1. BIOLOGICAL MOLECULES Flashcards
explain monomers.
a single sugar which joins together through a condensation reaction with covalent bonds to form a polymer
give examples of monomers
- amino acids
- nucleotides
- monosaccharides
explain polymers
- made through the condensation of multiple monomers by the joining of covalent bonds
give examples of polymers (biological things in the body)
- proteins
- DNA
- starch
whats the bonds between polymers?
covalent
What are biological molecules?
molecules made and used by living organisms e.g. Carbohydrates, Proteins, Lipids, DNA, ATP, Water, Inorganic Ions
whats the function of carbohydrates?
- energy source = glucose in respiration
- energy store = starch in plants, glycogen in animals
- structure = cellulose in cell walls of plants
What are the building blocks for carbohydrates called?
monosaccharides
Example of monosaccharides?
glucose (alpha and beta), galactose, fructose
The formula for monosaccharides?
C6H12O6 (isomers = same formula but different arrangement)
Difference between alpha and beta glucose?
on Carbon 1, alpha glucose has an OH group on the bottom and beta glucose has an OH group on the top
How are monosaccharides joined together?
Condensation reaction ( removing of water between 2 OH groups)
Bond in carbohydates?
glycosidic bond (1,4 – between carbon 1 and carbon 4)
Example of disaccharides?
- glucose + glucose = maltose
- glucose + galactose = lactose
- glucose + fructose = sucrose
The formula for disaccharides?
C12H22O11
How are polymers separated?
hydrolysis (add water)
What is a polysaccharide?
many monosaccharides joined by condensation reaction/glycosidic bond
Examples of polysaccharides?
- Starch (long chain of alpha glucose) which is energy store in plants
- Glycogen (long chain of alpha glucose) which is energy store in animals
- Cellulose (long chain of beta glucose) which makes cell walls in plants
What are Polysaccharides?
- carbohydrates
- made of long monosaccharides joined by condensation reaction with glycosidic bonds
3 examples of polysaccharides?
starch
glycogen
cellulose
What’s the function of the 3 polysaccharides?
- starch and glycogen are used as energy stores in plants and animals they are made out of many alpha glucose which is used for respiration
- cellulose is used to form cell walls in plants made out of many beta glucose
What’s the structure of starch?
- made from Amylose and Amylopectin
- Amylose = long straight chain of alpha-glucose which is coiled
- Amylopectin = straight chain of alpha-glucose with side branches (1,6-glycosidic bond)
Structure of Glycogen?
straight chain of alpha-glucose (1,4-glycosidic bond) with side branches (1,6-glycosidic bond)
Properties of Starch and Glycogen as energy stores?
- Insoluble = do not affect the water potential of the cell, does not diffuse out of the cell
- Coiled/Branched = compact, more can fit into a cell
- Branched/Chained = glucose removed from the end
Structure of Cellulose?
- β-glucose arranged in a straight chain (each alternative β-glucose is rotated 180 degrees) = cellulose straight chain
- many cellulose chains are cross-linked by hydrogen bonds to form macrofibrils
- many macrofibrils are cross-linked to form microfibrils
- forms structure of cell wall
- strong material (prevents plant cells from bursting or shrinking)
What’s the test for starch?
iodine test - add iodine drops to the solution if positive it turns blue/black
What is the test for reducing sugar?
heat with benedicts regent and if it’s positive then it turns brick red
What is the test for non-reducing sugar?
- heat with benedicts – no change
- therefore, add dilute hydrochloric acid (hydrolyses glycosidic bond)
- then add sodium hydrogen carbonate (neutralises solution)
- heat with Benedict - turns brick red
what are 2 types of protein?
globular and fibrous
what are globular proteins?
soluble proteins with a specific 3D shape e.g. enzymes, hormones, antibodies, haemoglobin
What are fibrous proteins?
strong/insoluble/inflexible material e.g. collagen and keratin
What are the building blocks for proteins?
amino acids
Structure of amino acid?
central carbon, carboxyl group to the right (COOH), amine group to the left (NH2), hydrogen above and R group below
How do amino acids differ?
have different R groups e.g. glycine has a hydrogen in its R group - the simplest amino acid
How are amino acids joined together?
by condensation reaction between the carboxyl group of one and amine group of another, leaves a bond between carbon & nitrogen (called a peptide bond) forming a dipeptide
Define primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary structure?
