Outline for Week One and Two

1. Cellular Basis of Life • Parts associated with Microscopes

• Cell as the basic unit of life • Precautions when handling a Microscope
• Brief history on the discovery of the cell 3. Plant and Animal cells
• Cell Theory • Similarities between Plant and Animal
• Cell Properties (Diversity, Size, Shape and cells
Organization) • Differences between Plant and Animal
• Similarities and Differences between cells
Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cell • Structure of Plant and Animal cells
2. The Microscope
• Definition of a Microscope 4. Functions of cells and cell organelles
• History of Microscope • Cell Organelles and their functions
• Types of Microscope
• Parts of a Microscope and its functions
2
 1. Cellular Basis of Life
Cell as the basic unit of life  Cell Theory
1. All living things are composed of one or more cells
Cells make up the smallest level of a living organism,
they are found in all plants, animals and bacteria and 2. The cell is the basic unit of life
they carry out certain basic functions. Cells are 3. New cells arise from pre-existing cells (through cell division)
therefore the basic structural and functional units of  Cell Diversity - Not all cells are alike, cells within the same
living organisms (life). organism show diversity in size, shape and internal
organization.
Cell Biology is the branch of biology that deals with Types of cell:
the study of structure, function and history of a cell.
• Plant cell (xylem cell, phloem cell)
Cell History: The cell was first discovered and named • Animal cell (nerve cell, red blood cell, muscle cell)
by Robert Hooke in 1665 when he observed plant
 Cell size
cells using a crude microscope, the first man to
witness a live cell under a microscope was Anton van •unaided
1μm - 200 mm (A few cells are large enough to be seen by the
eye e. g human egg- ovum).
Leeuwenhoek, who described algae in 1674. Later in
the 1830’s two German scientists (Mathias Schleiden  Cell Shape
and Theodor Schwann) proposed that all living things Cells come in variety of shapes depending on the functions.
are composed of cells. In 1858 Rudolf Virchow a • Red blood cells – disc shaped
German physician, after extensive study of cellular • Nerve cells – form branches
pathology, concluded that cells must arise from pre-
existing cells. • Kidney tubules – cubed.
3
 Levels of Organization Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic cells
Cells contain a variety of internal structures known as • Prokaryotes
organelles.
No membrane bound organelles and no true nucleus
An organelle is a cell component that performs a specific
function in the cell, it maintains the life of the cell by carrying e.g. Bacterial cells
out all life processes. Cell organelles include: Nucleus, Cell
membrane, Mitochondria, Chloroplast etc. • Eukaryotes
Well defined membrane bound nucleus and organelles
atom – molecule –organelle – cell – tissue – organ - system - organism e.g. Animal, Plant, Fungi

 Internal organization of cell

• Unicellular – These are organisms made up of a single cell.
These organisms are capable of independent existence i.e. the
single cell carries all the functions of cell, functions like:
digestion, respiration, reproduction and growth. Unicellular
cells are also called acellular organisms example includes:
Amoeba, Euglena, Paramecium.
• Multicellular – These are organisms made up of more than
one cell. Here the cells vary in size and shape depending on
their functions, they can be spherical, oval, cylindrical and
polyhedral in shape examples includes: Plants and Animals.

