Lecture 1 Flashcards
What are the type of polymers
Lipids, Polysaccharides, Proteins, Nucleic acids
What is a dehydration reaction
when water is removed to join together monomers/polymers
What is a hydrolysis reaction
when water is added to break the bond between monomers/polymers
What is a theory for how life formed based on hydration
hydration and dehydration cycles, heating and cooling in springs
What is the initial building blocks of lipids
acetate
What are the functions of lipids
Energy storage for mass
Structural molecules (membranes)
Steroid hormones
What is the structure of a triglyceride
A glycerol which links to 3 acyl chains via ester linkages
Chains can be different lengths
Why are saturated fats solid in colder temperatures
The hydrogens attached to the carbon repel each other making the lipid go out straight which makes the fat rigid.
Why are unsaturated fats liquid
because the double bonds adds kinks which spaces the lipids out. Double bond causes bending
What is a micelle
A single layer phospholipid sphere
What is a liposome
A double layer phospholipid sphere
What are oligosaccharides
sugars formed from several mixed sugar types
How are polysaccharides formed
repeating units connected by glyosidic bonds
what are polysaccharides useful for
energy storage, e.g starch and glycogen
Glucose + glucose?
maltose
glucose + fructose
sucrose
What are the energy storage functions of polysaccharides
glycogen in animal tissue, starch in plants
What are the structural molecules of polysaccharides
cellulose in plants, chitin in exoskeletons
What is formed from carbohydrate residue added to proteins
glycolipids, glycoproteins
What is the feature of glycosidic bonds?
An alpha linkage between 1st and 4th carbon of two sugar molecules, which means they can bend
What is significant about the beta bond in cellulose
It is inflexible and we cannot break it down
Describe the structure of chitin
It is similar to cellulose except they have nitrogen side chains which stick to things
What are the functions of nucleic acids
all information processes in the cell involve DNA and RNA
storage of chemical energy in ATP
intracellular signalling in cAMP
What are the components of nucleic acid?
Phosphate sugar, pentose sugar, nitrogenous base