- Primary = sequence of AA, polypeptide chain (held by peptide bonds)
- Secondary = the primary structure (polypeptide chain) coils to form a helix, held by hydrogen bonds
- Tertiary = secondary structure folds again to form final 3d shape, held together by hydrogen/ionic/disulfide bonds
- Quaternary = made of more than one polypeptide chain
Examples of quaternary structure proteins?
collagen (3 chains), antibodies (3 chains), haemoglobin ( 4 chains)
Structure of collagen?
- strong material, used to build tendons/ligaments/connective tissues
- primary structure mainly made up of glycine (simplest amino acid)
- secondary structure forms a tight coil (not much branching due to glycine)
- tertiary structure coils again
- a quaternary structure made from 3 tertiary structures wrapped around each other like rope = a collagen molecule
- many of these collagen molecules make the tendons/ligaments/connective tissues
test for protein?
add buriet solution and then mix it gently into the solution let it stand for a couple of minutes and if it turns lilac then it’s positive.
What is an enzyme?
a biological catalyst (a substance that speeds up the rate of reaction without being used up – lowers activation energy)
What makes an enzyme specific
has a specific active site shape, only complementary substrates can bind to the active site to form enzyme-substrate complexes
Lock and Key Model vs Induced Fit Model?
- LK = active site shape is rigid, only exactly complementary substrates can bind to form ES complexes
- IF = active site changes shape, the substrate binds to the active site – the active site changes shape so the substrate fits exactly forming an ES complex
Effect of substrate concentration on enzyme activity?
- increase substrate concentration, increase chance of successful collisions, increase chance of forming an ES complex, increase rate of reaction
- this continues until all the enzyme’s active sites are full/saturated = maximum rate of reaction
Effect of enzyme concentration on enzyme activity?
- increase enzyme concentration, increase chance of successful collisions, increase chance of forming an ES complex, increase rate of reaction
- this continues until all the substrates are used up = the maximum rate of reaction
Effect of temperature on enzyme activity? 13
- as temperature increases
- the kinetic energy increases
- the molecules move faster
- increasing the chance of successful collisions
- increase the chance of forming ES complex
- increase the rate of reaction
- carries on till the optimum
- after optimum
- bonds in tertiary structure break (hydrogen and ionic bonds)
- lose active site shape
- substrate no longer complementary
- cant form ES complexes
- enzyme denatured
Effect of pH on enzyme activity?
if the change pH away from optimum, bonds in the tertiary structure break, lose active site shape, no longer form ES complex, and the enzyme denatured
Competitive vs Non-Competitive Inhibitors?
- Competitive = a substance with a similar shape to the substrate and a complementary shape to the enzyme’s active site, binds to the active site, blocking it, preventing ES complexes from forming
- Non-Competitive = a substance that binds to another site on the enzyme other than the active site, causes the active site to change shape, so fewer ES complexes can form
What are the 3 types of Lipids?
- Triglycerides (fat for energy store, insulation, and protection of organs)
- Phospholipids (to make membranes)
- Cholesterol (for membrane stability and making hormones)
Structure of triglyceride?
- made of 1 glycerol and 3 fatty acids
- joined by condensation reaction, ester bonds
- bond is COOH
- there are 2 types of triglycerides: saturated fat and unsaturated fat
Saturated vs Unsaturated Fat?
- Saturated = has no carbon double bonds in the R group of the fatty acid
- Unsaturated = has carbon double bonds in the R group of the fatty acid
Structure of phospholipid?
- made of 1 glycerol, 2 fatty acids and 1 phosphate
- phosphate forms a hydrophilic head, fatty acids form hydrophobic tails
- forms a phospholipid bilayer, the basic structure of membranes
What are Nucleic Acids?
Polymers made from Nucleotides (2 types = DNA and RNA)
What is DNA?
- Deoxyribonucleic Acid
- found in all organisms (animals, plants, microorganisms)
- carries genes
- genes = section of DNA that codes for a protein
- all organisms are built of proteins
The building block of DNA?
- DNA nucleotide (made of phosphate, deoxyribose sugar, nitrogenous base)
- 4 types of nucleotides (each has a different base, either Adenine/Thymine/Cytosine/Guanine)
DNA structure?
- DNA Double Helix
- join nucleotides by condensation reaction between sugar and phosphate to form a polynucleotide
- join 2 polynucleotides by hydrogen bond between the bases
- A joins with T, C joins with G (complementary base pairing)
- produces double-strand [anti-parallel]
- then coil double strand into Double Helix
Properties of DNA Structure?
