1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:01,920 [Instructor] Hello, and welcome 2 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,620 to the first lecture in Module 2. 3 00:00:04,620 --> 00:00:07,380 This lecture is called, "The Cell Perspective". 4 00:00:07,380 --> 00:00:11,760 And what I'd like to do here is to get you to start thinking 5 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:16,200 about biology from this more of a cell-based 6 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:18,180 or a microscopic perspective, 7 00:00:18,180 --> 00:00:21,030 because looking at things from a cell's perspective, 8 00:00:21,030 --> 00:00:23,320 we can start to better understand the role 9 00:00:24,337 --> 00:00:28,783 that genetics is playing in normal function and pathologies. 10 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,753 The human body is made up of between 50 11 00:00:32,753 --> 00:00:36,600 and 100 trillion cells, and we have 12 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,590 about 200 different kinds, different types of cells, 13 00:00:40,590 --> 00:00:42,930 that have completely different functions. 14 00:00:42,930 --> 00:00:45,660 And I'm sure you're quite familiar with some of these, 15 00:00:45,660 --> 00:00:47,940 probably some more than others. 16 00:00:47,940 --> 00:00:50,880 For example, red blood cells have a very specific 17 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,580 and different function from kidney cells, 18 00:00:53,580 --> 00:00:58,580 from neurons in the brain, from cardiomyocytes in the heart, 19 00:00:59,220 --> 00:01:01,770 which have to beat at a particular rhythm, 20 00:01:01,770 --> 00:01:04,320 and in sync with their neighboring cells 21 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:06,630 in order for the heart to function properly. 22 00:01:06,630 --> 00:01:10,980 So, as you can appreciate, they're just a huge variety 23 00:01:10,980 --> 00:01:12,570 and spectrum of different cells. 24 00:01:12,570 --> 00:01:14,760 And with those different cell types, 25 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:18,000 you have different functions that they're performing. 26 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:23,000 And each is very important and necessary for the organism, 27 00:01:23,070 --> 00:01:25,170 as a whole, to function properly. 28 00:01:25,170 --> 00:01:26,850 But it's important to keep in mind 29 00:01:26,850 --> 00:01:29,640 that despite all the variety of different cell types 30 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,100 and the trillions of cells that we have, 31 00:01:32,100 --> 00:01:34,560 each one of them, with a few exception, 32 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,110 contains your full genome. 33 00:01:37,110 --> 00:01:40,500 So each of these cells, even though they're all acting 34 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:41,940 in very different ways, 35 00:01:41,940 --> 00:01:44,940 they each have the same genetic material. 36 00:01:44,940 --> 00:01:46,470 The one exception here that I'm noting, 37 00:01:46,470 --> 00:01:47,970 and I'll note this a couple of times, 38 00:01:47,970 --> 00:01:51,150 that I'd like to mention is mature erythrocytes 39 00:01:51,150 --> 00:01:55,020 or red blood cells, as they have been enucleated, 40 00:01:55,020 --> 00:01:57,300 which means they no longer contain a nucleus, 41 00:01:57,300 --> 00:02:01,230 and they no longer contain nuclear DNA, 42 00:02:01,230 --> 00:02:05,430 or your genome is no longer contained in those cells. 43 00:02:05,430 --> 00:02:08,490 The genome is housed in the cell's nucleus. 44 00:02:08,490 --> 00:02:12,720 So if we're looking at a schematic drawing of a cell 45 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:17,720 or kinda like a generic cell and all of its components, 46 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:21,510 it's not really important that you know the different names 47 00:02:21,510 --> 00:02:23,850 of the components that are all listed here, 48 00:02:23,850 --> 00:02:26,250 I'm just showing you this to give you a perspective 49 00:02:26,250 --> 00:02:28,950 of where in the cell you would find it. 50 00:02:28,950 --> 00:02:32,340 The nucleus, I mean, it depends upon the cell, 51 00:02:32,340 --> 00:02:35,910 but very often found sort of in the middle of the cell 52 00:02:35,910 --> 00:02:39,480 and it has its own membrane to protect it. 53 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:44,480 Contained within the nucleus is all of the genetic material. 