Cell Biology Webquest

Cell Biologists: ______Period: ______

______Date: ______

Part I: Cell Types and not so cellular viruses

Your first assignment is distinguish between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells and viruses[1]

You will need to maneuver around the following sites: and

  1. What are the two main types of cells

Go to

  1. What are four things in common in all cells?

Go to

  1. What is a virus?
  1. List two ways that virus are non-living even though virus are biologically active

A single prokaryotic cell can divide several times in an hour. Few eukaryotic cells can divide as quickly. Which of the following statements best explains this difference?

A. / Eukaryotic cells are smaller than prokaryotic cells.
B. / Eukaryotic cells have less DNA than prokaryotic cells.
C. / Eukaryotic cells have more cell walls than prokaryotic cells.
D. / Eukaryotic cells are more structurally complex than prokaryotic cells.

Part II: Macromolecules[2]

Go to and answer the following questions:

1. What are the six most common elements in biomolecules?

2. Sharing electrons forms what kind of bonds?

3.What is the formula for an amino group______? And a phosphate group______?

PartIII. Cell Organelles

Go to and

Describe the following structures and functions of the organelles listed:

  1. Cell membrane[3]:
  1. What two kinds of molecules are missing and what are their functions – hint starts with a “c” and you will need to recall information presented in class.
  1. Cell Wall
  1. Vacuole
  1. Nucleus
  1. Chloroplast
  1. Centrioles
  1. Endoplasmic Reticulum
  1. Smooth
  1. Rough
  1. Ribosomes
  1. Golgi Apparatus
  1. Mitochondria[4]:.
  1. Lysosome

Human tears contain the enzyme lysozyme, which damages the cell walls of bacteria. Which of the following statements about lysozyme is most accurate?

A. / Lysozyme causes mutations in bacterial cell wall molecules.
B. / Lysozyme is destroyed as it digests bacterial cell wall molecules.
C. / Lysozyme breaks a specific type of bond in a bacterial cell wall molecule.
D. / Lysozyme is converted to another chemical by a bacterial cell wall molecule.

Part IV: Cell Transport and Osmosis

Now go to explores osmosis and Go to:

Click “continue” and answer the “Pop-up Questions.” When you are finished, click on “Plant cell” and read the text.

4) Which organelle in the plant cell would mainly help the cell take in water or get rid of water, just like the potato did? This is also known as “osmosis.” How do you know that this organelle would help with that process?

5) Which organelle, if empty, would cause the plant to wilt? Why is this?

Many bacteria live in fresh water. Which of these statements best describes what will happen when freshwater bacterial cells are placed in salt water?

a)Water leaves the cell, causing the cell to expand.

b)Water leaves the cell, causing the cell to shrink.

c)Water enters the cell, causing the cell to expand.

d)Water enters the cell, causing the cell to shrink.

The diagram below illustrates how plant root cells take in mineral ions from the surrounding soil.

Which of the following processes is illustrated?

A. / active transport
B. / diffusion
C. / osmosis
D. / passive filtration

Which of the diagrams below best represents the net movement of molecules in osmosis?

A. /
B. /
C. /
D. /

PartV. NUTRIENT CYCLING

Open a new window in your browser and go to and explore where the cell respiration process of glycolysis and electron transport chain occur. Make sure to describe what is happening in glycolysis and the electron transport chain, and fermentation

A. Glycolysis

B. Electron Transport Chain

C. Fermentation

Part VI. Illuminating PHOTOSYNTHESIS[5]

Go to and complete the following

questions.

Photosynthesis in plants and a few bacteria is responsible for feeding nearly all life on Earth. Plants and bacteria do this by taking energy from the sun and converting it into a storable form, usually the sugar glucose, which plants use for their own life processes (why they are called producers). Animals that consume plants also make use of this energy, as do those that consume those that consume plants, and so on to the top of the food chain (called consumers). As important a job as making all of the world's food is, there's another vital function that photosynthesis performs. Photosynthesis generates the oxygen that oxygen-breathing animals need to survive. But here we animals repay the favor. We exhale the carbon dioxide that plants need for photosynthesis. This feature takes a look at the oxygen/carbon dioxide cycle and at the process of photosynthesis.

The Cycle

The girl exhales ______. The plant takes in ______and releases ______. The girl uses the red can to add ______to the plant. The plant transfers the ______throughout the plant. When the blinds come up and ______shines on the plant, then the plant actively releases ______which the girl then ______. Summary: You added some ______along with some ______and ______. The plant in the room is now “breathing” and so is the cute little tyke.

