Evolution in the above links is based on current scientific evidence.

Famous scientist quote:
"When on board H.M.S. Beagle as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the organic beings inhabiting South America, and in the geographical relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent."  Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) developed the natural selection theory.

Diversity of life

• Archaea

• Bacteria (Eubacteria)

• Caenorhabditis elegans: a model organism

• Drosophila melanogaster

• E. coli

• Endosymbiosis and the origin of eukaryotes

• Fungi

• Geologic eras

• Invertebrates

• Plants

Try this search facility - just click on the first letter of what you need information on.
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

GEOLOGICAL TIMELINES

Timeline credit: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/classes/zy/0301/comparative_home/comparative_home.html

Geological Timeline Expalined - ETSU
Geological Timeline
Timeline with Evolutionary Dates
More Timeline Dates
Timeline in Text Form

FOSSIL INFORMATION

USGS Information on Fossils and Fossil Hunting
Fossil Image Database

NEW! Periodic Chart of the Elements with correlation to their health aspects - http://www.lenntech.com/periodic-chart.htm
Each element contains a link to a page that explains its chemical properties, and its health effects and environmental effects,  In four languages

Taxonomy/Anthropology - For a good tutorial check

Taxonomy Detailed information and examples and links to database searches are found on our Microscopy Page Paragraph 3.

Classification online textbook

5.  PROTEIN - A study of life starts with chemistry.  All life forms are composed of basic chemical elements.  Atomic elements prefer to exist as molecules.  Earth life thrives on water.  Common water.  The human body for example is about 3/5ths water.  Life is built up from some very common materials.  There is one substance though that is more complicated and vital to life.  It is protein.  A Dutch biochemist, named Mulder, first used the word "protein" in 1838.  He got the word form a Greek word meaning "holding first place."  A protein molecule is quite large compared to fat or sugar molecules.  Although proteins are complicated they consist the elements of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur.  Some parts of the human body contain more than other parts but it exists is some amount in all parts of the body and it is vital for life to exist.  There is no living organism that does not contain protein.  Viruses for example contain a complicated type of protein called nucleoprotein.  Nucleoprotein contains a type of substance called nucleic acid  in association with the protein.  When proteins are exposed to an acid the protein breaks apart into smaller molecules.  These smaller molecules are called amino-acids.  Millions of different proteins can be formed from the combinations of different amino-acid molecules.  Some common proteins are:  keratin, fibroin, collagen, and the important and numerous globular proteins.

Protein Database http://www.expasy.ch/

Difference Patterson Tutorial; PR 613: Protein Structure and Function -Structural Biology I  http://asterix.jci.tju.edu/brenner/pr613.html   Excellent!!

6.  ENZYMES - The word enzyme was first used in 1878 and comes from two Greek words meaning , "in yeast."  All enzymes are globular proteins.  Enzymes control body chemistry.  The enzymes of the human body work by means of surface catalysis (http://www.encyclopedia.com/).  That is the surface of the enzyme enables other molecules to react in a manner they would not without the surface of the enzyme present.  The enzyme being the catalyst is not changed in any manner from the action of the protein.  The human body contains only a small quantity of enzymes but even this small quantity is sufficient.  They are important to many functions including food digestion.   Click HERE (http://www.agron.missouri.edu/enzyme.html) for the enzyme database.  For an explanation of what an enzyme is click here http://www.purchon.com/biology/enzymes.htm

 8.  NUCLEUS -  Within most cells (though not of bacteria and blue-green algae), the largest and one of the most conspicuous structural areas is the nucleus, the control center of the cell.  The nucleus plays the central role in cellular reproduction, the process whereby a single cell undergoes cell division and forms two new cells.  The nucleus directs the metabolic activities of the living cell and guides the life of the cell as long as it lives.  Biologists attach so much importance to the nucleus that they even have a special name, cytoplasm, for all the protoplasm other than the nucleus; the nucleus and the cytoplasm  can thus be thought of as the two major subdivisions of protoplasm.

