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This is a representative list of topics covered in our Grade 12 Biology program - however all programs will be customized for the individual student.
CELL BIOLOGY
- Cell Structure
- Enzymes
- Prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells (including those from plants and animals)
- Viruses - complexity and general structure
- Central Dogma of molecular biology
- Role of the endoplasmic reticulum
- Golgi apparatus
- Usable energy captured from sunlight by chloroplasts
- Role of the mitochondria
- Macromolecules (polysaccharides, nucleic acids, proteins, lipids) in cells and organisms
- Chemiosmotic gradients in the mitochondria and chloroplast - ATP production
- Eukaryotic cells - cytoskeleton, cell wall
GENETICS
- Meiosis
- Random chromosome segregation
- Fertilization
- DNA sequence
- Role of chromosomes in determining an individual's sex
- Possible combinations of alleles in a zygote from the genetic makeup of the parents
- Probable outcome of phenotypes in a genetic cross from the genotypes of the parents Mode of inheritance (autosomal or X-linked, dominant or recessive)
- Mendel's laws of segregation and independent assortment
- Mode of inheritance from a pedigree diagram showing phenotypes
- Estimating genetic distances between loci, and to interpret genetic maps of chromosomes
- Using tRNAs to translate genetic information in mRNA
- Genetic coding rules to predict the sequence of amino acids
- Mutations in the DNA sequence of a gene - effects
- Specialization of cells in multicellular organisms
- Proteins - number and sequence of amino acids, different shapes and chemical properties
- General structures and functions of DNA, RNA, and protein
- Base-pairing rules to explain precise copying of DNA during semi-conservative replication
- Transcription of information from DNA into mRNA
- Genetic engineering (biotechnology) - production of novel biomedical and agricultural products
- Basic DNA technology to construct recombinant DNA molecules
- Exogenous DNA inserted into bacterial cells
ECOLOGY
- Biodiversity
- Changes in an ecosystem
- Fluctuations in population size in an ecosystem
- Water, carbon, and nitrogen - cycle between abiotic resources and organic matter in the ecosystem
- Oxygen cycles via photosynthesis and respiration
- Stability of producers and decomposers in an ecosystem
- Food Pyramid
- Accommodation of an individual organism to its environment
- Gradual adaptation of a lineage of organisms through genetic change
EVOLUTION
- Effect of natural selection on the phenotype of an organism
- Lethal alleles in a homozygous individual carried in a heterozygote
- New mutations in a gene pool
- Variation within a species - survival under changed environmental conditions
- Conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in a population
- The Hardy-Weinberg equation to determine the predicted frequency of genotypes
- Natural selection - differential survival of groups of organisms
- Effects of genetic drift
- Effects of reproductive or geographic isolation
- Analyzing fossil evidence
- Comparative embryology
- Branching diagram (cladogram) that shows probable evolutionary relationships
- Estimating how long ago various groups of organisms diverged evolutionarily from each other
PHYSIOLOGY
- Complementary activity of major body systems
- Nervous system - communication between different parts of the body and interactions with the environment
- Feedback loops in the nervous and endocrine systems
- Functions of the nervous system
- Role of neurons in transmitting electrochemical impulses
- Roles of sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons in sensation, thought, and response
- Individual functions and sites of secretion of digestive enzymes (amylases, proteases, nucleases, lipases), stomach acid, and bile salts
- Homeostatic role of the kidneys in the removal of nitrogenous wastes, and of the liver in blood detoxification and glucose balance
- Cellular and molecular basis of muscle contraction, including the roles of actin, myosin, Ca+2, and ATP
- Hormones (including digestive, reproductive, osmoregulatory)
- Role of the skin in providing nonspecific defenses against infection
- Role of antibodies in the body's response to infection
- Vaccination - protection from infectious diseases
- Differences between bacteria and viruses
- Compromised immune systems - inability to fight off and survive infections of microorganisms that are usually benign
- Roles of phagocytes, B-lymphocytes, and T-lymphocytes in the immune system
