Biology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Biology is a
natural science concerned with the study of
life and living
organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.
[1] Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines. Among the most important topics are five unifying principles that can be said to be the fundamental axioms of modern biology:
[2]- Cells are the basic unit of life
- New species and inherited traits are the product of evolution
- Genes are the basic unit of heredity
- An organism regulates its internal environment to maintain a stable and constant condition
- Living organisms consume and transform energy.
Subdisciplines of biology are recognized on the basis of the scale at which organisms are studied and the methods used to study them:
biochemistry examines the rudimentary chemistry of life;
molecular biology studies the complex interactions of systems of biological molecules;
cellular biology examines the basic building block of all life, the
cell;
physiology examines the physical and chemical functions of the
tissues,
organs, and
organ systems of an organism; and
ecology examines how various organisms interact and associate with their environment.
[3]History
The term
biology in its modern sense appears to have been introduced independently by
Karl Friedrich Burdach (1800),
Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (
Biologie oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur, 1802), and
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (
Hydrogéologie, 1802).
[4][5] It is a
classical compound inspired by the
Greek word
βίος,
bios, "
life" and the suffix
-λογία,
-logia, "study of."
Although biology in its modern form is a relatively recent development, sciences related to and included within it have been studied since ancient times.
Natural philosophy was studied as early as the ancient civilizations of
Mesopotamia,
Egypt, the
Indian subcontinent, and
China. However, the origins of modern biology and its approach to the study of nature are most often traced back to
ancient Greece.
[6] While the formal study of medicine dates back to
Hippocrates (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC), it was
Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) who contributed most extensively to the development of biology. Especially important are his
History of Animals and other works where he showed naturalist leanings, and later more empirical works that focused on biological causation and the diversity of life. Aristotle's successor at the
Lyceum,
Theophrastus, wrote a series of books on
botany that survived as the most important contribution of antiquity to the plant sciences, even into the
Middle Ages. Significant advances in the study and development of biology were promoted through the efforts of such
Muslim physicians as the
Afro-Arab scholar
al-Jahiz (781–869) in zoology,
[7] the
Kurdish biologist
Al-Dinawari (828–896) in botany,
[8] and the
Persian physician
Rhazes (865–925) in
anatomy and
physiology. These philosophers elaborated on, expanded, and improved the Greek biological theories and systematics. Medicine was especially well studied by Islamic scholars working in Greek philosopher traditions, while natural history drew heavily on Aristotelian thought, especially in upholding a fixed hierarchy of life.
Biology began to quickly develop and grow with
Antony van Leeuwenhoek's dramatic improvement of the
microscope. It was then that scholars discovered
spermatozoa,
bacteria,
infusoria and the sheer strangeness and diversity of microscopic life. Investigations by
Jan Swammerdam led to new interest in
entomology and built the basic techniques of microscopic
dissection and
staining.
[9]Advances in
microscopy also had a profound impact on biological thinking itself. In the early 19th century, a number of biologists pointed to the central importance of the
cell. In 1838 and 1839,
Schleiden and
Schwann began promoting the ideas that (1) the basic unit of organisms is the cell and (2) that individual cells have all the characteristics of
life, although they opposed the idea that (3) all cells come from the division of other cells. Thanks to the work of
Robert Remak and
Rudolf Virchow, however, by the 1860s most biologists accepted all three tenets of what came to be known as
cell theory.
[10]Meanwhile, taxonomy and classification became a focus in the study of natural history.
Carolus Linnaeus published a basic
taxonomy for the natural world in 1735 (variations of which have been in use ever since), and in the 1750s introduced
scientific names for all his species.
[11] Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, treated species as artificial categories and living forms as malleable—even suggesting the possibility of
common descent. Though he was opposed to evolution, Buffon is a key figure in the
history of evolutionary thought; his work influenced the evolutionary theories of both
Lamarck and
Darwin.
[12]Serious evolutionary thinking originated with the works of
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. However, it was the British naturalist
Charles Darwin, combining the biogeographical approach of Humboldt, the uniformitarian geology of Lyell,
Thomas Malthus's writings on population growth, and his own morphological expertise, that created a more successful evolutionary theory based on
natural selection; similar reasoning and evidence led
Alfred Russel Wallace to independently reach the same conclusions.
[13]The discovery of the physical representation of heredity came along with evolutionary principles and
population genetics. In the 1940s and early 1950s, experiments pointed to
DNA as the component of
chromosomes that held genes. A focus on new model organisms such as
viruses and
bacteria, along with the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA in 1953, marked the transition to the era of
molecular genetics. From the 1950s to present times, biology has been vastly extended in the molecular domain. The
genetic code was cracked by
Har Gobind Khorana,
Robert W. Holley and
Marshall Warren Nirenberg after DNA was understood to contain
codons. Finally, the
Human Genome Project was launched in 1990 with the goal of mapping the general human
genome. This project was essentially completed in 2003,
[14] with further analysis still being published. The Human Genome Project was the first step in a globalized effort to incorporate accumulated knowledge of biology into a functional, molecular definition of the human body and the bodies of other organisms.
Foundations of modern biology
Much of modern biology can be encompassed within five unifying principles: cell theory, evolution, genetics, homeostasis, and energy.
[2]Cell theory
Main article:
Cell theory states that the
cell is the fundamental unit of
life, and that all living things are composed of one or more cells or the
secreted products of those cells (e.g.
shells). All cells arise from other cells through
cell division. In
multicellular organisms, every cell in the organism's body derives ultimately from a single cell in a fertilized
egg. The cell is also considered to be the basic unit in many pathological processes.
