The document is a checklist for IGCSE Biology Test 1, covering the characteristics and variety of living organisms, including eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms, as well as viruses. It outlines the levels of organization in organisms and details cell structures and their functions, emphasizing the importance of cell differentiation and the role of enzymes in metabolic reactions. Additionally, it includes practical investigations related to food samples and enzyme activity under varying conditions.
The document is a checklist for IGCSE Biology Test 1, covering the characteristics and variety of living organisms, including eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms, as well as viruses. It outlines the levels of organization in organisms and details cell structures and their functions, emphasizing the importance of cell differentiation and the role of enzymes in metabolic reactions. Additionally, it includes practical investigations related to food samples and enzyme activity under varying conditions.
The document is a checklist for IGCSE Biology Test 1, covering the characteristics and variety of living organisms, including eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms, as well as viruses. It outlines the levels of organization in organisms and details cell structures and their functions, emphasizing the importance of cell differentiation and the role of enzymes in metabolic reactions. Additionally, it includes practical investigations related to food samples and enzyme activity under varying conditions.
The document is a checklist for IGCSE Biology Test 1, covering the characteristics and variety of living organisms, including eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms, as well as viruses. It outlines the levels of organization in organisms and details cell structures and their functions, emphasizing the importance of cell differentiation and the role of enzymes in metabolic reactions. Additionally, it includes practical investigations related to food samples and enzyme activity under varying conditions.
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CHECKLIST FOR IGCSE BIOLOGY TEST 1
1 The nature and variety of living organisms 🙂 😐 ☹️ Revised
a) Characteristics of living organisms 1.1 understand how living organisms share the following characteristics: • they require nutrition • they respire • they excrete their waste • they respond to their surroundings • they move • they control their internal conditions • they reproduce • they grow and develop a) Variety of living organisms 🙂 😐 ☹️ Revised 1.2 describe the common features shown by eukaryotic organisms: plants, animals, fungi and protoctists
Plants: these are multicellular organisms; their cells contain chloroplasts and are able to carry out photosynthesis; their cells have cellulose cell walls; they store carbohydrates as starch or sucrose. Examples include flowering plants, such as a cereal (for example maize) and a herbaceous legume (for example peas or beans).
Animals: these are multicellular organisms; their cells do not contain chloroplasts and are not able to carry out photosynthesis; they have no cell walls; they usually have nervous co-ordination and are able to move from one place to another; they often store carbohydrate as glycogen. Examples include mammals (for example humans) and insects (for example housefly and mosquito).
Fungi: these are organisms that are not able to carry out photosynthesis; their body is usually organised into a mycelium made from thread-like structures called hyphae, which contain many nuclei; some examples are single-celled; their cells have walls made of chitin; they feed by extracellular secretion of digestive enzymes onto food material and absorption of the organic products; this is known as saprotrophic nutrition; they may store carbohydrate as glycogen. Examples include Mucor, which has the typical fungal hyphal structure, and yeast, which is single-celled.
Protoctists: these are microscopic single-celled organisms. Some, like Amoeba,
that live in pond water, have features like an animal cell, while others, like Chlorella, have chloroplasts and are more like plants. A pathogenic example is Plasmodium, responsible for causing malaria. 1.3 describe the common features shown by prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria
Bacteria: these are microscopic single-celled organisms; they have a cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm and plasmids; they lack a nucleus but contain a circular chromosome of DNA; some bacteria can carry out photosynthesis but most feed off other living or dead organisms. Examples include Lactobacillus bulgaricus, a rod-shaped bacterium used in the production of yoghurt from milk, and Pneumococcus, a spherical bacterium that acts as the pathogen causing pneumonia. 1.4 understand the term ‘pathogen’ and know that pathogens may include fungi, bacteria, protoctists and viruses Viruses: these are not living organisms. They are small particles, smaller than bacteria; they are parasitic and can reproduce only inside living cells; they infect every type of living organism. They have a wide variety of shapes and sizes; they have no cellular structure but have a protein coat and contain one type of nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA. Examples include the tobacco mosaic virus that causes discolouring of the leaves of tobacco plants by preventing the formation of chloroplasts, the influenza virus that causes flu and the HIV virus that causes AIDS. 1 The nature and variety of living organisms 🙂 😐 ☹️ Revised a) Level of organisation 2.1 describe the levels of organisation in organisms: organelles, cells, tissues, organs and systems (b) Cell structure 🙂 😐 ☹️ Revised 2.2 describe cell structures, including the nucleus, cytoplasm, cell membrane, cell wall, mitochondria, chloroplasts, ribosomes and vacuole. 2.3 describe the functions of the nucleus, cytoplasm, cell membrane, cell wall, mitochondria, chloroplasts, ribosomes and vacuole. 2.4 know the similarities and differences in the structure of plant and animal cell. 2.5B explain the importance of cell differentiation in the development of specialised cells 2.6B understand the advantages and disadvantages of using stem cells in medicine c) Biological molecules 2.7 Identify the chemical elements present in carbohydrates, proteins and lipids (fats and oils) 2.8 describe the structure of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids as large molecules made up from smaller basic units: starch and glycogen from simple sugars, protein from amino acids, and lipid from fatty acids and glycerol 2.9 practical: investigate food samples for the presence of glucose, starch, protein and fat 2.10 understand the role of enzymes as biological catalysts in metabolic reactions 2.11 understand how temperature changes can affect enzyme function, including changes to the shape of active site 2.12 practical: investigate how enzyme activity can be affected by changes in temperature 2.13 understand how enzyme function can be affected by changes in pH altering the active site 2.14B practical: investigate how enzyme activity can be affected by changes in pH