nucleus (biology) - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about nucleus
nucleus (biology)
MSN Encarta - Nucleus (biology)
TRT DEMO
The Cell Nucleus
The Nucleus - Biology Files
The Cell Nucleus I
Journey into the Cell: The Nucleus

9.  CHROMOSOMES - The chromosomes are elongate, threadlike bodies clearly visible only when the cell in undergoing division.  They are composed of nucleic acid and protein.  The chromosomes bear, apparently in linear arrangement, the basic units of heredity, called genes.  It is the genes that determine the characteristics of cells, as they  are passed form generation to generation, and that act as the units of control  in the day-to-day activities of living cells.  They are the code units of the transmission of bits of information from parent to offspring, and for the determination of the enzymes that so precisely regulate the myriad interdependent chemical reactions of life.  

Chapter 13: Genes and Chromosomes - Biology: The Dynamics of Life
Chromosomes and Gender
Mitosis
The Cell Cycle & Mitosis Tutorial
Karyotyping Activity
Cosmological cell biology
Dr Chromo's school: chromosomes structure
The Cell Nucleus II
Molecular Expressions Cell Biology: Mitosis Interactive Java
EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY: ON CHROMOSOMES AND SEX DETERMINATION

NEW! FREE Software (pDRAW32) to draw DNA Analysis Charts    http://www.acaclone.com/   pDraw32 DOWNLOAD software - pDRAW32 lets you enter a DNA name and coordinates for genetic elements, such as genes, to be plotted on your DNA plots.  pDRAW32 lets you "clone" fragments of DNA generated by virtual digestion with restriction enzymes and optionally blunted at one or both ends. Up to 3 fragments may be cloned at a time (can you replicate that in the lab?). Each fragment may be inverted relative to its original orientation. Genetic elements contained in the cloned fragments are transferred to the cloned DNA. (...and much more!)

We found an excellent Genetics tutorial: Morgan.  You will have to register to view it but it is free. http://morgan.rutgers.edu/MorganWebFrames/htmldocs/register.html

  http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/ - National Human Genome Research Institute)

DNA Laboratory Activities - The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
http://www.woodrow.org/

Isolation of DNA from Onion

DNA without tears!

The Spread of AIDS

A simple experiment using phenopthalein and tubes of water to demonstrate the epidemiology of HIV-1

Separation of a Starch-Glucose Mixture Using Gel Filtration

Fun with Sephadex G-25 columns!

The Cookbook Translator

Students "translate" a lima bean DNA extraction procedure

Protein Assays: Bio Rad and Page Gels

Learn how to use the spectrophotometer and micropipette

Phenotypic and Genotypic Changes in Bacteria

Bacterial tranformations using antibiotic resistant plasmids

Rainbow Electrophoresis

Introduction to electrophoresis

Using Yeast as an Ultraviolet Light Measurement Tool

Measuring UV using yeast cells...adapted from KSU's Yeast Project

Karyotype Alternatives

Two activities for karyotyping: a paper cut out method and a lab usinghuman cells

Cloning of Plasmid and Spinach DNA

Procedure to ligate fragments of genomic DNA from spinach into a vector plasmid; this recombinant DNA is then used to transform Escherichia coli cells.

The Cloning of Plasmid and Spinach DNA

Inserting a spinach genomic clone into a plasmid

Chick Embryology

A couple of easy techniques which can be used to observe the development of a chick embryo

Culturing Plants from Embryonic Plant Tissue

The purpose of this lab is to grow plants in tissue cultures and to see what effect the different concentrations of hormones have on embryodevelopment

Protoplast Production

This activity allows students to strip away the cell walls of plant cells (using enzymes) and then observe the resulting spherical protoplasts

Comparison of Four-, Six-, and Eight-bp Cuts in Calf Thymus DNA

Using restriction enzymes to digest thymus DNA

Demonstrating an Epidemic

An experiment using bacterial cultures to simulate a small scale "epidemic"

Cell Transformation in Tobacco Leaf Disks

A relatively simple plant transformation experiment

Active Ingredient Screening Test for Plants

Students simulate tests done in the field to determine the active ingredients in plants

