Fundamentals Of Biology Flashcards
The essential building blocks of life
•Organic molecules
(containing carbon) make up living organisms:
•Carbohydrates (sugars)
•Proteins
•Lipids (fats)
•Nucleic acids (DNA, RNA)
Carbohydrates
•Simple sugars, like glucose, can’t be broken down into smaller sugar molecules.
• Most used for energy.
•Complex carbohydrates are made of long chains of sugars.
Starch (carbohydrates)
used to store energy for later (plants and algae)
Cellulose (carbohydrates)
structural molecule main component of plant fibers
Chitin (carbohydrates)
structural molecule found in shells of animals like crabs and lobsters
Proteins
•Composed of units known as amino acids
Have a wide variety of functions:
Enzymes
are specialized proteins that catalyze, speed up, chemical reactions
Hormones
are proteins that act as chemical messengers within an organism.
structural
proteins make up muscles, skin, hair, and nails
Transport
proteins can carry oxygen through the blood
Lipids
•Fats, oils and waxes are examples of lipids
•Most lipids repel water(do not mix with water).
•Lipids provide buoyancy and insulation from cold
•Many lipids are used for energy storage within an organism.
•Most marine mammals, also have a layer of lipid (fat / blubber) underneath the skin
Nucleic acids
•Store and transmit genetic information
DNA and RNA are nucleic acids.
• Each contain 4 types of nucleotides.
•The sequence of nucleotides forms the genetic code
4 types of nucleotides
DNA: Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Thymine
RNA: Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Uracil.
ATP - ADP cycle (fuel of life)
•Adenosine
Triphosphate
•(ATP) is the energy
currency of the cell.
•Organisms rely on photosynthes is and respiration to process energy
Photosynthesis
•Many organisms use sunlight to drive the process of photosynthesis.
• In photosynthesis, plants, algae, and other autotrophs use pigments (chlorophyll) to capture the energy in sunlight.
•This energy is used to build carbohydrates.
•Carbon dioxide is source of carbon for building carbohydrates is;
oxygen is released as a by-product.
Heterotrophs (Respiration)
get carbohydrates by eating other organisms
cellular respiration.
Organisms break down carbohydrates for energy.
Respiration uses
oxygen and produces carbon dioxide and water as by-products
Aerobic respiration
is oxygen dependent
anaerobic
Some organisms can do reparation in absence of oxygen
Primary production
•When autotrophs make more energy than they use, the excess net increase in organic matter is called primary production.
• Provides more material for growth and reproduction
• Organisms responsible for primary production are called primary producers.
• Marine organism production.