Biology 110 Chapter 3- The Molecules Of Life

Front 1

Organic compounds

Back 1

Carbon-based molecules

Front 2

Besides water, what does a cell mostly consist of?

Back 2

Carbon-based molecules

Front 3

What is carbon good at doing?

Back 3

Forming the skeletons of large, complex, diverse molecules necessary for life's functions

Front 4

How many atoms does a carbon atom have in its outer shell?

Back 4

4 with 4 empty spaces

Front 5

How does carbon complete its outer shell?

Back 5

By sharing electrons with other atoms in four covalent bonds, acting like an interaction that can branch off in up to four different directions

Front 6

What are the four elements carbon atoms most often bond with?

Back 6

1. Carbon
2. Hydrogen
3. Oxygen
4. Nitrogen

Front 7

Hydrocarbons

Back 7

The simplest organic compound which consists only carbon and hydrogen atoms
Has a pyramidal shape

Front 8

What is the importance of the shape of molecules?

Back 8

Many vital processes within living organisms rely on the ability of molecules to recognize one another based on their shape

Front 9

Functional groups

Back 9

The groups of atoms that usually participate in chemical reactions

Front 10

What is the basic structure of an organic compound?

Back 10

A carbon skeleton with functional groups attached

Front 11

Macromolecules

What are the three categories of macromolecules?

Back 11

A giant molecule in a living organism

1. Carbohydrates
2. Proteins
3. Nucleic acids

Front 12

Polymers

Back 12

A lare molecule consisting of many monomers joined together in a chain

Front 13

Monomers

Back 13

Chemical subunits that serve as building blocks of polymers

Front 14

Dehydration reaction

Back 14

A chemical reaction that removes a molecule of water from the monomer to link them together

Front 15

Hydrolysis

Back 15

The breaking down of macromolecules to monomers by adding water between monomers to break bonds

Front 16

Why must organisms break down macromolecules?

Back 16

To make their monomers available to your cells which can rebuild the monomers into your own macromolecules

Front 17

Carbohydrates

What is their use in animals and plants?

Back 17

Sugar polymers

Animals use it as their primary source of dietary energy
Plants use it as a building material for much of the plant body

Front 18

Monosaccharides

Back 18

Cannot be broken down by hydrolysis into smaller sugars
The fuel molecules for cellular work and provides cells with carbon skeletons to manufacture organic compounds

i.e. Glucose and fructose

Front 19

Isomers

Back 19

Molecules that have the same molecular formula but different structures that give them different properties

Front 20

Disaccharide

Back 20

Two monosaccharides constructed through a dehydration reaction

i.e. lactose, maltose and sucrose

Front 21

Polysaccharides

Back 21

Long chains of sugar units, polymers of monosaccharides

i.e. Starch, glycogen, cellulose

Front 22

Starch

Back 22

Found in plants and animals and consists of many glucose monomers strung together

Front 23

Glycogen

Back 23

How animals store excess sugar
More extensively branched than starch

Front 24

Cellulose

Back 24

Forms cable-like fibrils in the tough walls that enclose plant cells and is a major component of room
Because of its structure, it cannot be broken by most animals and is AKA fiber

Front 25

Hydrophilic

Back 25

"Water-loving"
Molecules that dissolve readily in water

Cellulose does not dissolve in water

Front 26

Lipids

Back 26

Organic compounds that are hydrophobic
Are neither macromolecules nor polymers and vary in structure

i.e. fats, steroids

Front 27

Fat

Back 27

Consists of a glycerol molecule joined with three fatty acid molecules via dehydration reactions resulting in a triglyceride

Front 28

What is a major portion of a fatty acid?

Back 28

A long hydrocarbon tail that stores a lot of energy

Front 29

Unsaturated

Back 29

A fatty acid is said to be unsaturated because it has fewer than the maximum number of hydrogens at the location of the double bond, causing a bend

Front 30

Saturated

Back 30

A fatty acid is saturated when it contains the maximum number of hydrogen atoms and contains no double bonds in their hydrocarbon portions

Front 31

What makes a fatty acid (un)saturated?

Back 31

A saturated fat is one with all three of its fatty tails saturated
An unsaturated fat has one or more of the fatty acids unsaturated
Polyunsaturated fat has several double bonds within its fatty acids

Front 32

What form do most saturated fatty acids tend to be in at room temperature?
Why?

