Key term
AQA GCSE Biology 8461
Bioenergetics
Cell Biology
Topic overviewEukaryotes and prokaryotesAnimal and plant cellsCell specialisation and differentiationMicroscopyGrowing bacteria and aseptic techniqueCalculating bacterial growth, and testing antiseptics and antibioticsChromosomes, mitosis and the cell cycleStem cells in embryos, adults and meristemsTherapeutic cloning, its risks, and cloning plantsDiffusion and the factors affecting its rateSurface area to volume ratio and exchange surfacesOsmosisActive transport
Ecology
Topic overviewLevels of organisation in an ecosystem, and what organisms needCompetition, interdependence and stable communitiesAbiotic factorsBiotic factorsAdaptationsProducers, food chains and sampling with quadrats and transectsPredators, prey and measuring population sizeHow materials are cycledDecompositionWaste management and biodiversityLand use, deforestation and global warmingMaintaining biodiversityTrophic levels and pyramids of biomassTransfer of biomassFactors affecting food securityFarming techniques and sustainable fisheriesRole of biotechnology
Homeostasis and Response
Topic overviewHomeostasisThe nervous system and the reflex arcThe structure of the eye and accommodationMyopia, hyperopia and how they are correctedThe brain and the control of body temperatureHuman endocrine systemInsulin, glucagon and diabetesWater and ion loss, and the production of ureaThe kidneys, ADH and treating kidney failureHormones in human reproductionContraceptionPlant hormones and their uses
Infection and Response
Inheritance, Variation and Evolution
Topic overviewSexual and asexual reproductionMeiosisAdvantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproductionDNA and the genomeDNA as a polymer of four nucleotidesGenetic terms, dominant and recessive allelesPunnett squares, probability and genetic crossesInherited disorders and sex determinationVariationEvolutionSelective breedingWhat genetic engineering is, and what it is used forGM crops, their risks, and the steps of the processCloningDarwin, Lamarck and the acceptance of evolutionSpeciationThe understanding of geneticsEvidence for evolution, and extinctionFossilsResistant bacteriaClassification of living organisms
Organisation
Topic overviewLevels of organisation, and how enzymes workAmylase, proteases and lipasesBile, food tests and the effect of pH on amylaseThe heart, the lungs and double circulationThe pacemaker, the blood vessels and the bloodCoronary heart disease: a non-communicable diseaseHealth issuesRisk factors and causal mechanisms in diseaseSampling, correlation and interpreting risk dataCancerPlant tissues, and transpiration and its rateRoot hair cells, xylem, phloem and stomata
Infection and Response
- 10 subtopics
- 30 things to know
- Paper 1
What Infection and Response covers
Infection and Response is examined in Biology Paper 1. It covers communicable diseases and how pathogens spread; viral, bacterial, fungal and protist diseases; human defence systems and vaccination; antibiotics, painkillers and the discovery and development of drugs; and plant diseases, pests and mineral deficiencies, and plant defence responses.
Where it is assessed
Paper 1
Biology Paper 1: 1 hour 45 minutes, 100 marks, 50% of the GCSE.
Check the AQA specification ↗The 10 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Communicable (infectious) diseasesPathogens and the four types of microorganism, spread by direct contact, water and air, reducing spread through hygiene, isolation and vaccination, and how bacteria and their toxins, and viruses inside cells, make people ill.Open →
- Viral diseasesMeasles symptoms, spread and vaccination, HIV from its first flu-like illness to late stage damage to the immune system, antiretroviral drugs and spread through sexual contact and shared needles, and tobacco mosaic virus in plants.Open →
- Bacterial diseasesSalmonella food poisoning, its symptoms and toxins, and control by vaccinating poultry and cooking thoroughly, and gonorrhoea, its symptoms, sexual transmission, resistance to penicillin and control with antibiotics and condoms.Open →
- Fungal and protist diseasesRose black spot, its symptoms, spread and treatment with fungicides, and malaria, caused by a protist carried by mosquito vectors, with its fever symptoms and control through mosquito nets and stopping mosquitoes breeding.Open →
- Human defence systemsNon-specific defences of the skin, nose, trachea, bronchi and stomach, why damaged cilia cause chest infections, the specific immune response and immunity, and phagocytosis, antibodies and antitoxins produced by white blood cells.Open →
- VaccinationWhat a vaccine contains and how it stimulates antibody production, why vaccinated people respond faster to a pathogen, protection when most of a population is immunised, and the timing of vaccines, second doses and vaccinating babies.Open →
- Antibiotics and painkillersHow antibiotics such as penicillin kill specific bacteria, resistant strains and why they are a concern, why antibiotics do not work on viruses, what painkillers do, why drugs that kill viruses are hard to develop, and refusing antibiotics for viral illness.Open →
- Discovery and development of drugsTraditional drugs from plants and microorganisms such as digitalis, aspirin and penicillin, drugs synthesised by chemists, testing for toxicity, efficacy and dose, preclinical testing, clinical trials starting with very low doses, peer review and caution over media claims, and placebos, double blind trials, random allocation and the ethics of placebos.Open →
- Detection and identification of plant diseasesViruses, bacteria, fungi and insects as causes of plant damage, tobacco mosaic virus, black spot and aphids, and how nitrate and magnesium ion deficiencies cause stunted growth and chlorosis.Open →
- Plant defence responsesPhysical defences of cellulose cell walls, waxy cuticles and layers of dead cells, chemical defences of antibacterial chemicals and poisons, and mechanical adaptations such as thorns, hairs, drooping leaves and mimicry.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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What is a non-specific defence, how does the nose keep pathogens out, and why do damaged cilia lead to chest infections?