Atomic Shuffle

Photosynthesis, the trapper of ______; is needed for life to subsist (continue). Most all plants use the process to make ______without it most life would desist (discontinue). The process begins with plain ______but not from the tap does it flow. Some water is made within leaf cells and some is sucked up from below (roots). The molecular formula for water is ______which means it has _____ atom of oxygen and _____ atoms of hydrogen. With energy gained from sunlight, the plant strips the ______from the ______in water. These oxygen atoms then form a twosome (diatomic) and diffuse out of the plant leaf. Meanwhile ______has just entered through holes in the leaf called ______. This gas is exhaled by Earth’s creatures including all invertebrates.

The ______that enters the plant goes through changes. It’s atoms get rearranged, losing an oxygen which combines with ______to form water. But the plant has a bigger goal to make food for storage. It builds a big structure made of up (C)______, (H)______, and (O)______to form ______, and it is really sweet. Glucose is a monosaccharide that combines to form starch which is a carbohydrate. The overall photosynthesis reaction is:

Since there is water on both sides of the equal sign, the equation can be simplified as:

When we balance chemical equations we are demonstrating an important natural law of the conservation of mass.

1) Many land plants store energy in starch. When energy is needed, the starch molecules can be broken down quickly. This chemical reaction produces which of the following?

A. / amino acids
B. / lipids
C. / monosaccharides
D. / RNA chains

Which of the following occurs during photosynthesis?

A. / CO2 is used to produce water.
B. / CO2 is absorbed by mitochondria.
C. / CO2 and H2O are converted to carbohydrates.
D. / CO2 and H2O are combined into carbonic acid.

Part VII. Mitosis Tutorial

Go to the following website: On the left side of the screen is a navigation bar, click on the link to “MITOSIS” Read the text on this page and view the animation, you can slow down the video by clicking step by step through the phases.
1. List the stages of mitosis
2. Which stage does the following occur

Chromatin condenses into chromosomes / ______
Chromosomes align in center of cell. / ______
Longest part of the cell cycle. / ______
Nuclear envelope (membrane) breaks down. / ______
Cell is cleaved into two new daughter cells. / ______
Daughter chromosomes arrive at the poles. / ______

Watch the video carefully.
3. The colored chromosomes represent chromatids,each one is an exact duplicate of the other.
--How many chromosomes are visible at the beginning of mitosis?
-- How many are in each daughter cell at the end of mitosis?
The little green T shaped things on the cell are centrioles.
-- What happens to the centrioles during mitosis?

4. Identify the stages of these cells:

______/
______/ ______/ ______

Part VIII. BIOINFOMATICS[6]

Go to and answer the following questions

  1. What is the Central Dogma______

______

______

  1. Diagram the Central Dogma
  1. In What part of the cell does transcription occur ______.
  2. In what part of the cell does translation occur______.

Part IX. Life APPLICATIONS

Cell Disorders and Diseases… click what is a mitochondrial disease

1. How is a person’s life affected by mitochondrial disease?

Go to

2. What organelle does “Pompe Disease” affect in the cell, and how does this disease affect someone’s life?

Games and Activities…

and complete jigsaw puzzles!

and try the word puzzles at the bottom of the page!

plant cell labeling

animal cell labeling

animal cell labeling

plant cell labeling

animal cell labeling

Congratulations, cell biologists!

Extra Credit – Challenging Onion Root Tip - Online Activity


Read the introduction, then click the “next” button.
You will have 36 cells to classify. When you're finished, record your data in the chart below.

Interphase / Prophase / Metaphase / Anaphase / Telophase / Total
Number of cells / 36
Percent of cells
(calculate: number of cells divided by total cells x 100 ) / 100 %

Did you forget a calculator -- no problem. Go to and click on the “fractions” calculator. A window with a virtual calculator will open and you can do the math from there.

Congratulations, cell biologists!

[1] 1c. Students know how prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells (including those from plants and animals), and viruses differ in complexity and general structure.

[2] 1h. Students know most macromolecules (polysaccharides, nucleic acids, proteins, lipids) in cells and organisms are synthesized from a small collection of simple precursors.

[3] 1a. Students know cells are enclosed within semipermeable membranes that regulate their interaction with their surroundings.

[4] 1g. Students know the role of the mitochondria in making stored chemical-bond energy available to cells by completing the breakdown of glucose to carbon dioxide.

[5]1f. Students know usable energy is captured from sunlight by chloroplasts and is stored through the synthesis of sugar from carbon dioxide

[6] 1d. Students know the central dogma of molecular biology outlines the flow of information from transcription of ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the nucleus to translation of proteins on ribosomes in the cytoplasm.