Back 32

Solids
The shape of saturated fatty acids allows these molecules to stack easily

Front 33

What form do most unsaturated fatty acids tend to be in at room temperature?
Why?

Back 33

Liquids (oils are liquid fats)
The bent shape of unsaturated fatty acids makes them less likely to form solids

Front 34

Steroids

Back 34

Are lipids because they are hydrophobic
Have a carbon skeleton that is bent to form four fused rings, the various functional groups attached to the rings affect their functions

i.e. cholesterol- a base steroid from which your body produces other steroids

Front 35

Proteins

Back 35

A polymer constructed from amino acid monomers (a polymer consisting of one or more polypeptides)
Each of the tens of thousands of different kinds of proteins has a unique 3-D shape corresponding to a specific function
They perform most of the tasks required for life, most importantly as enzymes

Front 36

Enzymes

Back 36

Chemicals that change the rate of a chemical reaction without being changed in the process

Front 37

Amino acid

Back 37

Consists of a central carbon atom bonded to four covalent partners, three of which (carboxyl group, amino group and a hydrogen atom) are common to all 20 amino acids with the fourth bond being the unique side group and giving the amino acid its special chemical properties

Front 38

Peptide bond

Back 38

The bond between adjacent amino acids formed by dehydration reactions

Front 39

Polypeptide

Back 39

The resulting long chain of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds

Front 40

How is it possible to make such a variety of proteins from just 20 kinds of amino acids?

Back 40

Through the arrangement of the amino acid in the polypeptide as each protein has a unique linear sequence of amino acids

Front 41

Primary structure

Back 41

The specific amino acid sequence of a protein that causes the polypeptide chain to fold into its functional shape

Front 42

What is the difference between a polypeptide chain and a protein?

Back 42

One oA functional protein is one or more polypeptide chains folded and coiled into a molecule of a unique shape that has at least three (maybe four) levels of structure (primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary)
A polypeptide chain usually folds spontaneously to form the functional shape for that protein as it is the protein's 3-D shape that lets it carry out specific functions

Front 43

Does a proteins function follow form or does its form follow function?

Back 43

Function follows form

Front 44

Denaturation (of a protein)

Back 44

When an unfavorable change in the environment (i.e. temperature, pH level, etc.) causes the protein to unravel and lose its normal shape

Front 45

What specifies the amino acid sequence?

Back 45

A gene

Front 46

Nucleic acid

Back 46

Macromolecules that provide directions for building proteins that are found in the nuclei of eukaryotic cells
There are two types of nucleic acids

Front 47

What are the two types of nucleic acids?
What is the difference between these two types?

Back 47

1. DNA- the genetic material that organisms inherit from their parents; resides in the cell as one or more long fibers called chromosomes
2. RNA- its sugar is ribose rather than deoxyribose and uses the base uracil (U) rather than thymine (T); is usually found in single-strand forms

Front 48

Genes

Back 48

A specific stretch of DNA that programs the amino acid sequence of polypeptide

Front 49

Nucleotides

Back 49

Monomers that make up the nucleic acid polymers
Consists of three parts:
1. A sugar
2. A phosphate
3. A nitrogenous base

Front 50

What are the DNA nucleotide nitrogenous bases?
What is the difference in the RNA bases?

Back 50

Adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T)
RNA uses uracil (U) instead of tymine

Front 51

Sugar-phosphate backbone

Back 51

Nucleotides joined by covalent bonds between the sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of the next resulting in a repeating pattern or sugar-phosphate-sugar-phosphate with each of the bases hanging off of the backbone

Front 52

Which bases pair with each other?

Back 52

A and T (U)
G and C

Front 53

Double helix

Back 53

Two polynucleotide strands wrapped around each other form this in a molecule of cellular DNA
The bases along the DNA strands hydrogen bonds with bases on the DNA strand, zipping the two together

Front 54

Sugar-phosphate backbone

Back 54

Nucleotides joined by covalent bonds between the sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of the next resulting in a repeating pattern or sugar-phosphate-sugar-phosphate with each of the bases hanging off of the backbone

Front 55

Which bases pair with each other?

Back 55

A and T (U)
G and C

Front 56

Double helix

Back 56

Two polynucleotide strands wrapped around each other form this in a molecule of cellular DNA
The bases along the DNA strands hydrogen bonds with bases on the DNA strand, zipping the two together