Introduction to Biology

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• Biology is the study of life and living organisms.

Characteristics of Living Organisms

• Growth: Increase in mass and number of cells.
• Reproduction: Production of new individuals.
• Metabolism: Sum total of all chemical reactions occurring in the body.
• Consciousness: Awareness of the surroundings.
• Cellular organization: Living organisms are made up of cells.

Biodiversity

• Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth, including genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity.
• Need to study variety of living organisms and their classification.

Taxonomy

• Taxonomy is the science of classification of organisms.
• Systematics: Study of evolutionary relationships between organisms.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

• Kingdom, Phylum/Division, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
• Species is the basic unit of classification.

Five Kingdom Classification

• Proposed by R.H. Whittaker (1969).
• Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia.
• Main criteria for classification include cell structure, body organization, mode of nutrition, reproduction, and phylogenetic relationships.

Kingdom Monera

• Includes bacteria, archaea, and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae).
• Bacteria are prokaryotic, unicellular organisms.
• Modes of nutrition: autotrophic or heterotrophic.
• Examples: Escherichia coli, Streptococcus.

Kingdom Protista

• Includes unicellular eukaryotic organisms.
• Examples: Protozoans, algae (e.g., diatoms, dinoflagellates).
• Modes of nutrition: autotrophic or heterotrophic.

Kingdom Fungi

• Includes eukaryotic, multicellular (except yeast) organisms.
• Cell wall made of chitin.
• Modes of nutrition: heterotrophic (saprophytic or parasitic).
• Examples: Mushrooms, molds, yeast.

Kingdom Plantae

• Includes eukaryotic, multicellular, photosynthetic organisms.
• Cell wall made of cellulose.
• Examples: Mosses, ferns, conifers, flowering plants.

Kingdom Animalia

• Includes eukaryotic, multicellular, heterotrophic organisms.
• Lack cell walls.
• Examples: Invertebrates (e.g., insects, worms) and vertebrates (e.g., fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals).

Viruses

• Not included in the five-kingdom classification.
• Acellular, infectious agents.
• Composed of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) and a protein coat (capsid).
• Reproduce only inside a host cell.

Biological Classification

• Artificial systems: Based on easily observable characters.
• Natural systems: Based on natural affinities.
• Phylogenetic systems: Based on evolutionary relationships.

Morphology of Flowering Plants

• Root, stem, leaf, inflorescence, flower, fruit, and seed.

Root

• Types: Taproot, fibrous root, adventitious root.
• Functions: Absorption of water and minerals, anchorage, storage, synthesis of plant growth regulators.

Stem

• Functions: Support, conduction, storage, protection, vegetative propagation.

Leaf

• Functions: Photosynthesis, transpiration.
• Parts: Leaf base, petiole, lamina.
• Types: Simple, compound.
• Venation: Reticulate, parallel.

Inflorescence

• Arrangement of flowers on the floral axis.
• Types: Racemose, cymose.

Flower

• Parts: Calyx, corolla, androecium, gynoecium.
• Aestivation: Valvate, twisted, imbricate, vexillary.
• Placentation: Marginal, axile, parietal, free central, basal.

Fruit

• Developed from the ovary after fertilization.
• Parts: Pericarp (epicarp, mesocarp, endocarp) and seed(s).
• Types: Simple, aggregate, composite.

Seed

• Parts: Seed coat, cotyledons, embryo axis.
• Types: Dicotyledonous, monocotyledonous.

Plant Families

• Fabaceae (legume family), Solanaceae (potato family), Liliaceae (lily family).

Anatomy of Flowering Plants

• Tissues: Meristematic and permanent.
• Meristematic: Apical, lateral, intercalary.
• Permanent: Simple (parenchyma, collenchyma, sclerenchyma) and complex (xylem, phloem).

Tissue System

• Epidermal, ground, vascular.

Anatomy of Root, Stem, and Leaf

• Dicot and monocot.

Animal Tissues

• Epithelial, connective, muscular, neural.

