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Gen Bio | Lesson 3: Life's Maintenance Systems

THE NEED TO TAKE IN FOOD

Metabolism
- refers to all the chemical reactions that take place inside an organism's body.
Nutrition
- the intake of food from various sources and the processes that convert food substances into
living matter.

ANIMAL NUTRITION

AUTOTROPHS or SELF-FEEDER
- organisms that produce their own food by converting inorganic components into organic
molecules.
HETEROTROPHS
- organisms that consume organic molecules from other organisms for nutrition.

THREE DIETARY CATEGORIES

HERBIVORES
- exclusive to eating plants.
CARNIVORES
- exclusive to eating flesh.
OMNIVORES
- exclusive to eating plants and animals.

DETRITIVORES
→ also known as DETRITUS FEEDERS OR EATERS.
→ are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients from decaying bodies of plants and animal called
DETRITUS.
SOIL-DWELLING DETRITIVORES:
- earthworms, slugs, and some insects (flies, woodlice and springtails).
WATER-DWELLING DETRITIVORES:
- crabs, sea cucumbers, and sea stars.

TYPES OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM IN ANIMALS

SINGLE-CELLED ORGANISMS process their food right inside their cells through food
vacoules. This digestion process is known as INTRACELLULAR DIGESTION.
e.g. AMOEBA - they eat by surrounding the food particle with their pseudopods or false feet
that fork a bubble-like .

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MULTICELLULAR ORGANISMS nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream after they have
been broken down within the digestive cavity while wastes are excreted out. This process is
known as EXTRACELLULAR DIGESTION.

EXTRACELLULAR DIGESTION happens when food is broken down outside of cells, as

observed in animals with a GASTROVASCULAR CAVITY/INCOMPLETE OR COMPLETE
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

TWO TYPES OF DIGESTIVE SYSTEM IN ANIMALS

* GASTROVASCULAR CAVITY/INCOMPLETE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

- Animals that have a single opening where food and waste pass through. → observed among
simple animals such as Hydra, flatworms, and coelenterates.
* COMPLETE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

FEEDING MECHANISMS OF ANIMALS

I. SUSPENSION FEEDING
- a feeding mechanism used by marine organisms where they use their body parts to move
water toward a feeding structure to sift through the food suspended in water.
II. FILTER FEEDING
- is also the ingestion mode of clams and oysters as a film of mucus on their gills traps tiny bits
of food suspended in water while their gills sweep this food into their mouth.
III. SUBSTRATE FEEDING
- e.g. Earthworms comsume organic matter in soil. They ingest materials directly from the
substrate.
IV. FLUID FEEDING
- e.g. bloodsucking mosquitoes, headlice, and dog ticks have they ingest their food by sucking
nutrient-rich fluid from a living host. Not all fluid feeders are bad as some provide desirable
benefits to their host.
V. BULK FEEDING
- Most higher forms in the animal kingdom are bulk feeders because they ingest large pieces of
food into their mouth.

NUTRIENT UPTAKE IN CELLS AMONG ANIMALS

ENDOCYTOSIS
- the process where large molecules enter a cell, wherein cell the cell membrane bends inward
(invaginates), forming a vesicle that contains the macromolecule to be transported.
- Three types of endocytosis are
● Phagocytosis
● Pinocytosis
● Receptor-mediated Endocytosis

PHAGOCYTOSIS
- also known as "cell eating", a process wherein cells take in large particles through the
infolding of the cell membrane to form endocytic vesicles.
- is used by many single-celled organisms as a means to capture food.
- membrane pseudopodia surrounds and engulfs the macromolecule, packaging them in a
membrane-bound vesicle called a PHAGOSOME.
- is exhibited by white blood cells to capture and kill the invading bacteria, viruses, or worn-out
cells, and is thus crucial when fighting infections.

PINOCYTOSIS
- also known as "cell drinking” a process wherein a cell takes in fluids by th invagination of the
cell membrane that forms a vesicle or .
- micropinocytosis -if the vesicle is small with a diameter of 0.1 µm.
- micropinocytosis - if the vesicle is 1-2 µm in diameter.

