Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

BIOL 260 > Nutrients and Energy > Flashcards

Nutrients and Energy Flashcards

1
Q

why do organisms need nutrients (3)

A
  • to obtain energy
  • to obtain building blocks for development, growth, and repair
  • to combat entropy
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

2nd law of thermodynamics

A
  • energy tends to spontaneously disperse from being localized to becoming spread out (increased entropy)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

how do we combat entropy (2)

A
  • requires a contact input of energy

- if energy input stops, disorder gradually increases leading to death and decay

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

where do animals get their nutrients

A
  • take in pre-existing organic compounds by eating other organisms
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

how do plants and animals differ in how they obtain energy (2)

A
  • plants capture electromagnetic energy from sunlight

- animals capture chemical energy from food

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

what are the main types of nutrients (7)

A
  • carbohydrates
  • proteins
  • fats
  • nucleic acids (small amounts)
  • vitamins
  • minerals
  • water
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

nutrient

A
  • any substance or matter that is needed for the life and growth of living things
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

is oxygen a nutrient

A
  • oxygen is not generally considered to be a nutrient, but it is required to extract most of the energy from organic nutrients
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

essential nutrients (2)

A
  • nutrients that cannot be synthesized by the organism, but must be obtained from the environment
  • there are macronutrients (required in large quantities) and micronutrients (micronutrients)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

essential plant vs animal nutrients

A
  • essential plant nutrients are inorganic, while essential animal nutrients are organic
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

are essential nutrients the same for all organisms

A
  • no, they vary among species
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

vitamin C and humans

A
  • humans cannot synthesize vitamin C, so it is required in the diet
  • lack of vitamin C causes the disease “scurvy” where the connective tissues break down
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

essential nutrients vary among species: vitamin C (3)

A
  • vitamin C is an essential nutrient for humans; however, it is not an essential nutrient for most other organisms because they can synthesize it themselves
  • humans lack active enzyme for the last step in its synthesis
  • organisms that need vitamin C as an essential nutrient likely had a diet high in fruits and no longer needed to synthesize it themselves, like their past insect eating/or other ancestors
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

how are nutrients used; what are the main fates of nutrients (3)

A
  • oxidized and energy captured as ATP
  • oxidized and energy released as heat
  • used as building blocks for new molecules
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

what happens to excess carbohydrates in our diet (2)

A
  • they are burned as fuels for energy

- they are converted to other forms (eg. fat) for storage

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

metabolism

A
  • all the chemical reactions in the body
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

catabolic reactions (2)

A
  • breaking down complex molecules into simpler ones

- ordered to disordered state, so energy (ATP) is released (some in the form of heat)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

anabolic reactions

A
  • building complex molecules from simple ones

- disordered to ordered, so energy (ATP) is required (but some is still lost as heat due to <100% efficiency)

19
Q

how can organisms interconvert organic materials

A
  • through metabolic biochemistry
20
Q

interconversion of materials: plants

A

inorganic molecules (N, P) + energy from sunlight -> simple organic molecules (monosaccharides) -> complex carbohydrates -> metabolic biochemistry -> building blocks (carbs, proteins, lipids, etc)

21
Q

interconversion of materials: animals

A

meal (other organisms) -> simpler molecules -> metabolic biochemistry -> building blocks (carbs, proteins, lipids, etc)

22
Q

how could a glucose molecule provide energy required for your body to function normally

A
  • energy of the glucose is transferred to other molecules such as ATP
23
Q

how is food energy captured into ATP

A
  • food and oxygen are turned into ATP through cellular respiration
24
Q

what are the steps in energy being extracted from nutrients (3)

A
  1. break down macromolecules into simple subunits: digestive system
  2. breakdown/oxidize simple molecules into acetyl-CoA: glycolysis, Krebs cycle, and ETC
  3. complete oxidation of acetyl-CoA to H2O and CO2 to capture energy as ATP
25
Q

what are the basic steps that occur in the mitochondria during cellular respiration (4)

