Lecture 1 Flashcards
The most abundant elements of organisms:
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen
The second most abundant elements of organisms:
ions/ salts
The function of sulfur:
forms covalent bonds and are important for protein structure
The function of phosphorus:
important to nucleic acid structure and function and energy metabolism
The four major classes of macromolecules:
nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids
Size of one human chromosome:
a mass of 20 billion daltons with a length of 2 meters
Size of one e. coli chromosome:
2 billion daltons
Composition of nucleic acids:
4 different nucleotides (polynucleotides); adenosine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine
Nucleic acids polymer type:
heteropolymers
Function of nucleic acids:
important for storage, transmission, and expression of genetic information
Difference between deoxyribose and ribose:
deoxyribose removes second ‘OH group - more stable because ‘OH can self-react and break the chain
Size of protein:
smaller than DNA molecules, 10,000 to 1 million Daltons
Protein complexity derives from:
a huge a variety of structures based on nucleotides or the length of the gene
Protein polymer type:
biopolymer
Composition of proteins:
made of chains of amino acid monomers linked together by peptide bond
Function of protein:
can be structural, transport agents, transmit information, or catalyze reactions (enzymes)
Composition of carbohydrates:
polymers of sugars made by joining together of monomer sugar (saccharide) units into polysaccharides
Carbohydrates polymer type:
heteropolymers, can have chains of different sugar monomers, or homopolymers, can have chains of the same sugar monomers
Carbohydrate synthesis:
condensation reaction, removing water
Function of carbohydrates:
used for energy (starch in plants, and glycogen in animals) or are structural (cellulose)
Determinant of carbohydrate function:
variation in the bonds between monomers
Lipid polymer type:
macromolecules, but not polymers (made from macromolecules)
Properties of lipids:
a diverse group of molecules that have a high hydrocarbon content and are insoluble
Types of lipids:
triacylglycerols, phospohlipids, and cholesterol
Function of triacylglycerols:
energy source
Function of phospholipids:
membrane structure
Function of cholesterol:
membrane component and steroid precursor
3 major classes of organisms:
archaea, eubacteria (prokaryotes), eukarya (eukaryotes)
Properties of the 3 major classes of organisms:
- archaea and eubacteria (prokaryotes): unicellular
- eukarya (eukaryotes): can be unicellular i.e. yeast or multicellular
Organelles of prokaryotic bacterial cell:
cell wall, plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nuclear area (nucleoid) containing, and ribosomes
Function of nucleoid:
region containing the genetic material coiled up
Function of cytoplasm:
fluid interior of the cells
Function of ribosomes:
synthesizes proteins
Function of plasma membrane:
binds cells outside of which is usually a fairly rigid cell wall
Example of prokaryotic bacterial cell:
Salmonella: a rod-shaped, Gram-negative enterobacteria that causes typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, and food-borne illness
Organelles of eukaryotic animal cell:
smooth endoplasmic reticulum, nuclear envelope, chromatin, nucleolus, nucleus, rough endoplasmic reticulum, golgi complex, plasma membrane, and mitochondrion
Size of eukaryotic animal cell:
10-20x larger than prokaryotes, so functions are compartmentalized into organelles
Function of nucleus:
contains genetic material (chromatin) and surrounded by nuclear envelope; includes nuclear envelope, chromatin, and nucleolus
Function of endoplasmic reticulum:
folded membrane where much protein synthesis happens
Function of golgi apparatus:
function in secretion and transport of proteins
Function of mitochondria:
structure sepcialized for oxidative metabolism
Function of lysosomes:
digestive site
Difference between plant and animal cells:
chloroplasts used in photosynthesis, and vacuoles for intracellular secretion, storage, excretion, and digestion
Processes of bioinformatics:
- DNA sequence analysis
- simulations of metabolic pathways
- computer analysis of potential drug-targets
Genomics:
study of the entire genome of an organism and expression pattern of those genes
Proteomics:
the study of all proteins of an organism and how those proteins interact with each other
2-D gel electrophoresis:
show how the amounts of proteins can in a tissue or with a certain tissue; separates by size and charge
Metabolomics:
studies variety and amount of metabolites from cellular metabolism
