Lecture 2 Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 4 main elements of biological importance?

A

Carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins

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2
Q

Why are the biological elements important?

A

Makes up the structure of cells/tissues,

transmits info, regulates and participates metabolic reactions, and provides energy for life

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3
Q

What do carbohydrates include?

A

Sugars, starches and glycogen, cellulose, and chitin

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4
Q

What is the main function of a starch?

A

Energy source found in plants

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5
Q

What is the main function of sugars (glycogen)?

A

Energy source for animals

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6
Q

What are amyloplasts and what is stored in them?

A

Where plants store their starch (a-amylose and amylopectin)

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7
Q

What is the structure of a-amylose?

A

It is a single long unbranched chain of glucose, linked by a(1-4) bonds

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8
Q

What are micelles?

A

Balls of water, formed by a-amylose

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9
Q

How does the starch, a-amylose, get broken down in animals?

A

It first gets broken down (hydrolysed) by the a-amylase enzyme. The products from this are glucose and single maltose units. The enzyme, B-amylase, then breaks down the single maltose units to glucose.

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10
Q

How does the starch, amylopectin, get broken down in animals?

A

It first gets broken down (hydrolysed) by the a-amylase enzyme. The products from this are glucose, single maltose units, and dextrin. The enzyme, B-amylase, then breaks down the single maltose units to glucose, and the enzyme glucosidase breaks down dextrin into limit dextrin

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11
Q

What is the structure of amylopectin?

A

Highly-branched polymer

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12
Q

Monosaccharide?

A

Single sugar unit (glucose)

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13
Q

Two sugar units?

A

Disaccharide (sucrose)

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14
Q

Polysaccharide?

A

Many sugar units (glycogen and starch) joined by glycosidic linkages

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15
Q

What is the most abundant monosaccharide?

A

Glucose

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16
Q

Glycosidic bonding?

A

Joins/links sugars together through hydrolysis

17
Q

What two monosaccharides make up sucrose?

A

glucose-a(1-2)-fructose

18
Q

What two monosaccharides make up lactose?

A

galactose-B(1-4)-glucose

19
Q

What two monosaccharides make up maltose?

A

glucose-a(1-4)-glucose

  • A homodimer of glucose units
  • Occurs as a byproduct of starch hydrolysis
20
Q

What does the alpha and beta mean?

A

If the OH group is pointing down (alpha), and if the OH group is pointing up (beta)

21
Q

What enzymes hydrolysis sucrose, maltose, and lactose?

A

Sucrose=invertase
Maltose=maltase
Lactose=lactase
All breakdown through hydrolysis (breaking bonds using water)

22
Q

Where is amylase, which is used to break down starch, found in humans?

A

In our saliva and pancreatic juices

23
Q

What is the function of cellulose and chitin?

A

Cellulose (plant) and chitin (animal) are both structural components

24
Q

Homopolysaccharides?

A

One type of monosaccharide linked together

25
Q

Heteropolysaccharides?

A

Different types of monosaccharide linked together

26
Q

How do polysaccharides get broken down into monosaccharides? What one is more effective?

A

Either through enzymatic or acid hydrolysis. Enzymatic is more effective

27
Q

What are glycoproteins? What is the process of making a glycoprotein called?

A

When a sugar (oligosaccharide) links to a protein through glycosidic linkage. This process is called glycosylation

28
Q

What is the purpose of glycoproteins?

A

To provide protection or adhere to produce mucus (waste removal)

29
Q

Phosphorylation?

A

This makes sugars anionic and allows some of them to participate in glycosidic bonding as reactive intermediates

30
Q

What are glycolipids?

A

Carbohydrate combined with lipids to form glycolipids - compounds on the surfaces of animal cells that allow cells to recognise and interact with one another

31
Q

How are cellulose and starch different?

A

Cellulose contains beta glucose monomers joined by beta 1-4 linkages where as glucose subunits are joined by alpha 1-4 glycosidic linkages

32
Q

What is glucose?

A
  • Most abundant monosaccharide
  • A hexose sugar (C6H12O6)
  • Energy source in most organisms
  • Used as a component in the synthesis of other compounds like fatty acids and amino acids
33
Q

What are two storage polysaccharides and where can you find them?

A

Plants - starch
Animals - glycogen
Deposited as granules in the cytoplasm

34
Q

What is a starch?

A
  • homopolymer of alpha-glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds
  • storage polysaccharide
  • in plants
  • a-amylose and amylopectin
35
Q

Can animals break down cellulose?

A

No, bc we don’t have the enzymes needed to break the bonds. Cellulose only provides roughage in the diet

36
Q

Where is chitin found?

A

The cell wall of fungi, the external skeleton of insects (arthropods) and as various structural components in animals

37
Q

Where is glycogen stored?

A

Liver and muscle cells

38
Q

What digests glycogen?

A

alpha-glucosidase enzyme