Ch 5: The Structure and Function of Large Biological Molecules
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110 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids | What are the four classes of large biological molecules that all living things are made up of? |
| Macromolecules | Large molecules composed of thousands of covalently connected atoms |
| Molecular structure and function | What in a molecule are inseparable? |
| Polymer | A long molecule consisting of many similar building blocks |
| Monomers | Small building-block molecules |
| Three of the four | How many classes of life's organic molecules are polymers? |
| Carbohydrates | Sugar is its building block |
| Proteins | A peptide; Amino acids are its building blocks |
| Nucleic Acids | Fatty acids and glycerols are its building blocks |
| Dehydration/synthesis | Occurs when two monomers bond together through the loss of a water molecule |
| Hydrolosis | Polymers are disassembled to monomers; A reaction that is essentially the reverse of the dehydration reaction |
| breaks down; hydrates (water is added) | What does hydrolysis do? |
| Builds; water is removed | What does synthesis/hydration do? |
| A + B --> C + H2O | Formula for synthesis |
| A + B <-- C + H2O | Formula for hydrolysis |
| Macromolecules | Each cell has thousands of different of these |
| Polymers | An immense variety of what can be built from a small set of monomers |
| Carbohydrates | Sugars and the polymers of sugars |
| monosaccharides, or single sugars | The simplest carbohydrates |
| polysaccharides | Carbohydrate macromolecules; polymers composed of many sugar building blocks |
| Monosaccharides | Have molecular formulas that are usually multiples of CH2O |
| Glucose | The most common monosaccharide |
| rings | what do sugars form in aqueous solutions |
| Monosacchrarides | Serve as a major fuel for cells and as raw material for building molecules |
| Ribose and Deoxyribose | Building blocks for nucleic acids; five-carbon backbone |
| Glucose and Fructose | Used in assembling larger carbohydrates; six-carbon backbone |
| Isomers | Same molecular formula, different structures |
| Disaccharides | Formed when a dehydration reaction joins two monosaccharides (water is removed) |
| Sucrose | Glucose + fructose; transport form of sugar used by plants and harvested by humans for food |
| Lactose | Glucose + galactose; present in milk |
| Maltose | Glucose + glucose; present in germinating seeds |
| Trisaccharides | Three sugar units; oligosaccharides with three or more sugar monomers are attached as short side chains to proteins where they participate in membrane function |
| Polysaccharides | the polymers of sugars, have storage and structural roles |
| Starch | A storage polysaccharide of plants, consists entirely of glucose monomers |
| Plants | What stores surplus starch as granules within chloroplasts and other plastids |
| amylose | The simples form of starch |
| Glycogen | A storage polysaccharide in animals |
| liver and muscle cells | Where do humans store glycogen? |
| Cellulose | Polysaccharide that is a major component of the tough wall of plant cells. |
| glucose | Cellulose is a polymer of what? |
| insoluble fiber | What does cellulose in human food pass through the digestive tract as? |
| enzymes | Microbes use to digest cellulose |
| symbiotic relationship | Many herbivores have this type of relationship with microbes |
| Chitin | A structural polysaccharide and found in the exoskeleton of arthropods |
| structural support | Chitin provides this for the cell walls of many fungi |
| hydrophobic | What type of diverse group of molecules are lipids? |
| Lipids | The one class of large biological molecules that do not form polymers |
| little or no affinity for water | The unifying feature of lipids |
| Hydrocarbons, form nonpolar covalent bonds | What do lipids consist mostly of to make them hydrophobic? |
| Fats, phospholipids, and steroids | The most biologically important lipids |
| Fats | Constructed from two types of smaller molecules: glycerol and fatty acids |
| Glycerol | A three-carbon alcohol with a hydroxyl group attached to each carbon |
| Fatty acid | Consists of a carboxyl group attached to a long carbon skeleton |
| separate | What happens to fats in water because water molecules form bonds with each other and exclude the fats? |
| Triacylglycerol (or triglyceride) | In a fat, three fatty acids are joined to glycerol by an ester linkage |
| Length (number of carbons),and number and location of double bonds | Fatty acids vary in |
| Saturated fatty acids | Have the maximum number of hydrogen atoms possible and no double bonds |
| Bad fats | Saturated fats |
| Saturated fats (Solid at room temperature) | What type of fats contains cholestorol and are the type of fat in butter and animal fats? |
| Unsaturated fatty acids | Have one or more double bonds |
| Good fats | Unsaturated fats |
| Unsaturated fats (Liquid at room temperature) | Fish fats, nuts, olive oil, plant fats |