Epithelial Tissue

• Covering or lining tissue.
• Types: Squamous, cuboidal, columnar, ciliated, glandular.

Connective Tissue

• Supports and connects other tissues.
• Types: Loose (areolar, adipose), dense (tendons, ligaments), specialized (cartilage, bone, blood).

Muscular Tissue

• Responsible for movement.
• Types: Skeletal, smooth, cardiac.

Neural Tissue

• Controls and coordinates body activities.
• Neurons and neuroglia.

Morphology of Animals

• Earthworm, cockroach, frog.

Cell: The Unit of Life

• Cell theory: Schleiden and Schwann.
• Cell structure: Prokaryotic and eukaryotic.
• Prokaryotic cell: Bacteria, mycoplasma, PPLO.
• Eukaryotic cell: Protists, fungi, plants, animals.

Cell Membrane

• Composition: Lipids, proteins, carbohydrates.
• Fluid mosaic model.
• Functions: Transport, cell signaling.

Cell Wall

• Plants: Cellulose.
• Bacteria: Peptidoglycan.
• Fungi: Chitin.

Cell Organelles

• Endoplasmic reticulum (ER): Smooth and rough.
• Golgi apparatus.
• Lysosomes.
• Vacuoles.
• Mitochondria.
• Plastids: Chloroplasts, chromoplasts, leucoplasts.
• Ribosomes.
• Cytoskeleton.
• Cilia and Flagella.
• Centrosome and Centrioles.
• Nucleus.

Biomolecules

• Carbohydrates: Monosaccharides, disaccharides, polysaccharides.
• Proteins: Amino acids, peptides, polypeptides.
• Lipids: Fatty acids, glycerol, triglycerides, phospholipids.
• Nucleic acids: DNA and RNA.
• Enzymes.

Cell Cycle and Cell Division

• Cell cycle: Interphase, M phase.
• M phase: Mitosis and meiosis.
• Mitosis: Prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase.
• Meiosis: Meiosis I and meiosis II.
• Significance of mitosis and meiosis.

Transport in Plants

• Means of transport: Diffusion, facilitated diffusion, active transport.
• Plant-water relations: Water potential, osmosis, plasmolysis, imbibition.
• Long distance transport of water: Water movement up a plant.
• Transpiration: Process and significance.
• Phloem transport: Source to sink.

Mineral Nutrition

• Essential mineral elements.
• Macronutrients and micronutrients.
• Role of macronutrients and micronutrients.
• Deficiency symptoms.
• Nitrogen cycle.

Photosynthesis in Higher Plants

• Photosynthetic pigments.
• Light reaction (photochemical phase).
• Dark reaction (biosynthetic phase or Calvin cycle).
• C4 pathway.
• Photorespiration.
• Factors affecting photosynthesis.

Respiration in Plants

• Glycolysis.
• Krebs cycle.
• Electron transport system (ETS).
• Aerobic and anaerobic respiration.
• Respiratory quotient (RQ).

Plant Growth and Development

• Growth regulators: Auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, ethylene, abscisic acid.
• Photoperiodism.
• Vernalization.

Digestion and Absorption

• Human digestive system: Alimentary canal and digestive glands.
• Digestion of food: Mouth, stomach, small intestine.
• Absorption of digested products.
• Disorders of the digestive system.

Breathing and Exchange of Gases

• Respiratory organs in animals.
• Human respiratory system.
• Mechanism of breathing.
• Exchange of gases.
• Transport of gases.
• Respiratory volumes and capacities.
• Disorders of the respiratory system.

Body Fluids and Circulation

• Blood: Composition.
• Blood groups.
• Coagulation of blood.
• Lymph.
• Human circulatory system: Heart, blood vessels, circulation pathways.
• Cardiac cycle.
• Electrocardiogram (ECG).
• Disorders of the circulatory system.

