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AQA A Level Biology > 3.1: Biological Molecules Keywords > Flashcards

3.1: Biological Molecules Keywords Flashcards

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1
Q

Covalent Bond

A

Type of chemical bond in which two atoms share a pair of electrons

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2
Q

Ionic Bond

A

A bond between a positive ion which has lost an electron(s) and a negative ion which has gained an electron(s)

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3
Q

Hydrogen Bond

A

Chemical bond formed between the positive charge on a hydrogen atom

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4
Q

Polar molecule

A

A molecule which has a partially positive charge in one part of the molecule and completely negative charge in another part (a dipole)

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5
Q

Monomer

A

One of many small molecules that combine together to form a polymer

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6
Q

Polymer

A

Large molecules made up of many repeating smaller molecules (monomers)

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7
Q

Polymerisation

A

The process of making a polymer

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8
Q

Condensation

A
  • Chemical process in which two molecules combine to form a more complex one with the elimination of a simple substance, usually water
  • Many biological polymers (e.g. polysaccharides, polypeptides) are formed by condensation
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9
Q

Hydrolysis

A

The breaking down of large molecules into smaller ones by the addition of water molecules

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10
Q

Metabolism

A

All the chemical processes that take place in living organisms

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11
Q

Mole

A

The mass of a substance containing the same number of fundamental units as there are atoms in exactly 12g of 12C

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12
Q

Molar (M) Solution

A

An aqueous solution that contains 1 mole of solute in 1 litre of solution

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13
Q

Carbohydrate

A
  • Compounds made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen

- Either monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides

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14
Q

Monosaccharide

A

A single sugar e.g. glucose

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15
Q

Organic Molecule

A
  • Molecules containing carbon that can be found in living things
  • Four classes are carbohydrates, proteins (chain of amino acids), lipids and nucleic acids
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16
Q

Disaccharide

A
  • Made up of two sugar units that are formed by a condensation reaction
  • Monosaccharides are joined by a glycosidic bond
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17
Q

Polysaccharide

A
  • Made of many sugar units that are formed by a condensation reaction
  • Monosaccharides are joined by a glycosidic bond
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18
Q

Hexose sugar

A

A sugar made up of 6 carbons

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19
Q

Glucose

A
  • C6H12O6

- A single sugar which is used in respiration

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20
Q

Reducing sugar

A
  • A sugar that serves as a reducing agent

- All monosaccharides are reducing sugars along with some disaccharides

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21
Q

Reducing sugar’s test

A
  • Heat solution with Benedict’s reagent

- Brick red = present

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22
Q

Benedict’s reagent

A

Blue solution which is used to test for reducing and non-reducing sugars

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23
Q

Glycosidic bond

A

Bond between sugar molecules in disaccharides and polysaccharides

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24
Q

Non-reducing sugar

A
  • A sugar which cannot serve as a reducing agent

- An example is sucrose

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25
Q

Non-reducing sugar’s test

A
  • Following a negative reducing sugars test, heat solution with HCl to hydrolyse the non-reducing sugars into its monosaccharides
  • Perform the Benedict’s test again and if positive result then present
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26
Q

Starch

A

A polysaccharide found in plant cells made up of alpha-glucose - comprised of amylose (alpha-1,4 glycosidic bonds) and amylopectic (alpha-1,4 and alpha-1,6 glycosidic bonds)

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27
Q

Glycogen

A

A highly branched polysaccharide made up of alpha-glucose found in animal cells (alpha-1,4 and alpha-1,6 glycosidic bonds)

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28
Q

Cellulose

A

A polysaccharide made up of beta-glucose found in plant cells (beta-1,4 glycosidic bonds)

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29
Q

Alpha glucose

A

An isomer of glucose that can bond together to form starch or glycogen

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30
Q

Beta glucose

A

An isomer of glucose that can bond together to form cellulose

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31
Q

Lipid

A
  • A class of organic compounds with fatty acids as their derivatives and are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents
  • Include triglycerides, phospholipids, waxes and steroids
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32
Q

