Biology For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Part 1: Biology Basics 5 Chapter 1: Exploring the Living World 7 It All Starts with a Cell 8 Life Begets Life: Reproduction and Genetics 8 Making the Connection between Ecosystems and Evolution 9 Getting Up Close and Personal with the Anatomy and Physiology of Animals 10 Comparing Plants to People 11 Chapter 2: How Life Is Studied 13 Living Things: Why Biologists Study Them and What Defines Them 13 Defining what it means to be alive 14 Getting savvy about systems 16 Making Sense of the World through Observations 17 Introducing the scientific method 18 Designing experiments 20 Seeing Science as the Constant Sharing of New Ideas 24 Tracking Down Scientific Information 25 Journals: Not just for recording dreams 25 Textbooks: A student's go-to source 26 The popular press: Not always accurate 26 The Internet: A wealth of information, not all of it good 27 Chapter 3: The Chemistry of Life 29 Exploring Why Matter Matters 29 Recognizing the Differences between Atoms, Elements, and Isotopes 31 Bohr ing you with atoms 31 Elements of elements 32 I so dig isotopes 34 Molecules, Compounds, and Bonds 34 Acids and Bases (Not a Heavy Metal Band) 35 Ph iguring out the pH scale 36 Buffing up on buffers 37 Carbon-Based Molecules: The Basis for All Life 38 Providing energy: Carbohydrates 39 Making life possible: Proteins 42 Drawing the cellular road map: Nucleic acids 44 Supplying structure, energy, and more: Lipids 47 Chapter 4: The Living Cell 49 An Overview of Cells 49 Peeking at Prokaryotes 51 Examining the Structure of Eukaryotic Cells 52 Cells and the Organelles: Not a Motown Doo-wop Group 54 Holding it all together: The plasma membrane 55 Supporting the cell: The cytoskeleton 59 Controlling the show: The nucleus 59 Creating proteins: Ribosomes 60 Serving as the cell's factory: The endoplasmic reticulum 60 Preparing products for distribution: The Golgi apparatus 61 Cleaning up the trash: Lysosomes 61 Destroying toxins: Peroxisomes 62 Providing energy, ATP-style: Mitochondria 62 Converting energy: Chloroplasts 62 Presenting Enzymes, the Jump-Starters 63 Staying the same 64 . . . while lowering activation energy 65 Getting some help from cofactors and coenzymes 65 Controlling enzymes through feedback inhibition 66 Chapter 5: Acquiring Energy to Run the Motor 67 What's Energy Got to Do with It? 67 Looking at the rules regarding energy 68 Metabolizing molecules 69 Transferring energy with ATP 69 Consuming food for matter and energy 70 Finding food versus producing your own 71 Photosynthesis: Using Sunlight, Carbon Dioxide, and Water to Make Food 72 Transforming energy from the ultimate energy source 74 Putting matter and energy together 74 Cellular Respiration: Using Oxygen to Break Down Food for Energy 75 Breaking down food 77 Transferring energy to ATP 78 Energy and Your Body 79 Part 2: Let's Talk about Sex, Baby: Cell Reproduction and Genetics 81 Chapter 6: Dividing to Conquer: Cell Division 83 Reproduction: Keep On Keepin' On 83 Welcome to DNA Replication 101 84 Cell Division: Out with the Old, In with the New 88 Interphase: Getting organized 88 Mitosis: One for you, and one for you 91 Meiosis: It's all about sex, baby 93 How Sexual Reproduction Creates Genetic Variation 98 Mutations 99 Crossing-over 99 Independent assortment 99 Fertilization 100 Nondisjunction 100 Pink and blue chromosomes 101 Chapter 7: Making Mendel Proud: Understanding Genetics 103 Why You're Unique: Heritable Traits and the Factors Affecting Them 103 Monk ing Around with Peas: Mendel's Laws of Inheritance 105 Pure breeding the parentals 105 Analyzing the F1 and F2 generations 106 Reviewing Mendel's results 106 Diving into the Pool of Genetic Terminology 107 Bearing Genetic Crosses 108 Studying Genetic Traits in Humans 111 Creating pedigree charts 111 Drawing conclusions about traits 113 Moving Beyond Mendel 113 All the shades of gray in between: Polygenic inheritance 114 When blue and yellow make green: Incomplete dominance 115 Share and share alike: Co-dominance 116 Boys vs girls: Sex-linked inheritance 117 Chapter 8: Reading the Book of Life: DNA and Proteins 119 Proteins Make Traits Happen, and DNA Makes the Proteins 119 Moving from DNA to RNA to Protein: The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology 120 Rewriting DNA's message: Transcription 121 Putting on the finishing touches: RNA processing 124 Converting the code to the