BIO130H1 Chapter 1: Cells and genomes

• School: UTSG
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIO130H1
• Professor: John Coleman

Document Summary

Heredity is central to definition of life; it distinguishes life from other processes: other processes: burning of a candle, growth of crystal, formation of waves on water. In other processes orderly structures are generated without the same type of a link between the peculiarities of the parent and the peculiarities of the offspring. living organisms consume free energy to create and maintain its organization. free energy drives complex chemical processes that are specified by the hereditary information. All living things are generated by cell division from a single cell. The single cell is the vehicle for the hereditary information that defines the species. Living cells like computers, deal in information, and it has been estimated that they have been evolving and diversifying for over 3. 5 billion years. Mechanisms that make life possible depend on the double stranded dna molecule.