54 00:02:46,590 --> 00:02:49,200 One exception to this, and this will be a recurring theme 55 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,540 where I keep saying the one exception to this 56 00:02:51,540 --> 00:02:53,610 because one thing that I'm sure 57 00:02:53,610 --> 00:02:55,170 you're probably familiar with 58 00:02:55,170 --> 00:02:58,320 but is absolutely the case in really any study of biology is 59 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,740 that for every rule there is an exception 60 00:03:01,740 --> 00:03:05,040 and that is going to keep coming up. 61 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:06,630 So I apologize for that. 62 00:03:06,630 --> 00:03:09,000 I'd like to be able to make blanket statements 63 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,290 'cause I know that makes it easier. 64 00:03:10,290 --> 00:03:12,750 And I'll try to do that when possible, 65 00:03:12,750 --> 00:03:15,570 but I will pretty much always have 66 00:03:15,570 --> 00:03:17,940 to make some kind of disclaimer of, 67 00:03:17,940 --> 00:03:20,160 well, there may be a few exceptions. 68 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:22,290 And in this case, so the genome is housed 69 00:03:22,290 --> 00:03:26,310 in the cell nucleus, yes, a very small amount 70 00:03:26,310 --> 00:03:30,402 of specific genetic material related to metabolism 71 00:03:30,402 --> 00:03:34,980 and specifically oxidative phosphorylation is housed 72 00:03:34,980 --> 00:03:37,260 in the mitochondria of cells. 73 00:03:37,260 --> 00:03:41,790 And you can kinda see this little, 74 00:03:41,790 --> 00:03:42,700 these little guys here, 75 00:03:42,700 --> 00:03:45,810 these little yellow jelly bean things 76 00:03:45,810 --> 00:03:50,810 with the folds in there and their membranes here 77 00:03:51,450 --> 00:03:56,450 are depicting mitochondria, they contain a handful of genes 78 00:03:57,510 --> 00:04:00,840 which are specifically related to mitochondria function. 79 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,870 You can say, as a general rule though, 80 00:04:03,870 --> 00:04:08,870 that 99.999% of your genetic material is actually contained 81 00:04:10,410 --> 00:04:12,813 within the cell's nucleus. 82 00:04:14,970 --> 00:04:18,780 So let's take a a zoomed in view here, again. 83 00:04:18,780 --> 00:04:21,300 This what looks like a big hairball 84 00:04:21,300 --> 00:04:26,300 that you might find in your shower is DNA. 85 00:04:27,630 --> 00:04:29,410 So these are strands of DNA 86 00:04:30,690 --> 00:04:33,030 and we'll talk about in a lot more detail 87 00:04:33,030 --> 00:04:34,590 what that means shortly. 88 00:04:34,590 --> 00:04:36,600 Just know that this is where it's located. 89 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:38,100 It's protected from the rest of the cell 90 00:04:38,100 --> 00:04:39,840 through a nuclear membrane. 91 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:42,180 So this is keeping it, your DNA, 92 00:04:42,180 --> 00:04:44,610 your genetic material is very precious 93 00:04:44,610 --> 00:04:46,650 and needs to be protected. 94 00:04:46,650 --> 00:04:51,180 So the cell protects it by keeping it in the nucleus. 95 00:04:51,180 --> 00:04:56,180 All information from your DNA basically will be copied 96 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,210 and sent out through the nucleus 97 00:05:00,210 --> 00:05:04,470 into what's called the cytoplasm of the cell, 98 00:05:04,470 --> 00:05:09,470 which is basically all of the space outside of the nucleus 99 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:13,500 that's not within one of these other structures. 100 00:05:13,500 --> 00:05:16,560 So the cytoplasm, that's literally just 101 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,750 like, the goo within a cell 102 00:05:18,750 --> 00:05:21,000 that is not what are called organelles 103 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:22,920 or these little structures 104 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,083 that have other specific functions. 105 00:05:27,030 --> 00:05:31,235 So again, you do not need to know what is a golgi 106 00:05:31,235 --> 00:05:35,340 or a lysosome or endoplasmic reticulum necessarily. 107 00:05:35,340 --> 00:05:36,870 If you're interested, I'm more than happy 108 00:05:36,870 --> 00:05:38,850 to talk with you about it. 109 00:05:38,850 --> 00:05:42,810 But as it stands, really all it's important here is 110 00:05:42,810 --> 00:05:44,850 to know that there's a nucleus, 111 00:05:44,850 --> 00:05:46,290 it's contained within a cell, 112 00:05:46,290 --> 00:05:50,463 and within the nucleus is housed your genetic information. 113 00:05:51,420 --> 00:05:54,060 All cells came from one fertilized egg. 114 00:05:54,060 --> 00:05:58,080 Here, this is showing a scanning electron micrograph 115 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:00,990 of an egg being fertilized by lots 116 00:06:00,990 --> 00:06:05,610 of very excited go-getter sperm. 117 00:06:05,610 --> 00:06:08,610 One of those lucky guys will make it into the egg 118 00:06:08,610 --> 00:06:09,750 and will fertilize the egg 119 00:06:09,750 --> 00:06:13,113 and will deposit its genetic information. 120 00:06:13,950 --> 00:06:16,980 And from that, it'll form a zygote. 