- Double Stranded = makes DNA more stable & 2 strands act as templates in semi-conservative replication
- Coil into Helix = more compact
- Sugar-phosphate backbone = protects bases (bases code for protein)
- Hydrogen bonds between bases = weak, so double strand separates more easily for semi-conservative replication
- Complementary Base Pairing = ensures identical copies of DNA made by semi-conservative replication
DNA Replication when and how does it occur?
occurs in interphase before mitosis & meiosis occurs by semi-conservative replication
Describe Semi-Conservative Replication?
DNA double-strands separate and act as templates, producing 2 identical copies of the DNA, each has half the original strand and half the new strand
process:
- DNA Helicase breaks hydrogen bonds between the complementary bases
- double strand separates, leaves 2 template stands
- free complementary nucleotides bind to exposed bases on template strands (A to T, C to G)
- DNA Polymerase joins the sugar-phosphate backbone of the new strand
Evidence for SCR?
- Replicating Bacterial DNA in 2 types of Nitrogen Isotopes, 15N and 14N
- 15N = heavy isotope
- 14N = light isotope
- Nitrogen found in nitrogenous bases of DNA
- Bacterial DNA made from 15N will have a Heavy Density
- Bacterial DNA made from 14N will have a Light Density
- Experiment = Bacterial DNA made of 15N is replicated in an environment of 14N – produces DNA molecules with half 15/half 14 (semi-conservative replication, original strand = 15N & new strand = 14N), therefore, DNA molecule has medium density
What is RNA?
- Ribonucleic Acid
- 2 types (mRNA and tRNA)
- mRNA = messenger RNA
- tRNA = transfer RNA
- both single-stranded
- both made of RNA Nucleotides (phosphate, ribose sugar, nitrogenous bases - AUCG)
What is ATP?
Adenosine Triphosphate (Energy Carrier Molecule – delivers energy for life processes
Structure of ATP?
- Adenosine Triphosphate
- made from 1 adenosine and 3 phosphates
- formation: ADP + Pi (+ energy used) = ATP
- condensation reaction using ATP Synthase
- carries energy in its bonds
- breakdown: ATP = ADP + Pi (+ energy released)
- hydrolysis reaction using ATP Hydrolase
- releases energy from its bonds
What makes ATP a good deliverer of energy?
- immediate source = need to only break one bond (plus bond is weak)
- manageable source = releases a small amount of energy
Uses of ATP (releases energy) in organisms?
- protein synthesis
- organelle synthesis
- DNA replication
- cell division (mitosis)
- active transport
- metabolic reactions
- movement
- maintaining body temperature
Role of Water in Biology?
- found in living organisms = cytoplasm (all organisms), xylem/phloem (in plants), tissue fluid and blood (in animals)
- also acts as habitats for living organisms
Properties of Water?
- Water Molecules (H20) are dipolar
- Hydrogen has a slightly +ve charge and Oxygen has a slightly -ve charge
- therefore H20 molecules can form hydrogen bonds with each other
Role of Water in Living Organisms?
Habitat, Solvent, hydrostatic pressure, homeostasis
explain how role of water in habitat.
- Water has a high specific heat capacity meaning that a lot of heat needs to be applied before it evaporates
- due to the presence of the hydrogen bonds between the water molecules.
- Also when water freezes it becomes Ice, which is less dense than liquid water
– so it floats on the surface insulating the water beneath it, preventing it from freezing. - In both cases, the water remains liquid to provide a habitat for organisms.
explain the role of water in solvent?
- H20 molecules are dipolar they can separate solutes based on their charge,
- +ve Hydrogen side mixes with -ve solute and -ve Oxygen side mixes with +ve solute, so the solute mixes with water and becomes dissolved.
- This is useful in the cytoplasm of all cells and supports the reaction of these solutes,
- it is also useful in the processes of diffusion/active transport, and is also useful in transport such as blood and phloem.
explain the role of water in hydrostatic pressure?
- Water when pressurised can provide a strong physical pushing force.
- Used particularly in Mass Flow (where the mass of water carries large amounts of substances e.g. tissue fluid in capillaries and phloem in plants). Also helps to support turgidity in plants.
explain the role of water in homeostasis?
- Mammals and Humans control body temperature by sweating.
- Sweat on the skin uses heat from the blood to evaporate, hence, cooling the individual.
- Because sweat/water is made up of hydrogen bonds, it has a stable structure, so requires a large amount of heat for it to evaporate.
- This is called Latent Heat of Vaporisation.
what are inorganic ions?
- Salts/Minerals
- Inorganic = do not contain carbon, Ion = charged (+ve/-ve)
- e.g. Sodium Ions (Na+), Chloride Ions (Cl-)
draw a dipeptide structure
- check online to see if correct
what is a dipeptide?
two amino acids that’s joined together by a peptide bond