4
Prokaryotic Cell (Bacterium)

5
A Eukaryotic Cell (Plant Cell)

6
 2. The Microscope
 Microscope  Parts of a Microscope and its functions
A microscope is a high precision optical instrument that 1. Eye piece (ocular): to observe object under study (usually with
uses a lens or a combination of lenses to produce highly
magnified images of small specimens or objects too small to a magnification of x 10)
be seen by the naked eye.
2. Objective lens: the lens closest to the specimen that magnifies
 History of the microscope the object under view.
• Zacharias Janssen and Hans Janssen(about 1590)
3. Nose piece (turret): for rotation of lens while viewing an object.
• Galileo Galilei (1609)
4. Diaphragm: for controlling light while viewing.
• Antony Van Leeuwenhoek (1674)
 Types of Microscope 5. Focus knob: fine tunes the focus and increases the detail of the
specimen.
• Optical microscope(Light microscope)- It relies on light to
observe the magnified image/specimen, the types of light 6. Aperture: The hole in the middle of the stage that allows light
microscope are: from the illuminator to reach the specimen.
1. Compound microscope (High power microscope)
7. Mechanical stage: for placing slides for observation.
2. Stereo or Dissecting microscope (Low power microscope)
8. Safety rack stop: for focusing and moving the mechanical stage
• Electron microscope: Scanning electron microscope
• (SEM) and Transmission electron microscope (TEM) 9. Condenser: for focusing light on the specimen under
observation.
• Fluorescence microscope
• Scanning probe microscope 10. Arm: supports and connects the tube of the microscope to its
base.
• others
11. Base: gives support to the microscope. 7
Microscope accessories Precautions when handling a microscope
• Blank and prepared slides • Always support the microscope with two hands
• Filters when carrying (one hand at the arm and the
other at the base of the microscope).
• Cover slip etc. • When viewing an object/image through the
Terms associated with Microscopes microscope, focus the eye by looking into the
respective eye piece (left eye-left eye piece and
• Magnification – Enlargement of an object i.e. right eye-right eye piece).
the number of times the image is larger than
the object, it is determined by multiplying the • If immersion oil was used, wipe it from the lens
power of the eye piece by the power of the with lens paper at the end of each session of
objective lens being used e.g. use.
40 objective lens X 10 eyepiece = 400(the • Only the 100x objective can be used for
specimen was magnified 400 times) viewing under immersion oil. All other
• Field of View – It is the diameter of the cycle lenses are to be used without immersion oil;
of light that is seen when looking into a keep them dry and avoid applying oil or any
microscope and it is measured in millimeters. liquid to them.
• Turn of the light of the microscope after use.
• Cover the microscope with the microscope
bag/cover when not in use to prevent dust and
other particles that can cause damage to the
microscope.
8
 3. Plant and Animal cells
Similarities between Plant and Differences between Plant and Animal
Animal cells cells
Structure Animal Cell Plant Cell
• They both have the following 1. Cell wall Absent Present (formed of cellulose)
structures: 2. Vacuole Much smaller than of plant Contains one large central
• Cytoplasm cells. It contains one of
more small vacuoles.
vacuole

• Ribosomes 3. Centrioles Present in animal cells Only in lower plants

• Mitochondria 4. Chloroplast Absent Present
5. Plastids Absent Present
• Endoplasmic reticulum (smooth and 6. Cilia Present Most plant cells do not
rough) contain cilia

• Golgi apparatus 7. Shape Round and Irregular in

shape
Fixed rectangular shapes

• Microtubules/ Microfilaments 8. Plasma membrane Only cell membrane Cell wall and a cell membrane

• Flagella 9. Flagella Absent but present in a few Present in some

• Nucleus 10. Lysosomes Occur cytoplasm Usually not evident

9
Plant Cell 10
Animal Cell
11
 4. Functions of cells and cell organelles
Cell Organelles and their functions - Some cell 5. Lysosome - Vesicles containing digestive
organelles and their Functions: enzymes. Where the digestion of cell
1. Cell membrane - The thin layer of protein nutrients takes place.
and fat that surrounds the cell. It is 6. Mitochondrion - The mitochondrion
semipermeable, allowing some substances
to pass into the cell and blocking others. converts the energy stored in glucose into
2. Cell wall - A thick, rigid membrane that ATP (adenosine triphosphate), a high energy
surrounds a plant cell. It gives the cell most molecule, for use by the cell.
of its support and structure.
7. Nuclear membrane - The membrane that
3. Chloroplast - An elongated or disc-shaped surrounds the nucleus.
organelle containing chlorophyll.
Photosynthesis (in which energy from 8. Nucleus – It’s a spherical body surrounded
sunlight is converted into chemical energy - by the nuclear membrane. It contains
food) takes place in the chloroplasts.
mostly DNA in chromosomes. The nucleus
4. Chlorophyll - chlorophyll is a molecule that
can use light energy from sunlight to turn controls many of the functions of the cell
water and carbon dioxide gas into glucose (by controlling protein synthesis). The
and oxygen (i.e. photosynthesis). nucleolus is found within the nucleus.
Chlorophyll is green.
9. Ribosome - Small organelles composed of
RNA. Are sites of protein synthesis. 12