My biocell journal

From this week, I learned about cell cycle. Through SCL activity, we studied that Mitosis is the phase of the cell cycle  where chromosomes  in the nucleus  are evenly divided between two cells.  When the cell division process is complete, two daughter cells  with identical genetic material are produced.  Before a dividing  cell.  enters mitosis, it undergoes a period of growth called interphase. Then, it enters on the mitotic phase which is prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase. Then they reach the final process which is cytokinesis where diplood cells were formed. Then for the second day of class, we touched about totipotency of plant cell. Many somatic plant cells, including some fully differentiated types (e.g. leaf mesophyll), provided they contain intact nuclear, plastid and mitochondrial genomes, have the capacity to regenerate into whole plants. This phenomenon is  totipotency , an amazing developmental plasticity that sets ...

        From this week , I studed about the  endosymbiotic  theory which is a theory stating that the eukaryotes evolved through a process whereby different types of free-living prokaryotes became incorporated inside larger prokaryotic cells and eventually developed into mitochondria, chloroplasts, and possibly other organelles. The Endosymbiotic Theory was first postulated by  Lynn Margulis  in the 1967. Dr.  Margulis  was doing reserarch on the origin of eukaryotic cells. She looked at all the data about prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and organelles.       Mitochondria and chloroplasts have striking similarities to bacteria cells. They have their own DNA, which is separate from the DNA found in the nucleus of the cell. And both organelles use their DNA to produce many proteins and enzymes required for their function. Then, later, a similar event brought chloroplasts  into some eukaryotic cells, creating the lineage that...

      In this week, I learned that cell theory is a theory in biology that includes one or both of the statements that the cell is the fundamental structural and functional unit of living matter and that the organism is composed of autonomous cells with its properties being the sum of those of its cells. Cell theory has three basic points which are all living things are made of cells, the cell is the smallest living thing that can perform all the functions of life and All cells come from pre-existing cells. Scientists that were involved in the discovery of cell is Anton van Leewnhoek, Robert Hooke, Theodore Schwann and Rudolf Virchow         The cell was first discovered  by Robert Hooke in 1665. He remarked that it looked strangely similar to cellula or small rooms which monks inhabited, thus deriving the name. However what Hooke actually saw was the dead cell walls of plant cells as it appeared under the microscope. The lecture also guide me to...

      On the third week, we learned about the evolution of life and we analyzed the timeline from the birth of the planet untill the first cell formed on our planet. From here, I learned that the history of life on Earth began about 3.8 billion years ago, initially with single-celled prokaryotic cells, such as bacteria. The first known single-celled organisms appeared on Earth about 3.5 billion years ago, roughly a billion years after Earth formed.           More complex forms of life took longer to evolve, with the first multicellular animals not appearing until about 600 million years ago. For the next 1.3 billion years (3.8 to 2.5 billion years ago), the Archean Period, first life began to appear and the world's landmasses began to form. Earth's initial life forms were bacteria, which could survive in the highly toxic atmosphere that existed during this time.          The first living things on Earth, single-celled ...

      On the second week, we were asked wp watch a video called "Selection in Action" which was a video focusing about natural selection and artificial selection.       From the video, I concluded that Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in heritable traits of a population over time. Variation exists within all populations of organisms. This occurs partly because random mutations arise in the genome of an individual organism, and offspring can inherit such mutations. Natural selection acts on the phenotype, or the observable characteristics of an organism, but the genetic (heritable) basis of any phenotype that gives a reproductive advantage may become more common in a population. Natural selection is one of the cornerstones of modern biology. The concept, published by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in a joint presentation of papers...

        In this week was my first class for biocell and I was very excited about it. I came to the class 15 minutes early and the class was conducted by the only indian lecturer in my course, Dr.Parameswary. At first, I thought that I will learn more about cell and its application but the first topic that I learned was hidrory which is the evolution of life and the story of Charles Darwin and his discoveries.        I studied that Charles Darwin was a naturalist and in 1831, when je was just only 22 years old, he embarked on a five year survey voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle. His studies and specimens around the globe led him to formulate his theory of evolution and his views on the process of natural selection.  Darwin's theory of evolution is based on key facts and the inferences drawn from them, which was summarised in the video "Endless Form Most Beautiful" dr.Parames was given to me. From that video, I learned that every spec...