Module 1

Question 1

What is molecular biology

Answer 1

Study of essential cellular macromolecules, including DNA, RNA and proteins

Question 2

What is the central dogma?

Answer 2

DNA -> RNA -> Protein,

DNA to RNA is done by transcription,
RNA to DNA is reverse transcription
RNA to protein is done by translation
DNA back to DNA is replication

Question 3

What is a chemical bond?

Answer 3

atoms that are held together through chemical forces known as chemical bonds

Question 4

Covalent bond

Answer 4

formed when 2 atoms share a pair of electrons between their positively charged nuclei

Question 5

ionic bond

Answer 5

involves complete transfer of 1 electron to another (greater than 1.67 on the pauling scale)

Question 6

electronegative

Answer 6

tendency to gain electrons

Question 7

electropositive

Answer 7

tendency to lose electrons

Question 8

Polar covalent

Answer 8

pauling scale is greater than 0 and less than 1.67, electrons are shared between atoms but biased towards 1 pole

Question 9

What type of process is bonding?

Answer 9

exothermic

Question 10

Van der waals interaction

Answer 10

depends heavily on the distance between interacting atoms

Question 11

Hydrogen bond

Answer 11

attractive intermolecular forces between 2 partial element charges of opposite polarity. One partner in the bond must be a hydrogen which must be bonded to something strongly electromagnetive like such as oxygen, nitrogen, fluoride

Question 12

Chiral

Answer 12

molecule with a structure that cannot be superimposed on its mirror image. all nucleic acids and proteins are chiral

Question 13

stereoisomes

Answer 13

pairs of molecules that have some chemical and structural formulas but are not superimposable on 1 another

Question 14

Enantiomers

Answer 14

pairs of stereoisomers that are mirror images of 1 another

Question 15

scientific method parts

Answer 15

• hypothesis and discovery
• model building calculation
• exploration and observation
• inspiration
• serendipity

Question 16

What are the three components of a nucleotide

Answer 16

phosphate group, pentose sugar, nitrogenous base
(AGCT)

Question 17

Polypeptide

Answer 17

chain of amino acids, functional proteins can be composed of a single polypeptide or multiple peptide subunits

Question 18

What are the base pairs of DNA

Answer 18

A-T G-C

Question 19

How are the nucleotides linked?

Answer 19

by phosphodiester bonds

Question 20

ribonucleotides

Answer 20

RNA nucleotides have 1 more hydroxyl group on the sugar ring than deoxyribose

Question 21

how are amino acids joined together

Answer 21

peptide bonds

Question 22

What is amino acid structure?

Answer 22

central carbon, bonds to amino group, carboxyl group, hydrogen and side chain

Question 23

what are the 4 group categories?

Answer 23

• nonpolar aliphatic R groups
• polar uncharged R groups
• polar, charged R groups
• nonpolar aromatic R groups

Question 24

Primary structure

Answer 24

• sequence of amino acids, along with any disulfide linkages between cysteine residues
• linked by peptide bonds
• atoms of a peptide bond and the alpha carbons connected to them lie in L plane, due to partial double bond between carbonyl and amide groups, giving rise to cis and trans isomers- trans more common

Question 25

Secondary structure

Answer 25

regularly repeating elements within a protein, in which hydrogen bonds form between polar atoms in the backbone chain

main structures are alpha and beta helix

Question 26

alpha helix

Answer 26

contains 3.6 amino acid residues per turn, internal hydrogen bonds set up electric dipole for entire helix.
unfavorable for certain conditions of residuals beuase the confined geometry of the ring can distort helix

Question 27

beta sheet:

Answer 27

formed by hydrogen bonding between 2 peptide segments in the beta conformation, eitherr within a polypeptide chain or separate polypeptide chains, can have parallel or antiparallel configurations

Question 28

tertiary structure

Answer 28

3D structure consisting of structural elements or loops

Question 29

protein doman

Answer 29

independent folding unit within a protein and consists of 150 residues

Question 30

supersecondary element / structural motif

Answer 30

arrangement of multiple secondary structural elements typically found in proteins
are the building blocks associated with particular functions

Question 31

quaternary structure

Answer 31

includes all the connections between 2 or more polypeptides and can range from a simple homodiner to a large ribosome

Question 32

categories of key protein functions

Answer 32

-structure
facilitate protein folding: chaperones, chaperonins, protein isomerases