Chapter 5 Flashcards
what are macromolecules?
large carbohydrates proteins and nucleic acids
what is a polymer?
a long molecule consisting of many similar of identical building blocks linked by covalent bonds
what is a monomer?
repeating units that serve as the building blocks of a polymer
what are enzymes
specialized macromolecules that speed up chemical reactions
what is a dehydration reaction?
a water molecule is lost to synthesize a polymer
what is hydrolysis?
a water molecule is added to break down a polymer
what are monosaccharides?
single sugar
what is a disaccharide
two monosaccharides joined by glycosidic linkage
what is a glycosidic linkage
a covalent bond formed between two monosaccharides by a dehydration reaction
what is a polysaccharide
macromolecules; polymers with a few hundred to a few thousand monosaccharides joined by glycosidic linkages
what is starch
a polymer of glucose monomers
what is glycogen
a polymer of glucose
what is cellulose
polysaccharide; major component of the tough walls that enclose plant cells
what are lipids
one class of large biological molecules that does not include true polymers (not big enough to be macromolecules); hydrophobic
what is chitin
carbohydrate used by arthropods to build exoskeletons
what is a fat
consists of a glycerol molecule joined to 3 fatty acids
what is a fatty acid
long carbon skeleton; carbon at end is part of carboxyl group. rest of the skeleton consists of a hydrocarbon chain
what is a saturated fatty acids
no double bonds between carbon atoms composing a chain, there are as many hydrogen atoms as possible bonded to the carbon skeleton; saturated with hydrogen
what is a unsaturated fatty acid
has one or more double bonds with one fewer hydrogen atom on each double bonded carbon
what are trans fats
fats created in the process of hydrogenation
what is a phospholipid
two fatty acids attached to glycerol rather than 3
what are steroids
lipids characterized by a carbon skeleton consisting of four fused rings
what are catalysts
chemical agents that selectively speed up chemical reactions without being consumed in the reaction
what is a polypeptide
a polymer of amino acids
what is protein
biologically functional molecule made up of one or more polypeptides
what is a peptide bond
resulting covalent bond after removing a water molecule to bond two amino acids
what is a tertiary structure
overall shape of a polypeptide
what are disulfide bridges
covalent bonds that may further reinforce the shape of a protein
what is a quaternary structure
overall protein structure that results from the aggregation of these polypeptide subunits
what is sickle-cell disease
an inherited blood disorder thats caused by the sub-sitution of one amino acid for the normal one.
what is denaturation
protein unravelling and losing its native shape
what is x-ray crystallography
method used to determine the
3D structure of a protein
what is pyrimidine
has one six membered ring of carbon and nitrogen atoms C, T, and U
what are purines
larger than pyrimidines; six membered ring fused to a five membered ring A and G
what are bioinformatics
the use of computer software and other computational tools that can handle and analyze these large data sets
what are genomics
analyzing large sets of genes or even comparing whole genomes of different species
what are proteomics
analysis of large sets of proteins including their sequences
