Lipids Flashcards
What are the functions of lipids in cellular functions?
Cell signalling, form membranes, and store energy
What kind of interaction occurs between lipids and how does it work?
Hydrophobic interactions, they mix
What are fatty acids?
A. Long carbon chains that end (or start) with a carboxyl acid
What functional group in fatty acids usually bond with other molecules?
Carboxyl acid group
Do fatty acids usually have an even or odd number of carbons? And why?
Even because when they are synthesized, two carbons are added at a time
What is the structural difference between saturated and unsaturated fatty acid?
Unsaturated fatty acids have no double bonds, whereas saturated contains double bond(s)
At what degree does a fatty acid bend at double bonds?
30 degrees
What are important characteristics of fatty acids that causes their melting point to differ?
- Number of double bonds (Tm decreases as number of double bonds increase)
- Number of carbons (Tm increases as the number of carbons increase)
What type of lipids do animals accumulate and why?
Saturated fatty acids because they are warm blooded and need their fats to have high melting point so it doesn’t melt
What type of lipids do plants produce and why?
Unsaturated fatty acids because they need their lipids to stay liquid (probably for transportation)
What are glycerolipids and what is its structure?
- Triglycerides
- made up of glycerol backbone and 3 fatty acids covalently bonded in an ester bond
How are triglycerides formed
carboxyl group and hydroxyl alcohol group react through dehydration step (lose 1 water molecule) and bonds (ester)
What happens if a triglyceride is hydrolyzed?
A fatty acid is released making it a diglyceride (if it happens again…monoglyceride)
What is the structure of a phospholipid (glycerophospholipid)?
a phosphate group attatched to the glycerol back bone with 2 fatty acids
How does the fluidity of a membrane increase?
By increasing the temperature
