Lecture 1 & 2 Flashcards
How might life have begun?
Life likely formed from abundant organic molecules and elements, with chemistry starting from interactions on rock and clay surfaces. The Miller-Urey Experiment showed amino acids and metabolites forming under early Earth conditions.
What is life composed of?
Life is composed of polymers such as lipids, polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids, which are made of repeated units of monomers.
What roles does water play in life?
Water buffers Earth’s climate, acts as a solvent, transfers protons, forms barriers with hydrophobic molecules, shapes molecules, and is crucial for transporting substrates.
Why is energy important for life?
Life needs energy to carry out essential functions, which is captured and utilised through various metabolic pathways.
What were likely central to Life’s pre-biotic beginnings?
Essential metabolic components like amino acids, nucleotides, adenosine, lipids, steroids, quinones, vitamins, chlorophyll, haemoglobin, and cytochromes.
How do polymers form and break down?
Polymers form through dehydration (removal of water) and break down through hydrolysis (addition of water).
What are lipids formed from, and what are the types of acyl chains?
Lipids are formed from acetate, and acyl chains can be saturated or unsaturated.
What happens when phosphate is added to fatty acids?
The addition of phosphate to fatty acids forms phospholipids, making them amphipathic (having both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions).
What role do phospholipids play in cells?
Phospholipids form membranes, which are essential for the structure of cells, and were likely required by the first cells.
How do sugars function in living organisms?
Sugars store energy (e.g., glycogen in animals, starch in plants) and build structures (e.g., cellulose in plants, chitin in arthropods).
How do different bonds between sugar monomers affect polysaccharides?
The type of glycosidic bonds affects the structure and properties of polysaccharides, such as the difference between starch (energy storage) and cellulose (structural).
What are examples of polymers with variations in monomer components?
Nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) are polymers made of nucleotide monomers, and proteins are polymers made of amino acid monomers, with diverse components determining their functions.
