Macromolecules

Question 1

What is a monomer?

Answer 1

A molecule that can be bonded to other monomers via covalent bonding.

Question 2

What is a polymer?

Answer 2

Monomers bonded in long chains connected by covalent bonds.

Question 3

What is hydrolysis and how does it occur?

Answer 3

The breaking down of a polymer by adding water to a molecule to break a bond.

Question 4

What is dehydration and how does it occur?

Answer 4

A reaction that occurs during the synthesis of polymers, removing a water molecules from an unlinked monomer that forms a new bond.

Question 5

What are carbohydrates?

Answer 5

Carbohydrates are sugar molecules that form mono, di, and polysaccharides.

Question 6

What are monosaccharides? How are types of monosaccharides determined?

Answer 6

They are made up of monomers, multiples of the unit CH2O. They contain 3 - 7 carbons and all have carbonyl and hydroxyl groups. Placement of these groups determines what type of monosaccharides they are.

Question 7

Aldoses and Ketoses are both carbohydrate monosaccharide sugars. What are the difference between the two?

Answer 7

Aldoses are monosaccharides that contain an aldehyde group, while ketoses are monosaccharides that contain a ketose group.

Question 8

Why do monosaccharides form rings?

Answer 8

Rings are more stable in aqueous solutions than straight molecules.

Question 9

What are disaccharides? How do they join?

Answer 9

They are molecules joined by glycosidic linkage, usually a carbohydrate to another carbohydrate but other groups are possible.

Question 10

What is glycosidic linkage? How does it happen?

Answer 10

It is a covalent bond that connects carbohydrate molecules to other carbohydrate groups or other molecules via a dehydration reaction.

Question 11

What does sucrose do in plants?

Answer 11

Transport form of sugar in plants

Question 12

What are polysaccharides, what do they do and where are they found?

Answer 12

100s - 1000s of monosaccharides joined via glycosidic linkage. They store energy as glucose and are found in plants as starch and cellulose and in animals as glycogen.

Question 13

What is starch? Can humans digest it? What is it made of and in what form?

Answer 13

Polysaccharides in plants. Humans can digest this (unlike cellulose). Made of glucose in the form of amylose or amylopectin with a helical, alpha position.

Question 14

What is amylose and how is it linked?

Answer 14

Unbranched glucose in plants by a 1-4 linkage between glucose molecules.

Question 15

What is amylopectin and how is it linked?

Answer 15

Somewhat branched glucose in plants by a 1-6 linkage at branch points, otherwise 1-4 linkage between glucose molecules.

Question 16

What is glycose? Why is it so branched?

Answer 16

They are the polysaccharides in animals and the stored form of glucose. It is very branched to allow for short term storage of energy because it needs to be broken down faster (more end points = more access points so hydrolysis can occur faster) vs fat which is used for long term storage.

Question 17

What is chitin, where is it found and how is it made?

Answer 17

Modified polysaccharide that contains nitrogen. Synthesized from the beta linkage of glucose with N-attachment. Found in arthropods and fungi.

Question 18

What is cellulose?

Answer 18

Major component of plant cell walls. It is a polymer of glucose with 1-4 glycosidic linkage in the beta position which makes it straight and unbranched that contains free hydroxl groups.

Question 19

Microfibrils

Answer 19

Thin structures in cells, usually described as bundles of cellulose in plant cell walls formed from free hydroxyl groups in cellulose molecules that form H-bonds with other molecules.

Question 20

What is glucose and how is it arranged?

Answer 20

Glucose is a carbohydrate polysaccharide sugar that makes up starch (alpha), cellulose (beta), chitin (beta) and glycogen (alpha). It forms either alpha or beta structures. Alpha forms helical, 3D structures and beta forms straight, unbranched structures that lead to microfibrils.

Question 21

What are proteins and how are the linked?

