BIOL108 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Sewage Treatment, Botulinum Toxin, Cyanobacteria

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Biology (Biological Sciences)
• Course: BIOL108
• Professor: Lien Luong

Document Summary

Biol 108 - lecture #9 - origin of species and prokaryotes. Prokaryotes: first fossil evidence: ~3. 5 bya, first unicellular organisms (ancestral primitive) Small: stromatolites: layers of bacterial mats and sediments; rock-like, dominate the biosphere in present time. Due to diversity of places where they live (eg. anaerobic areas: structure. Not central to having but have important, useful functions. Cellulose is for plant cell walls; chitin is for fungi. Only way for nutrients to reach the cell is going from outside --> inside. Takes time when you"re bigger ,whereas smaller cells" process of diffusion is more efficient. Smaller = interior parts closer to outside environment: reproduction. Short generation time --> high mutation rate ---> increases genetic diversity: exchange of genetic information. Vertical is from parents; horizontal is from environment. Naked dna picked up from dead bacteria in surrounding environment. Sometimes by accident, when producing new viruses the host.