This unit covers cell structure and function over 18 days. Students will read chapters 6-8, 11-12 from the textbook and cover topics on cellular energy and matter exchange, membrane structure and selective permeability, intercellular and intracellular signaling, subcellular components and interactions, and the cell cycle. Labs include using microscopes to observe cell structures, diffusion and osmosis, and mitosis in onion root tips. Lecture topics focus on comparing prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, animal and plant cells, membrane properties, signal transduction pathways, and the phases of the cell cycle.

1. Unit 3. Cells (18 days)
Textbook and Other Readings
6th edition: Chapters 7, 8, 11, 12
8th edition: Chapters 6,7, 11, 12
Lecture Topics
2.a.1 All living systems require constant input of free energy.
2.a.3 Organisms must exchange matter with the environment to grow, reproduce, and maintain organization.
2.b.1 Cell membranes are selectively permeable due to their structure.
2.b.2 Growth and dynamic homeostasis are maintained by the constant movement of molecules across membranes.
2.b.3 Eukaryotic cells maintain internal membranes that partition the cell into specialized regions.
3.B.2 A variety of intercellular and intracellular signal transmissions mediate gene expression.
3.D.1 Cell communication processes share common features that reflect a shared evolutionary history.
3.D.2 Cells communicate with each other through direct contact with other cells or from a distance via chemical
signaling.
3.D.3. Signal transduction pathways link signal reception with cellular response.
3.D.4. Changes in signal transduction pathways can alter cellular response.
4.A.2: The structure and function of subcellular components, and their interactions, provide essential cellular
processes.
4.B.1: Interactions between molecules affect their structure and function.
4.B.2: Cooperative interactions within organisms promote efficiency in the use of energy and matter.
Laboratory Exercises
Microscopy [C8] from Perry and Morton
o Goal: To properly use and care for a compound light microscope, to make a wet mount
slide, to distinguish between the utility of different types of microscopes (wet lab)
Structure and Function of Living Cells [C8] from Perry and Morton
o Goal: To identify cell parts visible with the compound light microscope, to note
similarities and differences between plant and animal cells, to note similarities and
differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells (wet lab)
®
AP Biology Laboratory 1: Diffusion and Osmosis [C8] [C4]
o Goal: To investigate diffusion and osmosis using dialysis tubing; to relate particle size
and membrane properties, to determine the effects of concentration on diffusion using
dialysis tubing and potato cores (wet lab)
AP® Biology Laboratory 3 (Exercise 3A): Mitosis [C8]
o Goal: To observe mitotic figures in a student-made onion root tip slide, to compare and
contrast animals and plant cell mitosis by observing prepared slides, to determine the
time spent in each phase of mitosis by tallying cells in each phase in prepared onion root
tip slides (wet lab)

2. Chapter 6/7: A tour of the Cell
Prokaryotics vs. Eukaryotic cells
Animal vs. plant cells
Cell organelles
Exoskeleton
Cilia vs. flagella
Intercellular junctions
Chapter 7/8: Membrane Structure and Function
Membrane fluidity
Membrane proteins
Permeability of membrane
Osmosis
Tonicity
Facilitated diffusion
Active Transport
Bulk Transport
Chapter 11: Cell communication
Signal transduction
Stages of signaling
Ligand and G proteins
Role of cyclic AMP
Chapter 12: The Cell Cycle
Phases of cell cycle
Events in mitosis
Cytokinesis in plant vs. animal
Binary fission vs. mitosis
Check points
Cyclins
Chapter 18/19: Eukaryotic Genomes
Cancer: proto-oncogenes, oncogenes
p53 gene
Transposons
Chapter 28: Protists
Diversity in eukaryotes
Endosymbiosis theory