Ecological Bioassay of Copper Sulfate in Daphnia Magna

This ecological laboratory uses the biotechnological tool of the bioassay to demonstrate the effects of toxic substances on living organisms

 

11.  VIRUS - Viruses are infectious particles that consist of a DNA or RNA molecule packaged in a protein capsid.  A virus can multiply only inside a host cell, whose genetic mechanisms it subverts for its own reproduction.  Both the structure of the virus and its mode of replication differ widely between viruses.  The usual outcome of a viral infection is the lysis (destruction) of the infected cell, with the release of viral particles.  Some viruses, however, can instead become integrated into the host chromosome, where their genes are replicated along with those of the host cell.  Because viruses sometimes carry host DNA sequences from one species to another, they make possible an occasional mixing of different gene pools during their evolution.  Virulent viruses usually kill the cells they infect.  Other viruses, although also often able to kill cells, frequently have a more subtle effect.  These viruses are called temperate.  Virus infected bacteria which appear un-infected but have the hereditary ability to produce phage, are called lysogenic.  (Phage - indicating something that devours another)  The lambda genome has two set of genes, one controlling lytic growth, the other lysogenic growth.  Upon infection, genes promoting both lytic growth and lysogenic integration are expressed.  Which pathway succeeds is determined by the competing action of these early gene products and by the influence of host factors.  The lambda phage is a well studied temperate phage which can grow in synchrony with its host (E.coli) in its lysogenic phase, or go into a lytic phase, when its genome is replicated many times by a rolling circle mechanism.  The lytic cycle is that part of the life cycle of a temperate phage in which it multiplies rapidly, destroying its host and releasing many copies into the medium.  The pathway genes in the lambda immunity region are:  cro, Or, and cI.  The lambda system provides one of the best studied examples of a genetic switch.  Two back-to-back promoters in the region of cI and cro control the genetic switch.  When cI is present it activates its own synthesis and blocks transcription of cro.  When cI is inactivated, transcription of cro can occur, resulting in the lytic cycle.  The cI protein combines with the operator, Or.  Transcription is the process by which an RNA polymerase produces single-stranded RNA complementary to one strand of DNA or, rarely RNA.  Polymerase are enzymes producing a polynucleotide sequence, complementary to a pre-existing template polynucleotide.  DNA polymerase requires a primer from which to start polymerization whereas RNA polymerase does not.  Polymerization is the combination of several molecules to form a more complex molecule, usually by addition or a condensation process.  It is sometimes a reversible process.

VIRONS - http://www.pinkmonkey.com/studyguides/subjects/biology-edited/chap14/b1400001.asp

PIRONS - http://www.miamisci.org/youth/unity/Unity1/Lubens/pages/viroidprion.html

See the 101science.com VIRUS LINKS Page

• Herpes Virus Replication University of California, Irvine

• Hidden Killers: Deadly Viruses ThinkQuest

• Virurs Utra Structure University of Cape Town

• Bacteriophage Life Cycles Gary E. Kaiser at Community College of Baltimore County

• Viruses and Bacteria Cells Alive

• Computer Visualizations of Viruses - Examples Robert M. Bock Laboratories UW-Madison

• All the Virology on the WWW David M. Sander, Ph.D. at Tulane University

• Lytic and Lysogenic Life Cycles Maricopa Community College

• HIV Infection -Check out the sites on the HIV diagram Cells Alive

• Bugs and the Web Public Health for Northern Alberta

• AIDS Lifecycle Museum of Science and Industry

• Mad Cow Disease and Prions Why Files

• Epidemic - The World of Infectious Diseases American Museum of Natural History.

• Nobel Prize on Prions Illustration

BACTERIA

See the 101science.com Bacteria Links Page.

Biology I Reference Sites

Microbes.info - The Microbiology
Information Portal.

Famous scientist quote:
"The sciences gain by mutual support.  When, as the result of my first communications on the fermentations in 1857-1858, it appeared that the ferments, properly so-called, are living beings, that the germs of microscopic organisms abound in the surface of all objects, in th air and in water; that the theory of spontaneous generation is chimerical; ..." Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1895)  developed a method of inoculation of cattle for anthrax proving the efficacy of vaccinations.