Triglyceride

A
  • An individual lipid molecule made up of a glycerol molecule and three fatty acids
  • Contains ester bonds
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33
Q

Fatty acid

A

A carboxylic acid with a hydrocarbon tail

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34
Q

Glycerol

A
  • A molecule which combines with three fatty acids to form triglycerides
  • It’s a 3 carbon chain with 3 hydroxyl groups
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35
Q

Saturated fatty acid

A

A fatty acid in which there are no double bonds between carbon atoms

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36
Q

Mono-unsaturated fatty acid

A

A fatty acid which possesses a carbon chain with a single double bond between carbon atoms

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37
Q

Poly-unsaturated fatty acid

A

A fatty acid which possesses a carbon chain with many double bonds between carbon atoms

38
Q

Phospholipid

A
  • Triglyceride in which one of the three fatty acid molecules is replaced by a phosphate molecule
  • Important in structure and functioning of plasma membranes
39
Q

Hydrophilic

A

Section of a molecule which is attracted to water

40
Q

Hydrophobic

A

Section of a molecule which is repulsed by water

41
Q

Emulsion test

A
  • Test for lipids
  • Mix sample with ethanol and add water
  • If a white cloudy emulsion forms, then a lipid is present
42
Q

Protein

A
  • A polymer which is made up of amino acids linked by peptide bonds
  • May also contain prosthetic groups as part of its quaternary structure
43
Q

Amino acid

A
  • A monomer which makes up proteins

- Has a central carbon atom which is bonded to a carboxylic group, an amine group, a hydrogen atom and a R group

44
Q

Amino group

A

The -NH2 group of an amino acid

45
Q

Carboxyl group

A

The -COOH group of an amino acid

46
Q

R-group

A

Each of the 20 amino acids have a different R group - determines the bonding that the amino acid can carry out

47
Q

Peptide bond

A

The type of bond that is formed between two amino acids

48
Q

Polypeptide

A

Many amino acids joined together by peptide bonds

49
Q

Primary protein structure

A

The sequence of amino acids that makes up the polypeptides of a protein

50
Q

Secondary protein structure

A

The way in which the chain of amino acids of polypeptides of a protein are folded

51
Q

Tertiary protein structure

A

The folding of a whole polypeptide chain in a precise way, as determined by the amino acids of which it’s composed

52
Q

Disulfide bridge

A

Bond formed between Sulphur atoms in R groups of amino acids

53
Q

Quaternary protein structure

A

A number of polypeptide chains linked together, and sometimes associated with non-protein groups to form a protein

54
Q

Biuret test

A

A simple biochemical reaction to detect presence of protein, if Biuret’s solution turns purple then protein is present

55
Q

Enzyme

A

A protein that acts as a catalyst and so lowers the activation energy needed for a reaction

56
Q

Activation energy

A

Energy required to bring about a reaction

57
Q

Active site

A

A group of amino acids that makes up the region of an enzyme into which the substrate fits in order to catalyse a reaction

58
Q

Substrate

A
  • A substance that is acted on or used by another substance or process
  • Fits into the active site of an enzyme
59
Q

Enzyme-substrate complex

A

The intermediate formed when a substrate molecule interacts with the active site of an enzyme

60
Q

Complimentary

A

Describes the relationship between the active site of an enzyme and the substrate molecule - the way in which they fit together

61
Q

Specific

A

Describes how enzymes catalyse a certain chemical reaction

62
Q

Induced Fit

A
  • A mechanism of interaction between an enzyme and a substrate
  • As the substrate fits into the active site, the active site of the enzyme changes shape in order to allow an enzyme-substrate complex to be formed
63
Q

Lock and Key

A

An analogy for how enzymes work - only the correctly sized key (substrate) fits into the keyhole (active site) of the lock (enzyme)

64
Q

Rate of reaction

A

The speed of a chemical reaction - can be worked out by looking at the decrease in concentration of a reactant over time or increase in concentration of a product over time

65
Q

Kinetic energy

A

The energy of motion, observable as the movement of an object, particle or set of particles

