[Physiology 3140A] - Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (25 pages long!)

• School: Western University
• Department: Physiology
• Course: Physiology 3140A
• Professor: John Di Guglielmo

Document Summary

The study of how cells work together to perform functions in a living organism: incorporates genetics, cell biology, biochemistry, etc, all bout intra-, inter-cell communication. Key point is that cells are packed with complexity, hard to illustrate them with only a few organelles. Packed environments: issues with molecules finding each other. Solved by compartmentalization (by membranes), guided signaling, micro-domains of signaling. Once proteins find each other however, they actually interact better because they are pushed together by surrounding proteins/molecules. Once compartmentalized, proteins undergo modification: e. g. transport to the membrane makes it much easier to find a partner protein. Contain dna: cells need dna to function; instructions for life, contained in a highly ordered fashion, easy access to specific portions of dna for cellular use, some cells do not contain dna: e. g . red blood cells, skin cells. Require energy: replication of dna (high fidelity; exact copy, separation of dna for replication, production of rna and proteins, signal propagation.