of meiosis I and meiosis II.
o If a cell with 6 chromosomes divides to form gametes, how many chromosomes will the resulting gametes each have?
o What were the 3 things that we discussed which increase genetic diversity in sexually reproducing organisms?
o Other than fostering genetic diversity, what other advantage is there to sexual reproduction (I am looking for a Biology Answer. ‘Sex is fun’ is not the answer I am looking for here).
o In order to make sure that you understand what goes on during the phases of mitosis and meiosis, practice with paper models like we did in class, or draw it out. This will help you truly understand.
Lecture Topic 13 & 14 – Human Genetics
o Genotypes, phenotypes, alleles, homozygous, heterozygous; know what these things are.
o Understand what potential genotype underlies a dominant or a recessive phenotype (remember the bent finger examples and the other examples of simple inheritance that we covered in the chart.)
o Understand Mendel’s Laws of Dominance, Segregation and Independent Assortment.
o Understand the genetic terms; character, trait, hybridization, true-bred, P generation, F1 and F2 generations.
o Be able to do a Punnett Square Cross for simple traits, as we covered in class
o What does codominance mean?
o Use the Genetics Worksheet to practice and help you develop your understanding of Punnett Squares, Simple Inheritance, Probability and the other things we worked on during the last lecture.
Genetics Sample Science Tests Organic Chemistry
Inorganic Chemistry Cell Biology Immunology
Sources
Content
Bauman, R. (2005) Microbiology.
Campbell, N. and Reece, J. (2005) Biology,Seventh Edition.
Park Talaro, K. (2008) Foundations in Microbiology.
Images
References to be updated.