66
Q

pH

A
  • A figure expressing the acidity or alkalinity of a solution on a logarithmic scale on which 7 is neutral, lower values are more acidic and higher values are more alkaline.
  • Equivalent to -log10[H+].
67
Q

Inhibitor

A

A substance which reduces the activity of an enzyme

68
Q

Competitive Inhibitor

A

A form of inhibitor which binds to the active site of the enzyme, preventing the binding of substrate

69
Q

Non-competitive inhibitor

A

A form of inhibitor which does not bind at the active site of the enzyme and prevents the binding of substrate

70
Q

DNA

A
  • Deoxyribonucleic acid which is present in nearly all living organisms as the carrier of genetic information
  • A double helix made up of two polynucleotide chains, running antiparallel to each other, with the sugar-phosphate backbone on the outside and organic bases bonded together by Hydrogen bonds in the centre of the helix
  • The nucleotides have a deoxyribose sugar and the bases adenine, thymine, guanine or cytosine
71
Q

Nucleotide

A
  • Complex chemicals made up of an organic base, a sugar and a phosphate
  • They are the basic units of which the nucleic acids DNA and RNA are made
72
Q

Polynucleotide

A

A polymer of monomers called nucleotides

73
Q

Phosphodiester bond

A

The bond formed by a condensation reaction between the phosphate group of one nucleotide and the pentose sugar of another nucleotide

74
Q

Organic base

A

Part of a nucleotide - either adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine or uracil

75
Q

RNA

A
  • A polynucleotide which contains nucleotides that have the pentose sugar ribose rather than deoxyribose and contains the bases adenine, uracil, guanine or cytosine
  • Can be either mRNA, tRNA or rRNA.
76
Q

Complimentary base pairing

A
  • Specific rules for how the bases pair together
  • Adenine pairs with thymine with 2 hydrogen bonds
  • Guanine binds with cytosine with 3 hydrogen bonds.
77
Q

Double helix

A

Structure of DNA made up of 2 strands of nucleotides running in opposite directions

78
Q

Semi-conservative replication

A

The process in which the double helix of a DNA molecule unwinds and each strand acts as a template on which a new strand is constructed

79
Q

DNA helicase

A

Enzyme that acts on a specific region of the DNA molecule to break the hydrogen bonds between the bases causing the two strands to separate and expose the nucleotide bases in that region

80
Q

DNA polymerase

A

Enzyme that joins DNA nucleotides together in a condensation reaction (forming phosphodiester bonds) during DNA replication

81
Q

ATP (Adenosine triphosphate)

A
  • An activated nucleotide found in all living organisms, which is produced during respiration and acts as an energy carrier
  • The hydrolysis of ATP (catalyzed by ATP hydrolase) leads to the formation of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate, with the release of energy
82
Q

ADP

A

A nucleotide which combines in a condensation reaction, catalysed by ATP synthase, with a phosphate molecule to form ATP

83
Q

ATP Synthase

A

An enzyme which catalyses the formation of ATP.

84
Q

ATP Hydrolase

A

An enzyme which catalyses the hydrolysis of ATP

85
Q

Polymerases

A

Group of enzymes that catalyse the formation of polymers from monomers

86
Q

Specific heat capacity

A

The amount of energy needed to change the temperature of 1kg of the substance by 1℃

87
Q

Latent heat of Vaporisation

A

The heat energy needed to change the substance from a liquid at its boiling point into gas at the same temperature

88
Q

Cohesion

A
  • Attraction between molecules of the same type

- It is important in the movement of water up a plant

89
Q

Surface tension

A

The tension of the surface film of a liquid caused by the attraction of the particles in the surface layer by the bulk of the liquid

90
Q

Solvent

A

The liquid in which a solute is dissolved to form a solution

91
Q

Inorganic ions

A

Formed when an element or compound, that does not contain carbon, gains or looses electrons to become negatively or positively charged, for example: hydrogen ions, phosphate ions, iron ions and sodium ions

92
Q

Transparent

A

A material that allows light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen

AQA A Level Biology (2 decks)

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