Title: Goals and Learning Objectives - chp 26
Course: BIO-182 RTZ > Section: Week 4- History of Life & the "Simple" Life

KEY CONCEPTS & LEARNING OBJECTIVES

- Goals:
  - Understand the biology of the prokaryotic domains and the viruses

Learning Objectives:

  - List the characteristics that all living organisms share.
  - Name the three domains of life and provide the key characteristics of each.
  - Explain why Archaea is closer to Eukarya than to Bacteria.
  - Describe a prokaryotic cell and compare it to a eukaryotic cell.
  - Explain why rRNA is useful for deriving the evolutionary relationships between organisms.
  - Describe the reproductive process of fission of prokaryotes.
  - List and briefly describe the three mechanisms of lateral gene transfer in prokaryotes.
  - Define an "endospore" and discuss its significance.
  - Define the term 'hyperthermophile' and discuss why biologists think that life originated in a hot environment on early Earth.
  - Discuss how the Archaea domain was distinguished from the Bacteria domain.
  - Compare and contrast the cell walls and cell membranes of the domains Archaea and Bacteria.
  - Discuss how methanogens are important player in global climate change.
  - Describe the roles of prokaryotes in the carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur cycles.
  - State the importance of the atmospheric changes brought about by cyanobacteria to the evolution of aerobic respiring organisms.
  - List some evidence that viruses are derived from living cells.
  - Discuss the reasons why viruses are included in biology yet are not considered to be alive.
  - Distinguish between RNA and DNA viruses and explain why they are considered to have different evolutionary origins.
  - Discuss the abundance and importance of viruses in the biosphere.

KEY TERMS: bacillys, chemoautotroph, chemoheterotroph, coccus, cyanobacteria, decomposer, denitrifier, endospore, endotoxin, extreme halophile, extremophlie, Gram stain, gram-negative bacteria, gram-positive bacteria, heterocyst, lateral gene transfer, methanogen, nitrifier, nitrogen fixer, photoautotroph, photoheterotroph, prokaryote.