Cells and The Cell Theory

Anton von Leeuwenhoek in Holland Robert Hooke in England Cells were unknown until the invention of microscopes in the 1650’s two scientists working independently built the first microscopes

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek 1600’s Made lenses that could magnify more. Observed many living organisms Looking at Protists called them “Wee Beasties”

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek Leeuwenhoek’s drawings of “animalcules” set off a flurry of amateur and sometimes ridiculous claims, such as: - pondwater animalcules causing madness!

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek and... Human sperm cells contain tiny human beings! Today we can look back and think “crazy,” but at the time people took these ideas very seriously.

Robert Hooke in First to coin term – “Cell” Looked at Cork Looked really at a dead plant cell Only saw the cell wall

Late 1800’s – Charles Spencer developed the modern day compound light microscope Can magnify an object up to 1000 times! Scientists start looking at everything under the microscope and they notice… Every living thing seems to be made up of small units called cells!

1838 Matthias Schleiden – concludes all plants made up of cells Birth of the cell theory… 1839 – Theodore Schwann concludes all animals are composed of cells

Birth of the cell theory… Schleiden & Schwann, in 1839, formally espoused cell theory – Cells are of universal occurrence in living things and Cells are the basic units of an organism

Birth of the cell theory… In 1858, Rudolph Virchow forcefully states the paradigm of cell theory ``All cells come from previous cells’’ Omnis cellula e cellula Thus: all individuals derived from a single celled organism are related and all cells in a multi-celled organism are descended from one fertilized egg.

The Cell Theory The cell theory has three parts: All living things contain at least one cell Cells are the smallest living units of matter Cells can only come from pre-existing cells

The Cell Theory All living things contain at least one cell Many scientists working after Hooke and Leeuwenhoek observed different plants and animals Each of them noted that no matter what they observed, if it was alive it had cells.

The Cell Theory Cells are the smallest living units of matter Scientists quickly realized that when cells were dissected or broken open they died This meant that whatever “life” is, it is something that happens inside cells

The Cell Theory Cells can only come from pre-existing cells does not answer the question of where the first cell came from or how it came to be. has not been disproved yet - no scientist has ever built a living cell from nonliving organic molecules

Spontaneous Generation From pre-historic times to about 1850, most people believed that under the right conditions, living things could spontaneously appear from non-living material.

People throughout the Middle Ages believed that mice could be “created” spontaneously by putting grain in dark, quiet place and leaving it for a few weeks.

The discovery of cells only confused people more- If cells are alive, then where do they come from? Can these almost invisible things appear spontaneously from the air?

Francesco Redi Born 1626 in Italy First to challenge the idea of spontaneous generation or biogenesis Did not accept the common belief that flies magically appeared from rotting meat

Redi’s Experiment Independent variable = cover Dependent variable = presence of flies Hypothesis: If a jar containing rotting meat is covered, then it will produce no flies

Fly eggs Redi’s Conclusions Flies lay eggs, which grow into maggots, which metamorphose into flies If flies can’t lay eggs, then no new flies can grow

Objections to Redi Many people rejected Redi’s claim that flies do not spontaneously generate Their reasoning: “sealing the jar closed prevented a magical essence from entering the rotting meat and bringing it to life” “Scientists seek only to challenge belief systems and stir things up”

Lazzaro Spallanzani Italian Believed microbes that spoil food come from the air and can be killed by boiling Independent variable = air Dependent variable = food spoilage Hypothesis: If air is allowed to reach food, then microbes will get in and cause it to spoil

Spallanzani’s Experiment Flask 1: boiled broth, open Flask 2: boiled broth, sealed shut Results Flask 1 spoiled Flask 2 did not spoil

Objections to Spallanzani Sealing the flask shut blocked the entrance of a magical life force in the air from getting to the broth. Since few people had seen these microbes, few people believed him.

Louis Pasteur France Supported that spontaneous generation is a myth Invented pasteurization (sterilization by heat)

Pasteur’s Experiment An improvement on Spallanzani’s work Used special “swan-neck flasks” that allowed air in but kept bacteria out Independent variable = bacteria Dependent variable = spoiling broth Hypothesis; If boiled broth is kept free of bacteria, then it will not spoil even if air can reach it.

The curved neck allows air in but traps bacteria-carrying dust and dirt particles

Spontaneous generation is dead! Redi didn’t believe in it, and did an experiment using flies Spallanzani didn’t believe in it, and experimented with broth Pasteur disproved it conclusively with his open-air yet spoilage free flasks.

Life from dead stuff= 0 Biogenesis = 3 Experimental method wins out over superstition the cell theory takes hold among ordinary people

Pasteur is the father of modern microbiology supported the last part of the cell theory: cells only come from pre-existing cells identified yeasts as the microbes that change grape juice into wine showed that heat can be used to sterilize foods and preserve them in sealed glass containers, and later cans.

Finally... in the late 1870’s, doctors start to wash their hands and instruments before operating...some even start wearing gloves! Joseph Lister’s wacky idea that antiseptics kill germs catches on...

The cell theory is one of the most important theories in biology. All living things contain at least one cell Cells are the smallest living units of matter Cells can only come from pre-existing cells