A
  • pyruvate is converted to acetyl-CoA
  • acetyl-CoA enters the Krebs cycle to produce a small amount of ATP
  • electron carriers (NADH, FADH2) are produced and carry energy
  • CO2 is a by-product, composing the CO2 we breathe out
26
Q

basic steps in the ETC (2)

A
  • electron carriers (NADH and FADH2) derived from glucose carries electrons that drive the formation of proton gradients
  • proton gradients are used to power ATP production
27
Q

which nutrients feed into the TCA cycle

A
  • ALL nutrients can feed into the TCA cycle
28
Q

what happens when energy is converted from one form to another (2)

A
  • inefficient metabolic processes: there is always a loss of useful energy through heat
  • the total energy in the system remains the same
29
Q

ectotherms (2)

A
  • most animals: all invertebrates, most fishes, all amphibians and reptiles
  • generate metabolic heat as a result of inefficient biochemical processes, but not enough to maintain their internal environment when the environmental temperature changes
30
Q

endotherms (4)

A
  • some animals: mammals, birds
  • generate substantial amounts of heat internally (energetically expensive)
  • allows them to maintain a relatively constant body temperature when environmental temperatures change
  • has arisen independently multiple times and the mechanisms differ among groups
31
Q

shivering (2)

A
  • a method to generate excess heat

- muscle activity generates heat, so shivering can produce heat but not locomotion

32
Q

non-shivering thermogenesis (3)

A
  • uses mitochondrial metabolism to generate heat
  • involved introducing inefficiencies in mitochondrial function
  • uncoupling proteins (UCP) make mitochondria inefficient by introducing a pore for protons to leak through so that biochemical work (and heat production) can occur without producing ATP
33
Q

where are UCP expressed in mammals

A
  • particularly high expression in brown adipose tissue/brown fat
34
Q

brown adipose tissue

A
  • prominent in human infants
  • originally thought to be only in infants, but is actually present in adults
  • amount and activity of this tissue increases in the cold, but obese individuals tend to have less brown adipose tissue
35
Q

other methods of thermogenesis (2)

A
  • sea otters do not have lots of brown fat, but their skeletal muscle mitochondria have high levels of “leak”
  • this generates metabolic heat which keeps them warm in cold water
36
Q

how can we measure metabolism (2)

A
  • metabolism consumes oxygen and produced carbon dioxide and heat
  • measure metabolism by measuring heat production, CO2 production, or O2 consumption
37
Q

measuring metabolism: heat production (2)

A
  • estimate metabolism by measuring heat production

- called calorimetry

38
Q

respiratory quotient (2)

A
  • ration of CO2 produced relative to O2 consumed in metabolism changes depending on the fuel that is used
  • allows us to estimate what fuel is being used by measuring O2 consumption and CO2 production; different fuels are used for exercise at different intensities
39
Q

what factors affect metabolic rate (5)

A
  • body size
  • ingestion of a meal
  • level of activity
  • temperature
  • age, sex, environmental oxygen, and time of day are more minor factors
40
Q

effect of body size on metabolic rate (3)

A
  • metabolic rate of large animals is greater than that of small animals
  • rate per kg of body size is much lower in larger animals than in small animals
  • this means that small animals must eat much more food relative to their body mass per week than large animals
41
Q

how does ingestion of a meal affect metabolic rate (2)

A
  • digesting a meal required energy and so it raises the metabolic rate
  • termed the “specific dynamic action” (SDA)
42
Q

how does exercise affect metabolic rate

A
  • more exercise increases the metabolic rate
43
Q

hibernation

A
  • a long-lasting state of metabolic depression in endotherms accompanied by decreases in body temperature
44
Q

effects of temperature on metabolic rate: ectotherms (2)

A
  • metabolic rate increases with temperature up to some maximum
  • body temperature changes with the temperature of the environment

BIOL 260 (10 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions