Biology Chapters 1 and 2 Overview

Chapter 1: What is Life

• Define sexual and asexual reproduction, providing examples of each.
• Define a cell.
• Define homeostasis and give examples.
• Define metabolism and its relationship to energy.
• Define autotrophs and heterotrophs, providing examples.
• Define an organism.
• Define biology.
• List and describe the characteristics of life, citing examples (Figure 1.1).

Chapter 1: The Process of Science

• Analyze controlled experiments, applying all parts of the scientific method.
• Explain the importance of the controlled variable in an experiment.
• Differentiate between qualitative and quantitative measurements.
• Define a hypothesis, and identify the manipulated and responding variables (independent and dependent) in an experiment.
• Interpret and analyze results from experiments, including claims, evidence, and reasoning.

Chapter 2: The Chemical Basis of Life

• Review Figure 2.8, which depicts water molecule structure.
• Explain how water molecules connect to each other and how oxygen connects to hydrogen.
• Explain why water is a polar compound (considering oxygen's electronegativity).
• Define and explain cohesion, adhesion, surface tension, and capillary action, giving their occurrence reasons.
• Interpret the pH scale and recognize substances as acids, bases, or neutral. Describe neutralization reactions.

Chapter 3: The Molecules of Cells

• Differentiate between organic and inorganic compounds.
• Define monomers and polymers.
• Explain hydrolysis and dehydration synthesis, describing their processes and outcomes.

Chapter 4: Tour of the Cell & Chapter 5: Working of the Cell

• Identify cells with cell walls and those with cell membranes.
• Understand the importance of the surface-area-to-volume ratio in relation to cell size and division, referencing the activity conducted with beets and bleach.
• Differentiate between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
• Provide examples of each cell type.
• Discuss the similarities and differences between eukaryotic cell types (animal vs. plant).
• Explain the functions of various organelles in both animal and plant cells, matching them with their purpose.
• Describe the components of the plasma membrane, noting which parts are hydrophobic and which are hydrophilic.
• Explain the fluid mosaic model of cell membranes, referencing Figure 5.1 and relevant lab activities.
• Explain how cellular transport maintains homeostasis, including definitions of diffusion, osmosis, and selectively permeable.
• Discuss hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic solutions, and how concentration gradients can affect diffusion rates.
• Differentiate between active and passive transport, giving examples of each.
• Define facilitated diffusion and give examples of substances involved.
• Discuss the role of aquaporins in cellular transport.
• Explain the concept of cell lysis and turgidity.
• Explain ATP, ADP, and energy transfer.

Chapter 6: How Cells Harvest Energy & Chapter 7: Photosynthesis

• Determine which cellular respiration processes are aerobic and anaerobic.
• Identify the locations in an organism where aerobic respiration takes place.
• Summarize the processes involved in cellular respiration (glycolysis, Krebs cycle, and ETC+Chemiosmosis (Oxidative Phosphorylation)).
• Describe the role of photosynthesis in energy production and transformation.
• Explain the concept of photosynthesis as a process that utilizes light energy, water, and CO2 to produce glucose.
• Illustrate the main events occurring during the light-dependent and light-independent reactions of photosynthesis.
• Describe the relationships between reactants, products of photosynthesis, and cells.

Chapter 8: The Cellular Basis of Reproduction and Inheritance

• Define interphase (G1, S, G2), cell division, parent cell/daughter cell, chromatin, chromosomes, sister chromatids, centromere, and centrioles.
• Describe the relationship between genes, chromosomes, and nucleotides.
• Explain the stages/phases of the cell cycle and the processes that occur in each stage.
• Define the concept of cell division, specifically mitosis.
• Identify the steps of mitosis by referring to a diagram or description.
• Explain the goal of mitosis, and describe the result of this process.
• Define cancer and apoptosis and related concepts
• Introduce the concepts of meiosis.
• Define gametes, haploid, diploid, crossing over, homologous pairs, and zygote.
• Explain the function of meiosis, its location in cells, number of chromosomes in gametes (sex cells), and the phase in meiosis when homologous chromosomes pair up or cross-over occurs.

Chapter 10:

• Describe the structure of DNA, including its history.
• Explain Chargaff's rule (base pairing rules).
• Explain the purpose of DNA.
• Describe the monomers of DNA (nucleotide structure).
• Explain deoxyribose and ribose in the context of DNA and RNA.
• Explain the roles of DNA polymerase, DNA helicase, and DNA ligase. Discuss leading and lagging strands and Okazaki fragments, and where DNA replication takes place.
• Explain the processes of transcription and translation.
• Discuss steps in mRNA processing.
• Define codons and anticodons; explain their significance.
• Apply information from a codon chart to translate mRNA sequences into amino acids.
• Describe and distinguish between DNA, RNA, proteins, and genes in the context of the Central Dogma.
• Explain the functions of transcription, translation, and replication, highlighting their cellular locations and specific roles in gene expression.
• Indicate the number of codons that constitute a protein.
• Identify the organelles involved in protein synthesis.
• Refer to concepts from relevant labs.