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RECEPTOR-MEDIATED ENDOCYTOSIS
- specific molecules can be transported into eukaryotic cells through receptor-mediated
endocytosis.
- this transports low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which brings cholesterol in the body.
- the pit with the right fit is lined with receptor proteins that pick specific molecules from the
surroundings. The pit will close and pinch off to form a vesicle.

STAGES OF FOOD PROCESSING

1. INGESTION
- the act of eating or taking in food via the mouth cavity.
2. DIGESTION
- this involves mechanical and chemical breakdown of large food molecules into soluble and
diusible molecules that can be absorbed by the cells.
- Mechanical digestion is used by animals by chewing or tearing food through their teeth to
break apart large food particles.
- Chemical digestion uses enzymes whereby water is added in hydrolysis to break the
chemical bonds in food.

FEEDING MECHANISMS OF ANIMALS

3. ABSORPTION
- the small molecules in the form of building blocks, will be absorbed by the lining of the
digestive tract.
- these nutrients will travel through the blood to thye body cells, where they will be used by the
cell to rebuild larger molecules or broken down further for energy.
4. ELIMINATION
- undigested food is removed from the digestive tract.

HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

- is composed of a tubular alimentary canal and its accessory glands.
- this tubular gut extends from the mouth and ends in the anus, with most of its length coiled in
digestive tract.
- Ingestion, the initial phase of food processing, starts in the mouth or oral cavity. MUCIN in
saliva helps to soften the food while the teeth play an important role by breaking down food into
smaller pieces. SALIVARY AMYLASE is the enzyme present in saliva that begins the chemical
digestion of food. The TONGUE assists by rolling the food into small, slippery masses of boli
(singular: bolus).
- The food is then swallowed and led into the ESOPHAGUS, a long tube connecting the mouth
and stomach.
- It would take 5-10 seconds for the food to pass from the pharynx down to the esophagus
and into the saclike stomach.
- Muscular ring like valves called SPHINCTERS, regulates the passage of food into and out of
the stomach. It controls the food to stay within the stomach for 2-6 hours to allow stomach acids
and enzymes to continue the digestive process.
- the partially digested food now enters a J-shaped stomach, which lies beneath the diaphragm
and partly covered by the liver.
- The food in the stomach undergoes both physical and chemical digestion.
Peristalsis in the stomach wall churns the food and mixes it well with the gastric juice.
- The stomach is connected to the small intestine through a muscular valve called PYLORIC
SPHINCTER, which controls the food that passes into the small intestine.
→ Small intestine is divided into three:
DUODENUM - first section of the small intestine where most digestion occurs.
JEJUNUM - middle section, responsible for nutrient absorption.
ILEUM - final section, absorbing remaining nutrients and bile salts.

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SMALL INTESTINE
- where terminal digestion of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins occurs, as well as where the
nutrients are absorbed by the blood.
- the process of transport and absorbed nutrients is known as ASSIMILATION.
- between the small intestine and the ascending colon (part of the large intestine), is a small
sac, the CAECUM and the blindly ending APPENDIX.
LARGE INTESTINE
- main function is to absorb water and mineral salts from the undigested food material. After
about 18-24 hours in the large intestine, most of the water contained in undigested food is
absorbed.
- nutrients that are not absorbed in the large intestine form a solid waste known as feces.
FECES
- is made up of dead bacteria and some fat and protein molecules, undigested food, dried out
digested juices, mucus, and discarded intestinal cells, is stored temporarily in the RECTUM.
→ When the RECTUM CONTRACTS, the feces is expelled through an opening called ANUS.
EGESTION OR DEFECATION - process of removing undigested matter from the body.

NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF ANIMALS

SUBSTRATE FEEDING
- e.g. Earthworms consume organic matter in soil. They ingest materials directly from the
substrate.
FLUID FEEDING
- e.g. bloodsucking mosquitoes, headlice, and dog ticks have they ingest their food by sucking
nutrient-rich fluid from a living host. Not all fluid feeders are bad as some provide desirable
benefits to their host.

