Unit #1 Flashcards
What plays a central role in the coding of biological information?
The sequence of base pairs in a DNA molecule
How can you make a DNA model look more like RNA?
Change the deoxyribose to ribose by adding -OH groups
(Ribose sugars have -OH linked to them, deoxyribose do not)
What process adds a monosaccharide to an already existing polysaccharide?
Dehydration synthesis (opposite is hydrolysis.) An enzyme removes the hydrogen from the monosaccharide and the hydroxide from the polysaccharide which creates a bond between the two & also creating a water molecule
What’s dehydration synthesis?
When 2 monomers bond through the loss of a water molecule
What’s hydrolysis?
When a molecule’s bond is broken due to adding a molecule of water (opposite of dehydration synthesis)
Monosaccharide
A sugar that can’t be hydrolyzed/simplified into simpler sugars (ex. glucose, fructose, galactose, deoxyribose, ribose, etc)
Have molecular formulas that are usually multiples of CH2O
Glucose (C6H12O6) is the most common monosaccharide
Polysaccharide
3 or more monosaccharides linked together by a glycosidic linkage
Monomer
Atoms/small molecules that bond together to form polymers or more complex structures. They’re the building blocks. For example, the main four types of monomers consist of simple sugars, fatty acids (… sort of), amino acids and nucleotides
Polymer
Monomers bonded by a covalent bond, making polymers
Disaccharide
When two monosaccharides are joined by a glycosidic linkage
Glycosidic linkage
A link between two monosaccharides (an ester bond)
Is a glycosidic linkage covalent? Are monomers and monosaccharides, etc the same?
Yes to both. A glycosidic linkage is a type of covalent bond. Monomers are building blocks and a monosaccharides is one so yes. Polymers also is the same thing as polyssachrides, just a vaguer term
What’s cellulose?
Cellulose is a polyssacharide/polymer that consists of 3000 or more glucose monomers
If cattle were to lose the ability to maintain a colony of microorganisms (that produce enzyme B) in their digestive tract, what would occur?
The cattle would not longer be able to use cellulose as a main source of glucose because without enzyme B, cellulose wouldn’t be able to get digested
What breaks down carbs?
Enzymes break down carbs
How does the structure of ice benefit the organisms that live beneath the water?
The water molecules in ice are farther apart than those in liquid water, so when the ice floats, it maintains the warmer, denser water at the lake bottom
How is water pulled up through the xylem (inside the stem), to the leaves of the plant?
it’s pulled up through the xylem due to the hydrogen bonding between water molecules and cohesion
There are two plants, one is phosphorus sufficient and the other one is phosphorus starved. What is most likely the reason for the difference in leaf growth?
The growth was limited due to nucleic acids and lipids not being produced since phosphorus is used to produce both
What’s a peptide?
Short string of amino acids (polymer) which was formed due to dehydration synthesis and joined together by a covalent bond
What’s a polypeptide?
A continuous branch of amino acids made up of peptide bonds
What’s a dipeptide?
Two amino acid molecules linked by a peptide bond
What’s the difference between an ionic bond, a covalent bond and a hydrogen bond?
Ionic bonds: Atoms being held together by charge
Covalent: Pairs of electrons are shared by atoms
Hydrogen: Partial positive hydrogen is attracted/gets electrons taken away by a partial negative atom
Do any amino acids have phosphorus in them?
None at all. Nucleotides (monomers of nucleic acids) are the ones who do
What’s a key difference among the 20 amino acids that are used to make proteins?
10 out of 20 amino acids are hydrophobic due to non-polar R groups