Biology Questions

Homework questions:

1. You are a scientist studying the inherited skin disorders and find that certain people have a inherited skin blistering disorder.  What is(are) keratins? Why would a defect in the keratin of the skin cause problems like blistering?

Keratin is a group fibrous structural proteins, it is the key material that makes up the outer layer of human skin. It is also found in hair and nails. Keratin mutations or a defect in Keratin would cause blistering because when keratins have mutations the normally tough stratified epithelial cells that layer the skin become fragile. Subjecting people to various skin diseases and blistering.

2. In the lung, the epithelial layer is much flatter than the epithelial layer of the trachea. Why?

 The lining of the lungs includes “flattened cells” and a basement membrane while the lining of the trachea includes cilia, mucus, mucus producing cells and a basement membrane. In addition to this the cells lining the trachea are not flattened.

3. Name the 4 tissue types in the body and give an example of each.

The four tissue types in the body are epithelial, connective, Muscle and nerve tissue. One example of epithelial tissue is Stratified epithelium, which is found in the skin and just inside body openings that are continuous with the skin, such as the mouth and anus. One example of connective tissue is adipose which is a loose connective tissue that stores fat for insulation. Muscle tissue includes skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle tissue. One example of nervous tissue is multipolar neurons.