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Macromolecules Flashcards

Macromolecules are polymers, built from monomers. Carbohydrates serve as fuel and building material. Lipids are a diverse group of hydrophobic molecules. Proteins include a diversity of structures, resulting in a wide range of functions. Nucleic acids store, transmit, and help express hereditary information. Genomics and proteomics have transformed biological inquiry and applications

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1
Q

Macromolecules

A

A giant molecule formed by the joining of smaller molecules, usually by a dehydration reaction. Polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids are examples

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2
Q

Polymer

A

A long molecule consisting of many similar or identical monomers linked together by covalent bonds

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3
Q

Monomer

A

The subunit that serves as the building block of a polymer

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4
Q

Enzyme

A

A macromolecule serving as a catalyst, a chemical agent that increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction. Most of these are proteins

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5
Q

Dehydration Reaction

A

A chemical reaction in which two molecules become covalently bonded to each other with the removal of a water molecule

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6
Q

Hydrolysis

A

A chemical reaction that breaks bonds between two molecules by the addition of water; functions in disassembly of polymers to monomers

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7
Q

Carbohydrate

A

A sugar (monosaccharide) or one of its dimers (disaccharide) or polymers (polysaccharide)

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8
Q

Monosaccharide

A

The simplest carbohydrate, active alone or serving as a monomer for disaccharides and polysaccharides. Also called simple sugars, they have molecular formulas that are generally some multiple of CH2O

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9
Q

Disaccharide

A

A double sugar, consisting of two monosaccharides joined by a glycosidic linkage formed by a dehydration reaction

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10
Q

Glycosidic Linkage

A

A covalent bond formed between two monosaccharides by a dehydration reaction

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11
Q

Polysaccharide

A

A polymer of many monosaccharides, formed by dehydration reactions

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12
Q

Starch

A

A storage polysaccharide in plants, consisting entirely of glucose monomers joined by alpha glycosidic linkages

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13
Q

Glycogen

A

An extensively branched glucose storage polysaccharide found in the liver and muscles of animals; the animal equivalent of starch

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14
Q

Cellulose

A

A structural polysaccharide of plant cell walls, consisting of glucose monomers joined by beta glycosidic linkages

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15
Q

Chitin

A

A structural polysaccharide, consisting of amino sugar monomers, found in many fungal cell walls and in the exoskeletons of all arthropods

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16
Q

Lipid

A

Any of a group of large biological molecules, including fats, phospholipids, and steroids, that mix poorly, if at all, with water

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17
Q

Fat

A

A lipid consisting of three fatty acids linked to one glycerol molecule; also called a triacylglycerol or triglyceride

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18
Q

Fatty Acid

A

A carboxylic acid with a long carbon chain. They vary in length and in the number and location of double bonds; three of them linked to a glycerol molecule form a fat molecule, also called triacylglycerol or triglyceride

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19
Q

Triacylglycerol

A

A lipid consisting of three fatty acids linked to one glycerol molecule, also called a fat or triglyceride

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20
Q

Saturated Fatty Acid

A

A fatty acid in which all carbons in the hydrocarbon tail are connected by single bonds, thus maximizing the number of hydrogen atoms that are attached to the carbon skeleton

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21
Q

Unsaturated Fatty Acid

A

A fatty acid that has one or more double bonds between carbons in the hydrocarbon tail. Such bonding reduces the number of hydrogen atoms attached to the carbon skeleton

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22
Q

Trans Fat

A

An unsaturated fat, formed artificially during hydrogenation of oils, containing one or more trans double bonds

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23
Q

Phospholipid

A

A lipid made up of glycerol joined to two fatty acids and a phosphate group. The hydrocarbon chains of the fatty acids act as nonpolar, hydrophobic tails, while the rest of the molecule acts as a polar, hydrophilic head. They form bilayers that function as biological membranes

24
Q

Steroid

A

A type of lipid characterized by a carbon skeleton consisting of four fused rings with various chemical groups attached

25
Q

Cholesterol

A

A steroid that forms an essential component of animal cell membranes and acts as a precursor molecule for the synthesis of other biologically important steroids, such as many hormones

26
Q

Catalyst

A

A chemical agent that selectively increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction

27
Q

Polypeptide

A

A polymer of many amino acids linked together by peptide bonds

28
Q

Protein

A

A biologically functional molecule consisting of one or more polypeptides folded and coiled into a specific three-dimensional structure

29
Q

Amino Acid

A

An organic molecule possessing both a carboxyl group and an amino group. They serve as the monomers of polypeptides

30
Q

Peptide Bond

A

The covalent bond between the carboxyl group on one amino acid and the amino group on another, formed by a dehydration reaction