PLANT NUTRITION
- Plants have an open growth system that requires nutrients as raw materials.
- Plants need two raw materials: Carbon dioxide and Water, to make all the carbohydrates in
their bodies.

NUTRITIONAL ADAPTATION BY PLANTS

- Carnivorous plantations grow in acidic soils that lack the organic nitrogen.
- To compensate for the lack of nitrogen, these plants capture and digest small insects for their
survival and continuous growth.
- Their adaptation includes modifies leaves that could lure and trap insects and small animals.
Inside these plants are digestive enzymes secreted from its various glands.
- Plants also need ammonia (NH3) to build their amino acids, but NH3 is not present in soil.
- Nitrogen-fixing bacteria perform the biological pathway which convert gaseous nitrogen to
ammonia.
- they live in close association with plants through their roots. Some of these bacteria end up
being housed inside the plant tissues called nodules.

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Gen Bio | Lesson 4: The Need To Eliminate Wastes And Other Harmful Substances

ANIMAL EXCRETION
Excretion - removal of metabolic wastes out of the body
e.g. Cnidarians, single-celled organisms like Hydra, excrete by diffusing waste products from
their body cells into the epidermis and out into the water.

HUMAN EXCRETORY SYSTEM

Excretion is the process by which you get rid of toxic chemicals, excess water, salts, and
carbon dioxide, and maintain osmotic and pH balance.
The excretory system provides a way for various wastes to be remove from the body.

KIDNEYS: The main Excretory Organ

Kidneys
- are the main organs of the excretory system, are reddish color and shaped kidney the lower.
- receive and filter almost one liter of blood per minute.
- regulates the amount of water and salts contained in the blood plasma.
- Kidney's three distinct regions: The Renal Cortex (outer layer), Renal Medulla (middle layer),
and Renal Pelvis (becomes the ureter).

Nephrons
- where actual filtering process happens.
→composed of millions of microscopic blood-filtering factories.
→ each nephron is made up of a complex network of tiny tubes surrounded by a tight ball I of
capillaries.
kidneys contain approximately one million of nephrons and each of it is about three
centimeters long.

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PROCESS INVOLVED IN EXCRETION

Kidney's basic process or stages: Filtration, Reabsorption, Secretion, and Elimination

FILTRATION
- starts at the cup-shaped capsule of the nephron called the Bowman's capsule.
- within each Bowman's capsule, a fine network of capillaries called, glomerulus (plural:
glomeruli), can be found.
- the actual filtration process happens in the glomerulus.
- During filtration, the blood pressure inside the glomerulus forces a fluid composed of small
molecules into the hollow interior of the Bowman's capsule. The fluid is now called filtrate.

REABSORPTION
- Reabsorption of nutrients, salts, and most of the water happens in renal tubules.
- Renal tubules are long, narrow tubes connected to the Bowman's capsules.

SECRETION
- during secretion, the filtrate reaches the end portions of the renal tubule.
- substances such as waste and toxic materials, move from the blood into the filtrate. These are
then secreted, forming urine.

ELIMINATION
- the product of filtration, reabsorption and secretion that lead to the ureters, a tube that carry
the urine from the kidney to the urinary bladder.
- the ureters direct the urine into the urinary bladder, a hollow sac that stores urine.
- the bladder holds a maximum of about one pint of urine, but you begin to feel the need to
urinate when it is only one-third full.
- Urine leaves the bladder and exits the body through a tube called the Urethra. It is held close
by a sphincter muscle that controls the flow of urine.
- the elimination of urine from the body through the urethra is called urination.

PLANT EXCRETION
- plants produce relatively little waste because they have less active metabolism as compared to
animals.
- waste gases from the photosynthesis and respiration are excreted through the stomata.
- When the stomata are open, water and carbon dioxide can enter the plant, and light can
combine with both molecules to allow photosynthesis. At the same time, oxygen can escape
through the stomata.
- if the stomata are open too long, the leaves dry out.
- Each stoma has two guard cells surrounding it. The guard cells control the opening and
closing of the stoma.
- When water leaves the guard cells, the guard cells shrink and the stoma closes.