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BMSC 200 > Chapter 1 + Quiz Questions > Flashcards

Chapter 1 + Quiz Questions Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the two components about life that all organisms use?

A
  1. A common group of building blocks (nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, and polysaccharides)
  2. A common core of essential biochemical processes
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2
Q

What are the four different perspectives about the living state?

A

Chemical, Energy, Genetic, Evolutionary

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3
Q

What are the four elements that account for 98% of most organisms?

A

Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen

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4
Q

Which compound accounts for much of the oxygen and hydrogen in living things?

A

Water (H2O)

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5
Q

All known life form are _____ based

A

Carbon

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6
Q

Air contains lots of nitrogen, but in what form?

A

Inert, N2

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7
Q

Most of the chemical elements within the biosphere are readily available, where does carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen come from?

A

Carbon: from the air through plants
Oxygen: from the air
Hydrogen: from water

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8
Q

Where does Nitrogen come from?

A

Nitrogen from the biosphere comes from plants, that extract it from the soil

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9
Q

Does the availability of nitrogen in the soil limit the growth of plants? If yes, how does this affect humans?

A

Yes, and this limits the amount of food we can produce. The amount of naturally occurring nitrogen is enough for about 4 billion people

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10
Q

Why is it that the chemicals in your body are almost worthless, but your organs the opposite?

A

While the chemical components of living things are not exotic, how they come together is priceless

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11
Q

Why is carbon considered extremely versatile?

A

Because of the number and variety of chemical bonds it can form

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12
Q

Why is carbon’s versatility so important?

A

It enables the creation of a wide array of complex molecules, such as amino acids, sugars, and nucleotides

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13
Q

What element is considered the “next best element?” and why?

A

Silicon, because it is highly abundant in the Earth’s crust and can also form four covalent bonds

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14
Q

What are some theories to why we are carbon based and not silicon based?

A
  1. Carbon-carbon bonds are stronger
  2. More energy is released from the combustion of carbon-carbon bonds
  3. The combustion products of carbon are soluble and remain active in the biosphere
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15
Q

True or False: different functional groups are unique with respect to their size, shape, charge, reactivities, and hydrogen-bonding capacity?

A

True

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16
Q

What is the Sulfhydryl Functional group?

A

R - S - H

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17
Q

What is the Disulfide Functional group?

A

R1 - S - S - R2

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18
Q

What is the Phosphoryl Functional group?

A

P in the middle, O to the left with a single bond, O- on the top with a single bond, OH to the right with a single bond, and an O on the bottom with a double bond

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19
Q

What is the Amino Functional group?

A

R on the left by a single bond, N in the middle, and two H both 45 degrees with a single bond to the right

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20
Q

What is the Amido Functional group?

A

R on the left by a single bond, a C in the middle, and O on the bottom by a double bond, an N to the right of C by a single bond, and two H both 45 degrees with a single bond to the right

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21
Q

What is the Imidazole Functional group?

A

R on the left by a single bond. What follows is an upside down pentagon ring. Going clockwise: C to the right of R by a single bond, a CH on the same level by a double bond, then N down/right by a single bond, then C down/left by a double bond, HN up/left by a single bond and also connected to original C by single bond. There is also an H connected by a single bond on the lowest facing carbon.

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22
Q

What is the Guanidino Functional group?

A

3 parts.
1. R on the left, N to the right by a single bond, then H on the top by a single bond
2. C to the right of N, N on the bottom by a double bond, then an H on the bottom by a single bond
3. N to the right of C, and two H both 45 degrees with a single bond to the right

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23
Q

What is the Hydroxyl Functional group?

A

R on the left, O to the right by a single bond, H to the right by a single bond

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24
Q

What is the Carboxyl Functional group?

A

R on the left, C on the right by a single bond, O- on the left by a single bond, O underneath C by a double bond