right language: Translation 124 Mistakes Happen: The Consequences of Mutation 130 Giving Cells Some Control: Gene Regulation 132 Adapting to environmental changes 133 Becoming an expert through differentiation 133 Chapter 9: Engineering the Code: DNA Technology 135 Understanding Just What's Involved in DNA Technology 136 Cutting DNA with restriction enzymes 136 Using gel electrophoresis to separate molecules 136 Copying a gene with PCR 138 Reading a gene with DNA sequencing 141 Mapping the Genes of Humanity 143 Genetically Modifying Organisms 145 Combining DNA from different sources 145 Using vectors to send in the genes 146 Editing genes with CRISPR-cas 148 The pros and cons of GMOs 151 Part 3: It's a Small, Interconnected World 155 Chapter 10: Exploring the Living World: Biodiversity and Classification 157 Biodiversity: Recognizing How Our Differences Make Us Stronger 157 Valuing biodiversity 158 Surveying the threats posed by human actions 159 Exploring the extinction of species 160 Protecting biodiversity 161 Meet Your Neighbors: Looking at Life on Earth 162 Unsung heroes: Bacteria 162 A bacterial impersonator: Archaeans 163 A taste of the familiar: Eukaryotes 163 Pirates of the living world: Viruses 165 Climbing the Tree of Life: The Classification System of Living Things 167 Mastering the domains 168 Organizing life into smaller and smaller groups 169 Playing the name game 172 Chapter 11: Observing How Organisms Get Along 173 Ecosystems Bring It All Together 173 Biomes: Communities of life 174 Why can't we be friends: Interactions between species 176 Studying Populations Is Popular in Ecology 177 Reviewing the basic concepts of population ecology 177 Discovering how populations grow 180 Taking a closer look at the human population 184 Moving Energy and Matter around within Ecosystems 187 Going with the (energy) flow 189 Cycling matter through ecosystems 192 Chapter 12: Evolving Species in an Ever-Changing World 197 What People Used to Believe 198 How Charles Darwin Challenged Age-Old Beliefs about Life on Earth 199 Owing it all to the birds 199 Darwin's theory of biological evolution 200 The idea of natural selection 201 The Evidence for Biological Evolution 204 Biochemistry 205 Comparative anatomy 205 Geographic distribution of species 206 Molecular biology 207 Fossil record 208 Observable data 208 Radioisotope dating 209 Why So Controversial? Evolution versus Creationism 209 How Humans Evolved 211 Fossil finds 212 Digging into DNA 214 Check out the big brain on the Homo sapiens 215 Part 4: Systems Galore! Animal Structure and Function 217 Chapter 13: Pondering the Principles of Physiology 219 Studying Function at All Levels of Life 219 Wrapping Your Head around the Big Physiological Ideas 221 Evolving the perfect form 221 Balancing the body to maintain homeostasis 222 Getting the message across plasma membranes 224 Recognizing that what comes in, must go out 225 Chapter 14: Moving and Shaking: Skeletal and Muscular Systems 227 Doing the Locomotion, Animal-Style 227 The Types of Skeletal Systems 228 Splitting apart vertebrate skeletons 229 Boning up on bones 229 Joining the movement fun 232 Why Muscles Are So Essential 232 Muscle tissue and physiology 233 Muscle contraction 235 Chapter 15: Going with the Flow: Respiratory and Circulatory Systems 239 Passing Gas: How Animals Breathe 240 Integumentary exchange 240 Gills 241 Tracheal exchange systems 241 Lungs 242 Circulation: Nutrients In, Garbage Out 245 Open circulatory systems 245 Closed circulatory systems 245 Getting to the Heart of Simpler Animals 246 A worm's heart and circulatory system 246 A fish's heart and circulatory system 247 Exploring the Human Heart and Circulatory System 247 Entering the cardiac cycle 250 Navigating the path of blood through the body 251 Seeing what makes your ticker tick 254 A Bloody-Important Fluid 255 The solids found in your essential fluid 255 The plasma stream in your bloodstream 257 How blood clots form 257 Chapter 16: Checking Out the Plumbing: Animal Digestive and Excretory Systems 259 Obtaining Food and Breaking It Down 260 The Ins and Outs of Digestive Systems 261 Incomplete versus complete digestive tracts 261 Continuous versus discontinuous feeders 262 Traveling through the Human Digestive System 262 The busiest stop of all - your mouth 262 The inner workings of your stomach 264 The long and winding road of your small intestine 265 Absorbing the Stuff Your Body Needs 