Cell Block Science
Name the three postulates of modern cell theory.
What are: (1) All organisms are made of cells, (2) The cell is the basic unit of life, (3) All cells come from preexisting cells?
What molecule is the universal energy currency of the cell, and how is it produced?
What is ATP, produced during cellular respiration (especially in the mitochondria)?
What mechanism introduces random variation into a population’s gene pool?
What is mutation?
In which organelle do the Krebs cycle and electron transport chain take place?
What is the mitochondrion?
Which type of bacteria would stain pink and has a thin peptidoglycan layer?
What is Gram-negative?
Which two structures are found in all cells, regardless of type?
What are plasma membrane and ribosomes?
How do enzymes speed up reactions?
What is by lowering the activation energy needed for a reaction to begin?
Give an example of natural selection not related to survival, and explain how it supports Darwin’s theory.
What is mate selection (e.g., bright feathers in birds), which affects reproductive success, not just survival?
What enzyme catalyzes the fixation of CO₂ in the Calvin Cycle?
What is RuBisCO?
What’s the term for the watery fluid where metabolic reactions take place in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes?
What is cytoplasm?
Explain why Gram-negative bacteria are harder to treat with antibiotics.
What is they have an outer membrane that protects them from many drugs and immune defenses?
Describe how feedback inhibition regulates metabolic pathways.
What is a product of a pathway binds to an enzyme earlier in the pathway, reducing activity?
Differentiate between divergent and convergent evolution with examples.
What is divergent: same ancestor, different traits (e.g., whale and human limbs); convergent: different ancestor, similar function (e.g., bird and bat wings)?
How many ATP molecules are generated (net) from one glucose molecule in aerobic respiration?
What is approximately 36–38 ATP molecules?
Name the cellular process used by eukaryotic cells to divide their cytoplasm after mitosis.
What is cytokinesis?
Which historical scientist should have received credit for discovering cell division but didn’t? Why?
Who is Robert Remak; his work was published by Rudolf Virchow without credit due to antisemitism?
What is the danger of uncontrolled enzyme activity inside a cell?
What is it can lead to unregulated breakdown or buildup of molecules, disrupting homeostasis?
Why does non-random mating reduce genetic diversity?
What is it promotes certain traits and reduces the spread of others, leading to less variation?
Explain how NAD⁺ and FAD act as electron carriers in respiration.
What is they temporarily store electrons from reactions and donate them to the electron transport chain?
Why don’t antibiotics harm eukaryotic cells if they target ribosomes?
What is bacterial ribosomes (70S) differ from eukaryotic ribosomes (80S), making them selective targets?
Evaluate how the discovery of the nucleus changed our understanding of heredity.
What is it localized DNA and led to recognizing cells as the unit of genetic inheritance?
Explain why enzymes are highly specific to their substrates using the concept of induced fit.
What is the enzyme slightly changes shape to mold around the substrate, ensuring specificity?
How does coevolution support the concept of natural selection?
What is interacting species (e.g., predator and prey) evolve in response to each other’s adaptations?
Compare the energy input/output of the light-dependent and light-independent reactions of photosynthesis.
What is the light-dependent reactions use sunlight to create ATP/NADPH; light-independent use those to produce glucose from CO₂?
Design an argument explaining how endosymbiosis supports the evolution of eukaryotic cells.
What is mitochondria and chloroplasts have their own DNA, ribosomes, and membranes — suggesting they were once independent prokaryotes?