121 00:06:16,980 --> 00:06:21,210 So a fertilized egg will have the full compliment 122 00:06:21,210 --> 00:06:25,770 of DNA that that individual will ever have. 123 00:06:25,770 --> 00:06:28,860 So you start out from day one, really 124 00:06:28,860 --> 00:06:31,590 at the moment of conception is the point 125 00:06:31,590 --> 00:06:34,230 at which all genetic information 126 00:06:34,230 --> 00:06:37,620 that you will really ever have is contained within you. 127 00:06:37,620 --> 00:06:39,690 Now, that's not to say your genetic information 128 00:06:39,690 --> 00:06:41,520 can't change slightly over time, 129 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:45,330 and it certainly does, a very small percentage 130 00:06:45,330 --> 00:06:48,423 of it will mutate or change over time, 131 00:06:49,380 --> 00:06:52,260 but the vast, vast majority of it is going to be identical 132 00:06:52,260 --> 00:06:56,310 to what was present at the time of conception. 133 00:06:56,310 --> 00:06:58,860 So of course this is a single cell. 134 00:06:58,860 --> 00:07:02,820 It then goes on to divide, and I'm sure you're very familiar 135 00:07:02,820 --> 00:07:04,590 with this process, it divides 136 00:07:04,590 --> 00:07:08,460 into multiple cells after that. 137 00:07:08,460 --> 00:07:12,330 And the process of cell division is called mitosis. 138 00:07:12,330 --> 00:07:14,730 And we'll talk about that in more detail 139 00:07:14,730 --> 00:07:16,863 in a subsequent module. 140 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,810 But for now it's just suffice it to say the cell divides 141 00:07:21,810 --> 00:07:26,643 and as it divides, it also duplicates its DNA exactly, 142 00:07:27,660 --> 00:07:31,950 again, within 99.999%, exactly the same 143 00:07:31,950 --> 00:07:34,050 as what it originally started with. 144 00:07:34,050 --> 00:07:37,440 So one cell becomes two, two become four, four become eight, 145 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:38,700 and so on and so on. 146 00:07:38,700 --> 00:07:42,993 And this is during very early stages of development. 147 00:07:44,700 --> 00:07:46,440 So each cell in the human body contains 148 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:47,820 the same DNA originally found 149 00:07:47,820 --> 00:07:49,620 in the fertilized egg at conception. 150 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:53,850 So here are a few exceptions that, again, I have to note. 151 00:07:53,850 --> 00:07:55,530 One is mature erythrocytes, 152 00:07:55,530 --> 00:08:00,300 which again, do not contain any nuclear genetic material 153 00:08:00,300 --> 00:08:03,450 because they do not contain a nucleus, 154 00:08:03,450 --> 00:08:06,810 and egg and sperm, which only contain half 155 00:08:06,810 --> 00:08:10,590 of the DNA that you started with 156 00:08:10,590 --> 00:08:12,600 at the time of conception. 157 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:16,230 Because when an egg and sperm fuse, you don't want 158 00:08:16,230 --> 00:08:21,230 to have twice as much DNA as you would want in the end. 159 00:08:21,810 --> 00:08:25,500 We'll talk about this again in another module in the future 160 00:08:25,500 --> 00:08:28,410 when we talk about the process of meiosis. 161 00:08:28,410 --> 00:08:31,980 So each cell in your body has the same DNA, roughly, 162 00:08:31,980 --> 00:08:34,920 but each cell has very different function. 163 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:36,153 So how does this happen? 164 00:08:37,710 --> 00:08:39,390 We're not going to spend a lot of time on this, 165 00:08:39,390 --> 00:08:42,630 but cell differentiation is the process 166 00:08:42,630 --> 00:08:47,630 in which cells take on unique characteristics and functions. 167 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,960 All starting though from that original same cell, 168 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,680 divide, divide, divide, become a blastocyst stage. 169 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:58,650 And then you have gastrulation, and I imagine you've come 170 00:08:58,650 --> 00:09:02,253 across this in other coursework that you've had. 171 00:09:03,780 --> 00:09:07,050 In the gastrula stage of development 172 00:09:07,050 --> 00:09:10,593 it's still very early on, very early zygote stage, 173 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:13,440 there are different layers. 174 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,220 And each of these layers will become different types 175 00:09:17,220 --> 00:09:20,370 of, can become different types of cells depending 176 00:09:20,370 --> 00:09:22,950 upon signaling events around them. 177 00:09:22,950 --> 00:09:26,070 Now again, they still contain the same DNA, 178 00:09:26,070 --> 00:09:28,770 but the way that the cell goes 179 00:09:28,770 --> 00:09:32,670 about basically becoming different from another cell 180 00:09:32,670 --> 00:09:35,880 with both of them having the same DNA, is 181 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:40,770 that one cell will start to express, 182 00:09:40,770 --> 00:09:44,310 which means turning on or turning off, 183 00:09:44,310 --> 00:09:46,530 or it can also mean slightly turning up 184 00:09:46,530 --> 00:09:49,380 or turning down the the level 185 00:09:49,380 --> 00:09:52,710 to which the gene is expressed. 