Biogeochem - Carbon Cycle Part 2, composition of biomass Flashcards
what do polymers consist of?
A chain of monomers. These can al be the same
What’s a homopolymer?
A chain of monomers that consist of all the same monomer
What is a heteropolymer
A protein that consists of different polymers
What does chitin form?
The shell of anthropods or the cell wall of fungi
What form are amino acids generally present in biomass?
L - form
Where do you find a minor amount of D-amino acids?
They are found in bacterial cell walls and some marine gastropods
what are the most important macromolecules that make up microbial cells
- Proteins
- Polysaccarides and derivatives
- nucleic acids
- lipids
what causes some proteins to be very stable?
their 3-d structure (secondary structure)
it influences the accessibility for enzymes involved to degrade the protein (harder to degrade = longevity of the molecule)
What are the 3 types of carbohydrates present?
Monosaccharides (one molecule)
disaccharides (two combined monosaccharides)
polysaccharides
what can di- and polysaccharides consist of?
a single type of monosaccharide (homopolysaccharides)
different monosaccharides (heteropolysaccharides)
what are the common monosaccharides with 5 carbon atoms?
ribose, deoxyribose, arabinose, xylose
what are the common monosaccharides with 6 carbon atoms?
glucose, fructose, galactose and mannose
examples of storage polysaccharides
starch (plants)
glycogen (animals)
laminarin (brown algae)
pullulan (fungi)
dextran (lactic acid bacteria)
alginate (brown alage)
examples of structural polysaccharides (both homopolysaccharides and heteropolysaccharides)
Homopolysaccharides
- cellulose (plant cell wall)
- chitin (fungal cell wall and anthropod shells)
Heteropolysaccharides
- murein (bacterial cell wall)
- xylan (plant cell wall, wood)
What is a nucleic acid composed of?
consist of a backbone of carbohydrates (ribose, deoxyribose) and phosphates which the bases are bound to
Difference between deoxyribose nucleic acids (DNA) and ribonucleic acids (RNA)
DNA
- double stranded and contain deoxyribose
RNA
- usually single stranded
- contain ribose and uracil instead of thymine as a base
examples of phospholipids
fats, oils, waxes, cholesterol, sterols, monoglycerides and diglycerides
Functions of lipids
- membrane formation (phospholipids, sterols and cholesterol)
- storage compounds (triglycerides - eg fats, oils and diglycerides)
- plant cuticles (waxes)
- pigments (carotenoids)