266 How nutrients travel through your body 266 Glucose regulation 267 What's for Dinner? Making Wise, Nutritious Food Choices 268 Carbohydrates: The culprits of your food cravings 268 Proteins: You break down their chains; they build yours 269 Fats: You need some, but don't overdo it 270 Minerals and vitamins: The fuel for your enzymes 272 Exploring the Human Excretory System 272 Getting to know your large intestine and how it eliminates solid wastes 273 Flowing through how your kidneys remove nitrogenous wastes 274 Chapter 17: Fighting Back: Human Defenses 277 Microbial Encounters of the Best and Worst Kinds 278 Good bacteria: Health helpers 278 Bad bacteria: Health harmers 278 Viruses: Conquering one cell at a time 279 Built to Protect You: Innate Human Defenses 279 Your body's best blockers: Skin and mucous membranes 280 Tiny but mighty: Molecular defenders 281 Microbe seeker-outers: Dendritic cells 282 Invader eaters, big and small: Phagocytes 282 Damage control: Inflammation 283 A fluid filterer: The lymphatic system 283 Learning a Lesson: Adaptive Human Defenses 285 Commanders-in-chief: Helper T cells 285 Soldiers on the march: B cells and antibodies 286 Cellular assassins: Cytotoxic T cells 287 Giving Your Defenses a Helping Hand 288 Killing bacteria with antibiotics 288 Fighting viruses with antiviral drugs 290 Getting ahead of the game with vaccines 290 Aging and Ailing: Changes in the Immune System 292 Chapter 18: The Nervous and Endocrine Systems, Messengers Extraordinaire 295 The Many Intricacies of Nervous Systems 296 Distinguishing between the CNS and PNS 296 Branching out to study neuron structure 298 Processing signals with the three types of neurons 298 Acting without thinking 300 What a Sensation! The Brain and the Five Senses 300 Oooh, that smell: Olfaction 301 Mmm, mmm, good: Taste 302 Now hear this: Sound 303 Seeing is believing: Sight 303 A touchy-feely subject: Touch 304 Following the Path of Nerve Impulses 305 Traveling from one end to the other 305 Jumping the gap between neurons 307 The Endocrine System: All Hormones Are Not Raging 309 Seeing how hormones work 310 Surveying the general functions of hormones 311 Chapter 19: Reproduction 101: Making More Animals 313 This Budding's for You: Asexual Reproduction 313 The Ins and Outs of Sexual Reproduction 314 Getting to know gametes 315 Mating rituals and other preparations for the big event 317 How humans mate 321 How Other Animals Do It 325 Developing New Humans 327 From single cells to blastocyst 327 Go, go, embryo 329 Fetal development and birth 329 Differentiation, Development, and Determination 330 The ability to become any type of cell 331 The factors that affect differentiation and development 332 Gender differentiation in humans 333 Part 5: It's Not Easy Being Green: Plant Structure and Function 337 Chapter 20: Living the Life of a Plant 339 Presenting Plant Structure 339 Plant tissues 340 The types of plants 340 Herbaceous versus woody stems 342 Obtaining Matter and Energy for Growth 344 Going It Alone: Asexual Reproduction 345 Mixing Sperm and Eggs: Sexual Reproduction 345 The life of a plant 346 The parts of a flower 347 How pollination and fertilization occur 349 From zygote to embryo 350 A little protection for the embryo: Seeds 350 Chapter 21: Probing into Plant Physiology 351 How Nutrients, Fluids, and Sugars Move through Plants 351 Taking an inventory of the nutrients plants need to survive 352 Transporting water and other nutrients from the ground up 353 Translocating sugars upward and downward through the phloem 355 Controlling water loss 357 Sending Signals with Plant Hormones 358 Part 6: The Part of Tens 361 Chapter 22: Ten Great Biology Discoveries 363 Seeing the Unseen 363 Discovering Penicillin, the First Antibiotic 364 Protecting People from Smallpox 364 Defining DNA Structure 364 Finding and Fighting Defective Genes 365 Discovering Modern Genetic Principles 365 Evolving the Theory of Natural Selection 365 Formulating Cell Theory 366 Amplifying DNA with PCR 366 Editing DNA with CRISPR 366 Chapter 23: Ten Ways Biology Affects Your Life 369 Keeping You Fed 369 Putting Microbial Enzymes to Work 370 Designing Genes 370 Powering the Planet 370 Causing and Treating Infectious Disease 371 Staying Alive 371 Providing You with Clean Water 372 Changing Physically and Mentally 372 Creating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria 373 Facing Extinction 373 Index 375