186 00:09:52,710 --> 00:09:55,320 So while all cells possess the same genes, 187 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,110 some turn off or turn on subsets of genes 188 00:09:58,110 --> 00:10:00,120 and this is called gene expression, 189 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:02,730 which enables only the necessary functions. 190 00:10:02,730 --> 00:10:06,240 So in the case of, let's take for example a neuron 191 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,210 in the brain, you do not want a neuron 192 00:10:09,210 --> 00:10:12,120 in the brain secreting insulin. 193 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:13,530 There's no reason for it. 194 00:10:13,530 --> 00:10:15,210 It would be detrimental potentially 195 00:10:15,210 --> 00:10:17,670 to the surrounding tissue 196 00:10:17,670 --> 00:10:20,043 and it would be confusing to the body. 197 00:10:21,060 --> 00:10:25,860 So instead in, for example, the pancreatic cells 198 00:10:25,860 --> 00:10:29,160 where you would have expression of insulin, 199 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:30,720 you would not have expression 200 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,093 of say, a neurotransmitter receptor, 201 00:10:34,110 --> 00:10:36,330 but in the neuron you would have expression 202 00:10:36,330 --> 00:10:39,450 of a neurotransmitter receptor gene, 203 00:10:39,450 --> 00:10:44,450 but you would not have expression of the insulin gene. 204 00:10:46,350 --> 00:10:49,050 So you can imagine this multiplied by thousands 205 00:10:49,050 --> 00:10:50,757 and thousands when we're talking about different genes 206 00:10:50,757 --> 00:10:53,070 and different combinations of genes. 207 00:10:53,070 --> 00:10:56,520 This allows for all of the unique characteristics 208 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,743 that we see in different types of cells. 209 00:11:01,410 --> 00:11:03,690 So here, I'm just giving you a few images 210 00:11:03,690 --> 00:11:05,880 of different types of cells, 211 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,640 and I'm sure you've seen many of these, 212 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:10,200 if you've done any kind of mic, 213 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,233 if you've done some microscopy work or pathology work. 214 00:11:15,030 --> 00:11:18,690 So here, just to give you kind of a gamut 215 00:11:18,690 --> 00:11:22,080 of different types of cells and morphologies, 216 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,330 dermal fibroblasts so found in the skin 217 00:11:24,330 --> 00:11:27,690 which provide elasticity and strength to the skin. 218 00:11:27,690 --> 00:11:29,280 So they form these sheets. 219 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:31,380 And as you can see the cell or maybe you, 220 00:11:31,380 --> 00:11:35,733 hopefully you can see the cells are kind of outlined here. 221 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,420 These are individual cells that I'm sort of drawing 222 00:11:39,420 --> 00:11:40,530 around with the arrow. 223 00:11:40,530 --> 00:11:43,950 This would be one cell, this would be another cell. 224 00:11:43,950 --> 00:11:46,050 And they form these sheets 225 00:11:46,050 --> 00:11:47,760 so they're actually connected to one another. 226 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:50,430 And they need to do that so that the skin can provide 227 00:11:50,430 --> 00:11:52,743 the barrier that's necessary. 228 00:11:53,610 --> 00:11:57,960 Compare that with a neuron where you have, you know, 229 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,030 very different morphology. 230 00:12:00,030 --> 00:12:01,710 This is the center of the cell 231 00:12:01,710 --> 00:12:04,290 and it sends out all of these processes 232 00:12:04,290 --> 00:12:07,200 and connects with cells in its surrounding environment, 233 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:08,520 but in a very different way. 234 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:11,220 And as you can see, it looks quite different. 235 00:12:11,220 --> 00:12:13,770 T cells on the other hand, which are, of course, 236 00:12:13,770 --> 00:12:16,080 immune cells and they float around in the body, 237 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,740 they're not adhered to any particular substrate 238 00:12:19,740 --> 00:12:22,170 like a dermal fibroblast would be, 239 00:12:22,170 --> 00:12:25,050 which basically stay put in the skin. 240 00:12:25,050 --> 00:12:27,930 T cells are floating around in the body 241 00:12:27,930 --> 00:12:30,540 and clearly have very different morphology, as well. 242 00:12:30,540 --> 00:12:32,850 And it's necessary for their function. 