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What is a pathogen?
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State two symptoms of measles.
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State three symptoms of Salmonella food poisoning.
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Describe the symptoms of rose black spot.
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What does a vaccine contain?
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What is an antibiotic?
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Who discovered penicillin, and what was it discovered in?
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Name the kinds of organism that can infect or damage a plant.
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What is meant by a physical defence in a plant?
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Which four types of microorganism can act as pathogens?
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Why are most young children vaccinated against measles?
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What produces the symptoms of Salmonella food poisoning?
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Explain why rose black spot slows the growth of the plant.
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What does a vaccine stimulate the white blood cells to do?
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Explain why a doctor must choose the right antibiotic for an infection.
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Even when a drug is synthesised in a laboratory, what may its starting point be?
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Name a viral disease and a fungal disease of plants.
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Name the three physical defences that resist the invasion of microorganisms.
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Describe how a pathogen carried in the air passes from one person to another.
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What symptoms does HIV cause when a person is first infected?
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How is the spread of Salmonella controlled in poultry in the UK?
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What is meant by a vector?
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What is meant by a non-specific defence?
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Explain why being vaccinated does not usually make a person ill.
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What is meant by a resistant strain of bacteria?
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Why must a new medical drug be tested and trialled before it is used to treat people?
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Which mineral ion deficiency causes stunted growth in plants?
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Name the two kinds of chemical defence produced by plants.
Take Infection and Response further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Bacteria vs Viruses
Bacteria: small living cells that reproduce rapidly and produce toxins that damage tissues. Viruses: very small pathogens that live and reproduce inside cells, damaging them.
Antibiotic vs Painkiller
Antibiotic: a medicine that kills bacteria inside the body without harming body tissues. Painkiller: a medicine that treats the symptoms of a disease but does not kill the pathogen.
Antibody vs Antitoxin
Antibody: a protein made by white blood cells that binds to one particular pathogen. Antitoxin: a substance made by white blood cells that neutralises the toxins released by bacteria.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is a pathogen?
Model answer
A microorganism that causes an infectious disease.
- 2
Which four types of microorganism can act as pathogens?
Model answer
Viruses, bacteria, protists and fungi.
- 3
Name the three routes by which pathogens are commonly spread.
Model answer
By direct contact, by water and by air.
- 4
Do pathogens infect only animals?
Model answer
No, pathogens infect plants as well as animals.
- 5
Describe how a pathogen carried in the air passes from one person to another.
Model answer
An infected person coughs or sneezes out droplets containing the pathogen, and another person inhales them.
- 6
Explain how a pathogen can be spread by water.
Model answer
Water becomes contaminated with the pathogen and is then drunk or comes into contact with a new host, carrying the pathogen into it.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Infection and Response revision questions
- What does Infection and Response cover in AQA GCSE Biology?
- 10 subtopics: communicable (infectious) diseases, viral diseases, bacterial diseases, fungal and protist diseases, human defence systems, vaccination, antibiotics and painkillers, discovery and development of drugs, detection and identification of plant diseases and plant defence responses. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Infection and Response organised?
- By the AQA 8461 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Infection and Response, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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