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Biology chapter 4

Terms in this set (18)

Prebiotic soup
The medium formed by the slow accumulation of organic molecules in the early oceans of a long period of time prior to the existence of life
Protobiont
Term used to describe the first nonliving structure that could have evolved into a living cell; not capable of precise self reproduction like living cells, but could divide to increase in number
Coacervates
Droplets that form spontaneously from the association of charged polymers such as proteins, carbohydrates, or nucleic acid surrounded by water; 1924 Alexander Oparin
Liposome
A vesticle surrounded by a phospholipid bilayer
RNA function
Has the ability to store information and it's nucleotide base sequence, due to base pairing, it's nucleotide sequence has the capacity for self replication, can perform a variety of catalytic functions
Ribozymes
a biological catalyst that is an RNA molecule
chemical selection
The process that occurs when a chemical within a mixture of a special properties or advantages that cause it to increase in amount. May have played a key role in the formation of an RNA world
chemical evolution
What chemical selection results in. The process by which a population of molecules changes over time to become a new population with a different chemical composition
Chemical selection occurs when certain molecules, such as RNA, Have properties that provide advantages and therefore calls them to increase the number relative to other molecules in the same environment
What is meant by the term chemical selection?
RNA world
A hypothetical period on primitive Earth when both the information needed for life and the enzymatic activity of living cells were contained solely in RNA molecules.
micrograph
A photograph taken through a microscope.
Resolution
In microscope he, the ability to observe two adjacent objects as distinct from one another; a measure of the clarity of an image
contrast
In microscopy, relative differences in the lightness, darkness, or color between adjacent regions in a sample
Magnification
The ratio between the size of an image produced by a microscope and the objects actual size
light microscope
A microscope that utilizes light for illumination
electron microscope
Microscope that uses an electron beam for illumination
Transmission electron microscopy
A type of microscopy in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a biological sample to form an image on a photographic plate or screen
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
A microscope that uses an electron beam to scan the surface of a sample, coated with metal atoms, to study details of its topography.; 3D
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