Excretory Products and Their Elimination

• Modes of excretion: Ammonotelism, ureotelism, uricotelism.
• Human excretory system: Kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, urethra.
• Urine formation.
• Function of the tubules.
• Regulation of kidney function.
• Disorders of the excretory system.

Locomotion and Movement

• Types of movement: Amoeboid, ciliary, flagellar, muscular.
• Human skeletal system: Bones and joints.
• Muscles: Structure of skeletal muscle, mechanism of muscle contraction.
• Disorders of the muscular and skeletal systems.

Neural Control and Coordination

• Neuron: Structure and types.
• Nerve impulse: Generation and conduction.
• Synaptic transmission.
• Central nervous system: Brain and spinal cord.
• Peripheral nervous system.
• Reflex action and reflex arc.
• Human eye and ear.

Chemical Coordination and Integration

• Endocrine glands and hormones.
• Human endocrine system: Hypothalamus, pituitary, pineal, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, pancreas, gonads.
• Mechanism of hormone action.
• Disorders due to hormonal imbalances.

Reproduction in Organisms

• Types of reproduction: Asexual and sexual.
• Asexual reproduction: Binary fission, budding, fragmentation, vegetative propagation.
• Sexual reproduction: Events (pre-fertilization, fertilization, post-fertilization).

Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants

• Pre-fertilization: Structure of flowers, microsporogenesis, megasporogenesis, pollination.
• Fertilization.
• Post-fertilization: Development of endosperm and embryo, formation of seed and fruit.
• Apomixis and polyembryony.

Human Reproduction

• Male reproductive system.
• Female reproductive system.
• Gametogenesis: Spermatogenesis and oogenesis.
• Menstrual cycle.
• Fertilization and implantation.
• Pregnancy and embryonic development.
• Parturition and lactation.

Reproductive Health

• Problems and strategies.
• Population explosion and birth control.
• Medical termination of pregnancy (MTP).
• Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
• Infertility and assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

Principles of Inheritance and Variation

• Mendel's laws of inheritance.
• Inheritance of one gene and two genes.
• Chromosomal theory of inheritance.
• Linkage and crossing over.
• Sex determination.
• Genetic disorders: Mendelian and chromosomal.

Molecular Basis of Inheritance

• DNA: Structure.
• DNA packaging.
• DNA replication.
• Transcription.
• Genetic code.
• Translation.
• Gene expression and regulation.
• Human genome project (HGP).
• DNA fingerprinting.

Evolution

• Origin of life.
• Theories of evolution: Lamarckism, Darwinism.
• Mechanism of evolution.
• Hardy-Weinberg principle.
• Types of natural selection.
• Human evolution.

Human Health and Disease

• Common human diseases: Infectious and non-infectious.
• Immunity: Types of immunity, immune system.
• AIDS, cancer, drug and alcohol abuse.

Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production

• Animal husbandry.
• Plant breeding.
• Single cell protein.
• Tissue culture.

Microbes in Human Welfare

• Microbes in household products, industrial production, sewage treatment, energy generation, biocontrol agents, biofertilizers.

Biotechnology: Principles and Processes

• Principles of biotechnology.
• Tools of recombinant DNA technology.
• Processes of recombinant DNA technology.

Biotechnology and Its Applications

• Biotechnology in agriculture: Genetically modified crops.
• Biotechnology in medicine: Insulin, gene therapy.
• Transgenic animals.
• Ethical issues.

Organisms and Populations

• Organisms and their environment.
• Populations: Population interactions, population growth.

Ecosystem

• Structure and function.
• Productivity.
• Decomposition.
• Energy flow.
• Ecological pyramids.
• Ecological succession.
• Nutrient cycles.
• Ecosystem services.

Biodiversity and Conservation

• Importance of biodiversity.
• Loss of biodiversity.
• Biodiversity conservation: In-situ and ex-situ.

Environmental Issues

• Air pollution and its control.
• Water pollution and its control.
• Solid waste management.
• Radioactive waste management.
• Greenhouse effect and global warming.
• Ozone depletion.
• Deforestation.