[15] Additionally, the phenomenon of
energy flow occurs in cells in processes that are part of the function known as
metabolism. Finally, cells contain hereditary information (
DNA) which is passed from cell to cell during cell division.
Evolution
A central organizing concept in biology is that life changes and develops through
evolution, and that all life-forms known have a
common origin. Introduced into the scientific lexicon by
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck in 1809,
[16] evolution was established by
Charles Darwin fifty years later as a viable theory when he articulated its driving force:
natural selection.
[17][18] (
Alfred Russel Wallace is recognized as the co-discoverer of this concept as he helped research and experiment with the concept of evolution.)
[19] Evolution is now used to explain the great variations of life found on Earth.
Darwin theorized that species and breeds developed through the processes of
natural selection and
artificial selection or
selective breeding.
[20] Genetic drift was embraced as an additional mechanism of evolutionary development in the
modern synthesis of the theory.
[21]The evolutionary history of the
species—which describes the characteristics of the various species from which it descended—together with its genealogical relationship to every other species is known as its
phylogeny. Widely varied approaches to biology generate information about phylogeny. These include the comparisons of
DNA sequences conducted within
molecular biology or
genomics, and comparisons of
fossils or other records of ancient organisms in
paleontology.
[22] Biologists organize and analyze evolutionary relationships through various methods, including
phylogenetics,
phenetics, and
cladistics. (For a summary of major events in the evolution of life as currently understood by biologists, see
evolutionary timeline.)
The theory of evolution postulates that all
organisms on the
Earth, both living and extinct, have descended from a common ancestor or an ancestral
gene pool. This last universal common ancestor of all organisms is believed to have appeared about
3.5 billion years ago.
[23] Biologists generally regard the universality and ubiquity of the
genetic code as definitive evidence in favor of the theory of universal common descent for all
bacteria,
archaea, and
eukaryotes (see:
origin of life).
[24]Genetics
A Punnett square depicting a cross between two pea plants heterozygous for purple (B) and white (b) blossoms
Genes are the primary units of inheritance in all organisms. A
gene is a unit of
heredity and corresponds to a region of
DNA that influences the form or function of an organism in specific ways. All organisms, from bacteria to animals, share the same basic machinery that copies and translates DNA into
proteins. Cells
transcribe a DNA gene into an
RNA version of the gene, and a
ribosome then
translates the RNA into a protein, a sequence of
amino acids. The
translation code from RNA codon to amino acid is the same for most organisms, but slightly different for some. For example, a sequence of DNA that codes for
insulin in humans also codes for insulin when inserted into other organisms, such as plants.
[25][26]DNA usually occurs as linear
chromosomes in
eukaryotes, and circular chromosomes in
prokaryotes. A chromosome is an organized structure consisting of
DNA and
histones. The set of chromosomes in a cell and any other hereditary information found in the
mitochondria,
chloroplasts, or other locations is collectively known as its
genome. In eukaryotes, genomic DNA is located in the
cell nucleus, along with small amounts in
mitochondria and
chloroplasts. In prokaryotes, the DNA is held within an irregularly shaped body in the cytoplasm called the
nucleoid.
[27] The genetic information in a genome is held within genes, and the complete assemblage of this information in an organism is called its
genotype.
[28]Homeostasis
Main article:
Homeostasis 
The
hypothalamus secretes
CRH, which directs the
pituitary gland to secrete
ACTH. In turn, ACTH directs the adrenal cortex to secrete
glucocorticoids, such as
cortisol. The GCs then reduce the rate of secretion by the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland once a sufficient amount of GCs has been released.
[29] Homeostasis is the ability of an
open system to regulate its internal environment to maintain stable conditions by means of multiple
dynamic equilibrium adjustments controlled by interrelated regulation mechanisms. All living
organisms, whether
unicellular or
multicellular, exhibit homeostasis.
[30]To maintain dynamic equilibrium and effectively carry out certain functions, a system must detect and respond to perturbations. After the detection of a perturbation, a biological system normally respond through
negative feedback. This means stabilizing conditions by either reducing or increasing the activity of an organ or system. One example is the release of
glucagon when sugar levels are too low.
Energy
The survival of a living organism depends on the continuous input of
energy. Chemical reactions that are responsible for its structure and function are tuned to extract
energy from substances that act as its food and transform them to help form new cells and sustain them. In this process,
molecules of
chemical substances that constitute
food play two roles; first, they contain energy that can be transformed for biological
chemical reactions; second, they develop new molecular structures made up of biomolecules.
The organisms responsible for the introduction of energy into an ecosystem are known as producers or
autotrophs. Nearly all of these organisms originally draw energy from the sun.
[31] Plants and other
phototrophs use solar energy via a process known as
photosynthesis to convert raw materials into organic molecules, such as
ATP, whose bonds can be broken to release energy.
[32] A few
ecosystems, however, depend entirely on energy extracted by
chemotrophs from
methane,
sulfides, or other non-
luminal energy sources.
[33]Some of the captured energy is used to produce
biomass to sustain
life and provide energy for growth and development. The majority of the rest of this energy is lost as heat and waste molecules. The most important processes for converting the energy trapped in chemical substances into energy useful to sustain life are
metabolism[34] and
cellular respiration.
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