Lecture 2 - building blocks of life Flashcards
name the four building blocks of life
simple carbohydrates
amino acids
nucleobases
fatty acids
name the four macromolecules
protein
nucleic acids
polysaccharides
lipids
which is the only non polymerous macromolecule
lipids
how do monomers form macromolecules
polymerisation
what are the functions of carbohydrates
recognition
energy
structure
what are the three types of polysaccharides
cellulose, starch, glycogen
what are the two types of starch
amylose and amylopectin
which type of polysaccharide is
𝛃-glucose
cellulose
which two types of polysaccharides have branches
amylopectin and glycogen
what are the building blocks of nucleic acids?
nucleotides
name the common bases attatched to the ribose sugar on a nucleotide
adenine
thymine
guanine
cytosine
uracil
what are the functions of nucleic acids
they are information molecules (DNA and RNA)
what are the building blocks of proteins?
amino acids
what are the differences and similarities between all amino acids?
They all have an amine and carboxyl group attatched to the central carbon and a variant R group that differentiates them
what are four functions of proteins
catalyst
transport
regulatory
structural
what are the functions of lipids?
structural (eg in plasma membrane)
regulatory (eg cholesterol)
energy (eg triacyglycerol)
describe the structure of a lipid
a lipid has a glycerol backbone and fatty acid tails coming off it (which are hydrophobic)