243 00:12:32,850 --> 00:12:36,350 Compare that with erythrocytes, mature erythrocytes 244 00:12:36,350 --> 00:12:40,860 in which I wanted to show here just an image 245 00:12:40,860 --> 00:12:42,270 of some erythrocytes. 246 00:12:42,270 --> 00:12:45,480 You can see they have, as I'm sure you're familiar, 247 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:46,410 they have that characteristic 248 00:12:46,410 --> 00:12:48,780 round dented shape in the center. 249 00:12:48,780 --> 00:12:50,640 And part of the reason why it's dented is 250 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:52,020 because the nucleus is gone. 251 00:12:52,020 --> 00:12:54,480 The nucleus is normally sitting kind of in the middle 252 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:58,080 and would sort of press the cell membrane out. 253 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:00,240 And it also allows for greater surface area 254 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:01,860 for oxygen to bind. 255 00:13:01,860 --> 00:13:04,680 So, you know, each of these has its own function, 256 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:06,270 has its own characteristics, 257 00:13:06,270 --> 00:13:09,210 yet they all have the same genetic material. 258 00:13:09,210 --> 00:13:11,430 So let's summarize what we've talked about here. 259 00:13:11,430 --> 00:13:15,180 The human body is made up of 50 to 100 trillion cells. 260 00:13:15,180 --> 00:13:18,540 The cells contain their genome in the nucleus, 261 00:13:18,540 --> 00:13:20,700 so that's where it's housed. 262 00:13:20,700 --> 00:13:23,520 A fertilized egg contains the complete genome, 263 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:25,950 which is replicated each time the cell divides 264 00:13:25,950 --> 00:13:29,160 and cell division is called mitosis. 265 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,290 All cells in a person's body originated 266 00:13:31,290 --> 00:13:35,460 from the same fertilized egg, thus have the same genome 267 00:13:35,460 --> 00:13:39,210 because with each cell division, the cell replicates 268 00:13:39,210 --> 00:13:43,143 its genome and passes that on to all subsequent cells. 269 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,620 Even though all cells in a person's body have 270 00:13:46,620 --> 00:13:48,420 the same genetic sequence, 271 00:13:48,420 --> 00:13:50,490 cells take on very different characteristics 272 00:13:50,490 --> 00:13:52,860 by expressing genes in different ways. 273 00:13:52,860 --> 00:13:55,680 So turning some genes off or on, 274 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:57,870 or even just up or down slightly 275 00:13:57,870 --> 00:13:59,820 can make a big difference in terms 276 00:13:59,820 --> 00:14:03,360 of the functionality of the cell. 277 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,060 We'll talk more about gene expression, 278 00:14:06,060 --> 00:14:07,290 what that means and some 279 00:14:07,290 --> 00:14:10,950 of the details of that in module three. 280 00:14:10,950 --> 00:14:13,170 So what's next in this module? 281 00:14:13,170 --> 00:14:17,040 The next lecture video I'd like you to watch is entitled 282 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:18,750 The Structure of DNA. 283 00:14:18,750 --> 00:14:22,650 And then in that one, we're going to start 284 00:14:22,650 --> 00:14:26,160 to talk a little bit about the actual physical structure 285 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:31,160 of DNA, how it's housed in the nucleus. 286 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:35,253 The final lecture for this module is The Central Dogma, 287 00:14:36,330 --> 00:14:39,300 which almost sounds more philosophical than scientific, 288 00:14:39,300 --> 00:14:44,300 but this was such an enormous advancement 289 00:14:45,150 --> 00:14:48,240 in the understanding of not just genetics 290 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,550 but molecular biology as a whole 291 00:14:50,550 --> 00:14:53,760 that it is, I think, rightly still called 292 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:56,940 The Central Dogma, which is we'll use 293 00:14:56,940 --> 00:15:01,940 to understand what exactly does DNA do. 294 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:04,020 So we'll talk about that 295 00:15:04,020 --> 00:15:07,680 in the third lecture in this module. 296 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:11,580 So until then, I look forward to speaking 297 00:15:11,580 --> 00:15:13,860 with you on the Structure of DNA. 298 00:15:13,860 --> 00:15:14,823 Thanks very much.