AP Biology Notes

Chapter 5
Macromolecules: a giant molecule made of many smaller molecules. Carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids are macromolecules.

Concept 5.1
Polymer: a long molecule made of similar or identical building blocks linked by covalent bonds. Monomer: smaller molecules that make up a polymer. Condensation/dehydration reaction: a covalent bond resulting in the loss of a water molecule. Enzymes: specialized macromolecules that speed up chemical reactions in cells. Hydrolysis: a process that uses water to break covalent bonds. Hydrolysis occurs in the digestive tract and is sped up by enzymes. Lifes polymers are made of 40-50 common monomers and some rare ones.

Concept 5.2
Carbohydrates: includes sugars and sugar polymers Monosaccharides: the simplest carbohydrate, the simplest sugar. Whether a sugar is an aldose or ketose depends on the location of the carbonyl group. Carbon skeleton ranges from 3-7 carbons

Disaccharide: made of 2 monosaccharides joined by a covalent bond formed via dehydration Glycosidic linkage: a covalent bond formed between two monosaccharides by a dehydration reaction Maltose is made of two glucose molecules Maltose, also known as malt salt, is used in brewing beer. Sucrose, which is table sugar, is made of glucose and fructose. Plants transport carbs from leaves to roots in the form of sucrose Lactose is made of glucose and galactose.

Polysaccharides: macromolecules or polymers with few hundred to a few thousand monosaccharides joined by glycosidic linkages. Polysaccharides are used for building material.

Starch: polymer of monomers that are stored as granules within plastids, including chloroplasts. Grains, corn, rice and other grasses are the major sources of starch in a humans diet. Glucose in starch and maltose are joined by 1-4 linkages, making them helical. 1

AP Biology Notes Amylose is the simplest form of starch and is unbranched. Amylopectin is branched with 1-6 linkage.

Glycogen: an extensively branched polymer of glucose that is mainly found in organisms muscle and liver cells. Glycogen can be depleted in a day. Cellulose is made of beta glycosidic bonds, making every other glucose upside-down. A starch molecule is helical. A cellulose molecule one is straight. Parallel cellulose molecules are called microfibrils.

Some organisms have cellulose digesting prokaryotes living in them, such as termites and cows. Chitin: carbohydrate thauilds the exoskeletons of arthropods. Chitin, which is normally flexible, becomes hardened with calcium carbonate.

Concept 5.3
Lipids: insoluble in water. Made of hydrocarbon regions. Triaclygercol: a word often used in areas for packaged foods.

Saturated fatty acid: one that does not have a kink and is made of single bonds. Trans Fat: more harmful than saturated fat. Phospholipid: essential lipids that make up the cell membranes. Steroids: lipids characterized by a carbon skeleton consisting of four fused rings. Cholesterol: a common component of animal cell membranes; precursor of other steroids. Cholesterol is made in the liver.

AP Biology Notes

Concept 5.4
Proteios means first place. 50% of the dry mass in cells is proteins.

Enzymes: a macromolecule that serves as a catalyst in a reaction. Catalyst: chemical agents that selectively speed up chemical reactions without being consumed Humans have tens of thousands of different proteins. Polypeptides: polymers of amino acids Protein: a functional biological molecule made of one or more polypeptides folded and coiled into a specific 3D structure. Amino acids: organic molecules with both carboxyl and amino groups. The carbon in the center of the amino acid is called the alpha () carbon. All the amino acids in proteins are in the L form. Peptide bond: covalent bond between amino acids made by dehydration synthesis The repeating sequence of atoms is called the polypeptide backbone. Frederick Sanger from Cambridge University worked to sequence insulin

AP Biology Notes A functional protein is one or more polypeptides precisely twisted, folded and coiled into a unique shape. Globular proteins are those that are roughly spherical. Fibrous proteins are those that are shaped like long fibers. Endorphins bind to specific receptor proteins on the surface of brain cells in humans to produce euphoria and relieve pain The function of a protein is an emergent property resulting from molecular order. Primary structure: sequence of amino acids Secondary structure: coils and folds from hydrogen bonds between the repeating constituents of the polypeptide backbone. Between hydrogen and oxygen helix: coil held by hydrogen bonding between every fourth amino acid pleated sheet: chains lying side by side formed by hydrogen bonds between parts of the two parallel backbones. Tertiary structure: interaction between R groups Hydrophobic interaction: contributes to tertiary structure. Contact with water makes it fold in. Disulfide bridges: between two sulfurs and rivets parts of the protein together. Quaternary structure: overall protein structure resulting from the aggregation of polypeptide subunits. Sickle-cell disease is caused by the substitution of valine for glutamic acid at a particular position in the primary structure of hemoglobin pH, salt concentration, temperature and other environmental factors affect protein structure. Denaturation: a change that causes a protein to lose its native shape. Chaperonins: (chaperone proteins) protein molecules that assist in the proper folding of other proteins; they do not specify the final structure of a polypeptide Alzheimers and Parkinsons are the result of misfolded proteins First 3D structures were worked out in 1959 (hemoglobin) X-ray crystallography: method used to determine 3D structures of proteins that requires crystallization. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy does not require it.

Concept 5.5

AP Biology Notes Gene: unit of inheritance made of DNA Nucleic acids: class of compounds including DNA and RNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA): contains genetic information, directs RNA/protein synthesis Ribonucleic acid (RNA): often serves as a messenger in cells. mRNA interacts with the cells protein-synthesizing machinery to direct production of a polypeptide Proteins are made at the ribosomes. Polynucleotides: polymer made of many nucleotides Nucleotides: made of a nitrogenous base, five-carbon sugar, and a phosphate group. Pyrimidine: family of nitrogenous bases with six-membered ring of carbon and nitrogen (C, T, and U) Purines: six-membered ring fused to five membered ring (A and G) Sugar atoms have a prime Adjacent nucleotides are joined by a phosphodiester linkage Double helix: shape of DNA where two polynucleotides spiral around an imaginary axis Antiparallel: sugar phosphate backbones that run in opposite directions