U1 Chapter 5: The Structure and Function of Large Biological Molecules

Question 1

Macromolecules

Answer 1

Huge-size and chain like molecules called polymers, ex. large carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids

Question 2

Polymer

Answer 2

A long molecule consisting of many similar or identical building blocks linked by covalent bonds, much as a train consists of a chain of boxcars

Question 3

Monomers

Answer 3

The repeating units that serve as the building blocks of a polymer

Question 4

Enzymes

Answer 4

Specialized macromolecules (usually proteins) that speed up chemical reactions
- The reaction that connects a monomer to another monomer or a polymer is a condensation reaction (a reaction in which two molecules are covalently bonded to each other with the loss of a small molecule)

Question 5

Dehydration Reaction

Answer 5

If a water molecule is lost

Question 6

Hydrolysis

Answer 6

A process that is essentially the reverse of the dehydration reaction

Question 7

Carbohydrate

Answer 7

Include sugars and polymers of sugars
- the simplest carbohydrates are the monosaccharides/simple sugars

Question 8

Monosaccharides

Answer 8

Generally have molecular formulas that are some multiple of the unit CH2O

Question 9

Disaccharide

Answer 9

Consists of two monosaccharides joined by a glycosidic linkage, a covalent bond formed between two monosaccharides by a dehydration reaction

Question 10

Polysaccharides

Answer 10

Macromolecules, polymers with a few hundred to a few thousand monosaccharides joined by glycosidic linkages

Question 11

Starch

Answer 11

A polymer of glucose monomer, as granules within cellular structures known as plastids (plastids include chloroplasts)

Question 12

Glycogen

Answer 12

A polymer of glucose that is like amylopectin but more extensively branched

Question 13

Cellulose

Answer 13

A major component of the tough walls that enclose plant cells

Question 14

Chitin

Answer 14

The carbohydrate used by arthropods (insects, spiders, etc.) to build their exoskeletons

Question 15

Lipids

Answer 15

Hydrophobic, based on molecular structure
- consists mostly of hydrocarbon regions with relatively non polar C-H bonds

Question 16

Fat

Answer 16

Consists of a glycerol molecule joined to three fatty acids

Question 17

Fatty Acid

Answer 17

Has a long carbon skeleton where the carbon at one end of the skeleton is part of the carboxyl group, the functional group

Question 18

Saturated and Unsaturated Fatty Acid

Answer 18

Saturated with hydrogen, unsaturated ones have one or more double bonds with one fewer hydrogen atom at each double-bonded carbon

Question 19

Phospholipid

Answer 19

Only two fatty acids attached to glycerol rather than three, the third hydroxyl group of glycerol is joined to a phosphate group, which has a negative electrical charge in the cell

Question 20

Steroids

Answer 20

Lipids characterized by a carbon skeleton consisting of four fused rings

Question 21

Cholesterol

Answer 21

A type of steroid, a crucial molecule in animals as it is a common component of animal cell membranes and is also the precursor from which other steroids, such as vertebrate sex hormones, are synthesized

Question 22

Catalysts

Answer 22

Chemical agents that selectively speed up chemical reactions without being consumed in the reaction

Question 23

Polypeptide

Answer 23

The bond between amino acids are called polypeptide bonds, so a this is a polymer of amino acids

Question 24

Protein

Answer 24

Biologically functional molecule made up of one or more polypeptides, each folded and coiled into a specific 3D structure

Question 25

Amino Acid

Answer 25

Organic molecule with both an amino group and a carboxyl group

Question 26

Peptide Bond

Answer 26

When two amino acids are positioned so that the carboxyl group of one is adjacent to the amino group of the other, they can become joined by a dehydration reaction with the removal of a water molecule

Question 27

Sickle-Cell Disease

Answer 27

An inherited blood disorder caused by the substitution of one amino acid (Valine) for the normal one (Glutamic Acid) at the position of the sixth amino acid in the primary structure of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells

Question 28

Denaturation

Answer 28

If the pH, salt concentration, temperature, or other aspects of its environment are altered, the weak chemical bonds and interactions within a protein may be destroyed, causing the protein to unravel and lose its native shape

Question 29

X-Ray Crystallography

Answer 29

Depends on the diffraction of an X-ray beam by the atoms of a crystallized molecule in order to determine the 3D structure of a protein

Question 30

Gene

Answer 30

The amino Acid sequence of a polypeptide is programmed by a discrete unit of inheritance

Question 31

Nucleic Acids

Answer 31

Polymers made of monomers called nucleotides

Question 32

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)

Answer 32

Enable living organisms to reproduce their complex components from one generation to the next

Question 33

Gene Expression

Answer 33

DNA also redirects RNA synthesis and, through RNA, controls protein synthesis

Question 34

Polynucleotides

Answer 34

Nucleic Acids are macromolecules that exist as polymers

Question 35

Pyrimidine

Answer 35

Six-membered ring of carbon and nitrogen atoms - Cytosine, Thymine, and Uracil

Question 36

Purine

Answer 36

Larger six-membered ring fused to a five-membered ring - Adenine and Guanine

Question 37

Bioinformatics

Answer 37

The use of computer software and other computational tools that can handle and analyze these large data sets

Question 38

Genomics

Answer 38

Analyzing large sets of genes or even comparing them to whole genomes of different species