31
Q

Primary Structure

A

The level of protein structure referring to the specific linear sequence of amino acids

32
Q

Secondary Structure

A

Regions of repetitive coiling or folding of the polypeptide backbone of a protein due to hydrogen bonding between constituents of the backbone (not the side chains)

33
Q

Alpha Helix

A

A coiled region constituting one form of the secondary structure of proteins, arising from a specific pattern of hydrogen bonding between atoms of the polypeptide backbone (not the side chain)

34
Q

Beta Pleated Sheet

A

One form of the secondary structure of proteins in which the polypeptide chain folds back and forth. Two regions of the chain lie parallel to each other and are held together by hydrogen bonds between atoms of the polypeptide backbone (not the side chains)

35
Q

Tertiary Structure

A

The overall shape of a protein molecule due to interactions of amino acid side chains, including hydrophobic interaction, ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds, and disulfide bridges

36
Q

Hydrophobic Interaction

A

A type of weak chemical interaction caused when molecules that do not mix with water coalesce to exclude water

37
Q

Disulfide Bridge

A

A strong covalent bond formed when the sulfur of one cysteine monomer bonds to the sulfur of another cysteine monomer

38
Q

Quaternary Structure

A

The particular shape of a complex, aggregate protein, defined by the characteristic three-dimensional arrangement of its constituent subunits, each a polypeptide

39
Q

Sickle-Cell Disease

A

A recessively inherited human blood disorder in which a single nucleotide change in the beta-globin gene causes hemoglobin to aggregate, changing red blood cell shape and causing multiple symptoms in afflicted individuals

40
Q

Denaturation

A

In proteins, a process in which a protein loses its native shape due to the disruption of weak chemical bonds and interactions, thereby becoming biologically inactive; In DNA, the separation of the two strands of the double helix. This occurs under extreme (noncellular) conditions of pH, salt concentration, or temperature

41
Q

Chaperonin

A

A protein complex that assists in the proper folding of other proteins

42
Q

X-Ray Crystallography

A

A technique used to study the three-dimensional structure of molecules. It depends on the diffraction of an X-ray beam by the individual atoms of a crystallized molecule

43
Q

Gene

A

A discrete unit of hereditary information consisting of a specific nucleotide sequence in DNA (or RNA, in some viruses)

44
Q

Nucleic Acid

A

A polymer (polynucleotide) consisting of many nucleotide monomers; serves as a blueprint for proteins and, through the actions of proteins, for all cellular activities. They two types are DNA and RNA

45
Q

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

A

A nucleic acid molecule, usually a double-stranded helix, in which each polynucleotide strand consists of nucleotide monomers with a deoxyribose sugar and the nitrogenous bases adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T); capable of being replicated and determining the inherited structure of a cell’s proteins

46
Q

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)

A

A type of nucleic acid consisting of a polynucleotide made up of nucleotide monomers with a ribose sugar and the nitrogenous bases adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U); usually single-stranded; functions in protein synthesis, in gene regulation, and as the genome of some viruses

47
Q

Gene Expression

A

The process by which information encoded in DNA directs the synthesis of proteins or, in some cases, RNAs that are not translated into proteins and instead function as RNAs

48
Q

Polynucleotide

A

A polymer consisting of many nucleotide monomers in a chain. The nucleotides can be those of DNA or RNA

49
Q

Nucleotide

A

The building block of a nucleic acid, consisting of a five-carbon sugar covalently bonded to a nitrogenous base and one or more phosphate groups

50
Q

Pyrimidine

A

One of two types of nitrogenous bases found in nucleotides, characterized by a six-membered ring. Cytosine (C), thymine (T), and uracil (U) are examples

51
Q

Purine

A

One of two types of nitrogenous bases found in nucleotides, characterized by a six-membered ring. Adenine (A), and guanine (G) are examples

52
Q

Deoxyribose

A

The sugar component of DNA nucleotides, having one fewer hydroxyl group than ribose, the sugar component of RNA

53
Q

Ribose

A

The sugar component of RNA nucleotides

54
Q

Double Helix

A

The form of native DNA, referring to its two adjacent antiparallel polynucleotide strands wound around an imaginary axis into a spiral shape

55
Q

Antiparallel

A

Referring to the arrangement of the sugar-phosphate backbones in a DNA double helix (they run in opposite 5’ –> 3’ directions)

56
Q

Genomics

A

The systematic study of whole sets of genes (or other DNA) and their interactions within a species, as well as genome comparisons between species

57
Q

Proteomics

A

The systematic study of sets of proteins and their properties including their abundance, chemical modifications, and interactions

Biology (12 decks)

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