| cardiovascular disease | A diet rich in saturated fats may contribute to this disease through plaque deposits |
| Hydrogenation | The process of converting unsaturated fats to saturated fats by adding hydrogen |
| Hydrogenating vegetable oils | Created unsaturated fats with trans double bonds |
| trans fats | may contribute more than saturated fats to cardiovascular disease. Ex: "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter") |
| Certain unsaturated fatty acids | Are not synthesized in the human body, must be supplied in the diet |
| Omega-3 fatty acids | Essential fatty acids that are required for normal growth and thought to provide protection against cardiovascular disease. |
| Energy storage | The major function of fats |
| Adipose cells | Storage place for fats in humans and other mammals |
| Adipose tissue | Cushions the vital organs and insulated the body |
| Phospholipid | Two fatty acids and a phosphate group are attached to glycerol |
| hydrophobic; hydrophilic | The two fatty acid tails are ___________, but the phosphate group and its attachments form a ____________ head. |
| Bilayer | What phospholipids self-assemble into when they are added to water. The hydrophobic tails point toward the interior |
| bilayer arrangement | The structure of phospholipids found in cell membranes |
| Phospholipids | Major component of all cell membranes |
| Steroids | Lipids characterized by a carbon skeleton consisting of four fused rings |
| Cholesterol | An important steroid and is a component in animal cell membranes |
| Cardiovascular disease | Even though essential, high levels of cholesterol in the blood may contribute to this disease |
| Lipoproteins | Have both lipid and protein components; transport fats and cholesterol in the blood |
| Low Density Lipoproteins | Needed in the maintenance of cell membranes; transport through blood steam |
| Atherosclerosis | When low density lipoproteins travel through the blood, it builds up on the walls of the arteries and causes what, which can lead to coronary heart disease and heart attacks. |
| Low Density Lipoproteins | Often referred to as bad cholesterol |
| High Density Lipoproteins | Reduces the risk of heart disease caused by LDL. Excess cholesterol in the body is bound by this and transported to the liver for disposal. Also removes LDL cholesterol from the wall of the arteries. |
| 50% | Proteins account for more than what percentage of the dry mass of most cells |
| Structural support, storage, transport, cellular communications, movement, and defense against foreign substances | Protein functions |
| Enzymes | A type of protein that acts as a catalyst to speed up chemical reactions |
| Processes of life | Enzymes can perform their functions repeatedly, functioning as workhorses that carry out what? |
| Polypeptides; 20 | What are unbranched polymers built from the same set and how many amino acids do they contain? |
| Protein | A biologically functional molecule that consists of one or more polypeptides |
| Amino Acid Monomers | Polypeptides are a type of |
| Amino acids | Organic molecules with carboxyl and amino groups |
| R groups | Amino acids differ in their properties due to differing sides chains, called |
| protein | Peptide means |
| Peptide bonds | How amino acids are linked |
| Polypeptide | A polymer of amino acids ranging in length from a few to more than a thousand monomers |
| carboxyl end (C-terminus) and amino end (N-terminus) | Each polypeptide has a unique linear sequence of amino acids |
| Functional protein | Consists of one or more polypeptides precisely twisted, folded, and coiled into a unique shape |
| three-dimensional structure | The sequence of amino acids determine what structure of a protein |
| function | What does a protein's structure determine? |
| Primary structure | Ordered sequences of amino acids each linked together by peptide bond to form polypeptide chains |
| Three-dimensional structure | Determined by how amino acid sequences present their atoms for hydrogen bonding or how R-groups interact |
| Secondary structure | Helical coil e.g. hemoglobin or sheetlike array e.g. silk that results from H-bonding of side groups on the amino acid chains |
| Tertiary structure | Result of folding due to interactions among R groups along the polypeptide chain |
| Quaternary structure | Complex two or more polypeptide chains to form globular e.g. hemoglobin or fibrous proteins |
| Protein Denaturation | High temperatures or changes in pH can cause a loss of a protein's normal three-dimensional shape; normal functioning is lost, which is often irreversible. |
| Nucleic Acids | Polymers of nucleotides e.g. DNA and RNA. Nucleotides consist of a five-carbon sugar (ribose and deoxyribose), a nitrogen-containing base, and a phosphate group. |
| Phosphate, sugar, and base | Nucleotide structure |
| Denatured | Protein is still of protein even if it is |
| Structural, Enzymes, and functional | Three main types of proteins |
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