Answer 21

They are made of amino acids linked by unbranched peptide bonds. Have an alpha carbon, left side amino group, right side carboxyl group, and side chain R group and hydrogen.

Question 22

Why are R-side chains in amino acid proteins important?

Answer 22

R-groups in amino acids change with different types that determine amino acid physical and chemical properties.

Question 23

What are the properties of hydrophobic amino acids?

Answer 23

Hydrophobic amino acids try to avoid contact with water. They contain no O or OH in their side chains but can have NH, S, CH(n) and H.

Question 24

What are the different types of acids in protein synthesis?

Answer 24

There are 20 types and all have ammonium and carboxylic acid as their amino group and carboxyl group respectively.

Question 25

What are the properties of hydrophilic amino acids with polar side chains?

Answer 25

Hydrophilic amino acids with polar side chains have either OH, SH, or NH2 (or combinations of multiple) in their side chains.

Question 26

What are the properties of hydrophilic amino acids with electrically charged side chains?

Answer 26

Hydrophilic amino acids with electrically charged side chains can be either acidic (negatively charged) with O-, or basic (positively charged) with NH(1,2,3)+

Question 27

What are polypeptides and how are they made?

Answer 27

They are a chain of amino acids formed by fusing amino acids connected with peptide bonds that release H2O when formed and are never branched and always linear.

Question 28

What is the general structure of proteins?

Answer 28

Proteins are usually one or more polypeptides that fold into 3D shapes determined by amino acid sequences.

Question 29

What are primary protein interactions?

Answer 29

Gene sequence; amino acids chain one after another in polypeptide form.

Question 30

What are secondary protein interactions?

Answer 30

H-bonds between polypeptide backbone, with two types. Alpha helixes can form between every 4 amino acids where as beta pleated sheets are beta strands that connect side by side peptides via H-bonds.

Question 31

What are tertiary protein interactions?

Answer 31

Interactions between side chains of amino acids by ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds, a disulphide bridge, or hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions.

Question 32

What are quaternary protein interactions?

Answer 32

Interactions between multiple polypeptide chains.

Question 33

What are denatured proteins and how does denaturing happen?

Answer 33

Denatured proteins are uncoiled, inactive proteins caused by high temperatures (high fevers) and cannot renature easily. (Kinda like boiling an egg).

Question 34

What is the function of enzymatic proteins?

Answer 34

Selective acceleration of chemical reactions. ex) Digestive enzymes catalyze the hydrolysis of bonds in food molecules.

Question 35

What is the function of defensive proteins?

Answer 35

Protection against disease. ex) antibodies inactive and help destroy viruses and bacteria.

Question 36

What is the function of hormonal proteins?

Answer 36

Coordination of an organism's activites. ex) Insulin, a hormone secured by the pancreas, causes other tissues to take up glucose, regulating blood sugar concentration

Question 37

What is the function of receptor proteins?

Answer 37

Response of a cell to chemical stimuli ex) Receptors build into the membrane of a nerve cell detect signaling molecules released by other nerve cells.

Question 38

What is the function of storage proteins?

Answer 38

Storage of amino acids. ex) plants store energy in seeds.

Question 39

What is the function of transport proteins?

Answer 39

Transport of substances ex) hemoglobin transports o2 from lungs to other parts of body.

Question 40

What is the function of contractile and motor proteins?

Answer 40

Movement ex) Responsible for contractions of muscles

Question 41

What is the function of structural proteins?

Answer 41

Support ex) Collage proteins provide a fibrous framework in animal connective tissues.

Question 42

What are genomics?

Answer 42

Study of all person's genes (genomes), concerned with the structure, function, evolution and mapping.

Question 43

What are proteomics?

Answer 43

Study of proteomes and their functions

Question 44

What are proteomes?

Answer 44

Set of proteins produced in a biological context (organism, system).

Question 45

What are peptide bonds and do they occur?

Answer 45

How proteins are linked; release H2O when formed (dehydration = synthetization)