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25
What is the Carbonyl (Ketone) Functional group?
R1 on the left, C on the right by a single bond, R2 on the right by a single bond, O underneath C by a double bond
26
What is the Carbonyl (Aldehyde) Functional group?
R on the left, C on the right by a double bond, H on the right by a double bond, O underneath C by a double bond
27
The properties of the functional groups determine what?
The structure, function, and properties of the biomolecule
28
For all biomolecules, _____ dictates ____
Structure, function
29
What is conformation?
The flexible spatial arrangement of atoms within a molecule. It can be changed without breaking covalent bonds
30
What is configuration?
The fixed spatial arrangement of atoms within a molecule. It cannot be changed without breaking covalent bonds
31
Configuration is conferred by either....
Double bonds or chiral centers
32
What are geometric (cis-trans) isomers?
They have the same chemical formula but differ in the configuration of groups with respect to a non-rotating double bond, and can have very different biological properties
33
What is the difference between Cis and Trans?
Cis: groups on the same side as the double bond Trans: groups on opposite sides of the double bond
34
What is a chiral carbon? And what do the different arrangements mean?
It has four different substituents attached. These groups may be arranged in different ways in space yielding two stereoisomers that differ in their configuration
35
What are stereoisomers? And what are the two types?
They have identical chemical properties, but their biological properties are often distinct. There are L and D stereoisomers
36
Which stereoisomer is more commonly found?
The L isomer
37
True or False: the stereo specificity of biochemistry is apparent in the construction and interactions of biomolecules
True
38
What is construction in the context of Stereo Specificity?
The fact that biomolecules are often constructed exclusively from one stereosiomer
39
True or False: interactions between biomolecules, as well as between biomolecules and small molecules, are not sterospecific?
False, they are stereospecific
40
Biomolecules are just polymers of simple building blocks, what are some of the advantages of constructing biologicals as polymers?
Simplicity, Recycling, and Diversity
41
What are the four major classes of biomolecules?
Proteins, Carbohydrates, Nucleic Acids, and Lipids
42
Describe proteins
1. They are linear polymers of amino acids 2. There are 20 amino acids 3. These amino acids link together to form linear chains that fold into complex patterns with distinct biological activities
43
Describe Carbohydrates
1. They are polysaccharides, which are monosaccharides linked together to form linear or branched polymers 2. Serve many important biological roles including structural, energy storage, and cellular recognition
44
Describe Nucleic Acids
1. Linear polymers of nucleotide building blocks 2. There are 5 building blocs for DNA and RNA: cytosine, uracil, thymine, adenine, guanine 3. They are involved in all aspects of storage and utilization of genetic information
45
Describe Lipids
1. Are aggregates (cluster that assemble due to hydrophobic and hydrophilic tendencies), not polymers, of building blocks 2. serve in energy storage, formation of membranes, and signalling
46
What are the two basic classes of living organisms?
Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
47
What is a prokaryote?
1. Small, simple, single cell organism 2. They have rapid growth that allows for quick adaptation 3. The nucleoid (single compartment) that contains the nucleic acids. The other biomolecules are in a complex, organized mix
48
What is a eukaryote?
1. Large, complex cells 2. Multi-cellular organisms 3. They have organelles to support specialized functions 4. There is differentiation of cells to unique and specialized cell types
49
True or False: all kinds of prokaryotic cells are bad for humans?
False, there are prokaryotic cells that are critical for our health
50
Studying molecules in _____ simplifies experiments, but may be at the expense of _______ _______.
Isolation, Biological Significance
51
What are the two experimental approaches?
In vitro, and In vivo
52
What is In vitro?
Studies the behavior of molecules outside the context of the cell and organism. "In glass."
53
What is In vivo?
Studies occur within the complexities of the cell or organism, "in living"
54
Experiments which are successful ___ ___often fail ___ ____
In vitro, In vivo
55
What is the First Law of Thermodynamics?
The total amount of energy in the universe remains constant, although the form of the energy may change
56
What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics?
The tendency in nature it toward ever greater disorder: the total entropy (disorder) of the universe is continually increasing
57
True or False: living systems and their biomolecules require a high degree of organization?
True
58
The free energy (G) of any closed system can be defined in terms of:
Enthalpy (H): the number and kinds of bonds Entropy (S): the degree of randomness Temperature: in Kelvin
59
The definition of free energy is:
G = H - TS
60
The definition of free energy change is:
ΔG = ΔH - TΔS
61
Describe an endergonic reaction
1. ΔG > 0 2. Non-spontaneous process 3. Needs input of free energy to proceed
62
Describe an exergonic reaction
1. ΔG < 0 2. Spontaneous process 3. Releases free energy which can be used to do work and proceeds until equilibrium is reached
63
Describe a system in equilibrium
1. ΔG = 0 2. There is no change in free energy in the system
64
Cells can drive thermodynamically unfavorable reactions by ___ endergonic to exergonic reactions
coupling
65
What is the central role of ATP in metabolism?
ATP serves as the link between catabolic and anabolic reactions
66
What kind of reaction is a catabolic/anabolic reaction pathway?
Catabolic: exergonic Anabolic: endergonic
67
The perpetuation of life requires that genetic information be...
1. Stored in a stable form 2. Expressed accurately in the form of gene products 3. Reproduced with minimal errors
68
For many organisms, what does DNA provide?
1. The instructions for forming all other cellular components 2. A template for production of identical DNA molecules to be distributed to the progeny when a cell divides
69
How does the Central Dogma of Biochemistry go?
DNA --> Transcription --> RNA --> Translation --> Protein
70
Each strand is a linear ___ of four different types of building blocks
polymer
71
True or False: it is the strand itself that codes the information?
False, it is the linear sequence within the strands that encodes information
72
True or False: the structure of DNA allows for Replication and Repair?
True
73
How does the nucleotide sequence of genes dictate the biological activity?
The nucleotide sequence of genes dictates the sequence of amino acids, where they are incorporated into the corresponding protein, the amino acid sequence of the protein dictates its structure, and the protein structure dictates biological activity
74
Which represents a change in configuration: changing a double bond from cis to trans or changing an amino acid from D to L forms?
Both represent a change in configuration
75
A new drug is being tested in a mouse model of disease. This is called an ____ experiment
in vivo
76
That all living organisms utilize a common repertoire of biomolecular building blocks and employ a common core of biochemical processes is..?
the unity of biochemistry
77
Geometric isomers emerge as a consequence of..?
double bonds

BMSC 200 (11 decks)

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