What is Living ?

Char­ac­ter­is­tics of Liv­ing Things:

• Exclu­sive Char­ac­ter­is­tic: The abil­i­ty to per­ceive events in the envi­ron­ment and retain their mem­o­ry is a unique char­ac­ter­is­tic of liv­ing things.
• Dis­tin­guish­ing Fea­ture: The abil­i­ty to inter­act with the envi­ron­ment and under­go pro­gres­sive evo­lu­tion is a key fea­ture that sep­a­rates liv­ing organ­isms from non-liv­ing things.
• Bio­log­i­cal Orga­ni­za­tion: The orga­ni­za­tion of life begins at the sub­mi­cro­scop­ic mol­e­c­u­lar lev­el.
• Metab­o­lism: Liv­ing organ­isms car­ry out com­plex meta­bol­ic reac­tions, includ­ing anabolism (build­ing up) and catab­o­lism (break­ing down) process­es.
• Growth: Liv­ing things exhib­it growth from with­in, increas­ing in mass and size through inter­nal process­es.
• Repro­duc­tion: The abil­i­ty to pro­duce off­spring and per­pet­u­ate their species is a char­ac­ter­is­tic of liv­ing organ­isms.
• Move­ment: Liv­ing things can move in response to stim­uli or to explore their envi­ron­ment.
• Respon­sive­ness: The abil­i­ty to sense and respond to changes in the envi­ron­ment is a fun­da­men­tal char­ac­ter­is­tic of life.

Bino­mi­al Nomen­cla­ture:

• Com­po­nents: Bino­mi­al nomen­cla­ture con­sists of two com­po­nents:

Sci­en­tif­ic names are writ­ten In Ital­ics when print­ed and under­lined when hand­writ­ten.
eg. Mangifera indi­ca (Print­ed) | Mangifera indi­ca (Hand Writ­ten)

• Gener­ic name: The name of the genus to which the organ­ism belongs. First Let­ter Bold
• Spe­cif­ic epi­thet: The species name that dis­tin­guish­es the organ­ism with­in its genus.
• Pro­posed by: Car­o­lus Lin­naeus pro­posed the bino­mi­al nomen­cla­ture sys­tem.
  

PYQs (Pre­vi­ous Year Ques­tions):

1. Exclu­sive char­ac­ter­is­tic of liv­ing things:
   • Options:
     • (a) Iso­lat­ed meta­bol­ic reac­tions occur in vit­ro
     • (b) Increase in mass from inside only
     • © Per­cep­tion of events hap­pen­ing in the envi­ron­ment and their mem­o­ry
     • (d) Increase in mass by accu­mu­la­tion of mate­r­i­al¹ both on sur­face as well as inter­nal­ly²
   • Answer: © Per­cep­tion of events hap­pen­ing in the envi­ron­ment and their mem­o­ry
   • Year: 2011
2. Dis­tin­guish­ing fea­ture of liv­ing organ­isms:
   • Options:
     • (a) inter­ac­tion with the envi­ron­ment and pro­gres­sive evo­lu­tion
     • (b) repro­duc­tion
     • © growth and move­ment
     • (d) respon­sive­ness to touch³
   • Answer: (a) inter­ac­tion with the envi­ron­ment and pro­gres­sive evo­lu­tion
   • Year: 2007
3. Start of bio­log­i­cal orga­ni­za­tion:
   • Options:
     • (a) cel­lu­lar lev­el
     • (b) organ­is­mic lev­el
     • © atom­ic lev­el
     • (d) sub­mi­cro­scop­ic mol­e­c­u­lar lev­el
   • Answer: (d) sub­mi­cro­scop­ic mol­e­c­u­lar lev­el
   • Year: 2007

Addi­tion­al Notes:

• In vit­ro: Refers to process­es or reac­tions occur­ring out­side a liv­ing organ­ism, typ­i­cal­ly in a lab­o­ra­to­ry set­ting.
• Genus: A tax­o­nom­ic rank that groups close­ly relat­ed species.
• Species: A group of organ­isms capa­ble of inter­breed­ing and pro­duc­ing fer­tile off­spring.