lesson3 Cellular Biology Flashcards

Flashcards based on Cellular Biology lecture notes.

What is the lightest element that can form four stable covalent bonds?

Carbon

What is the study of organic compounds called?

Organic chemistry

What four elements make up over 96% of living organisms?

Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen

What are clusters of atoms that give organic molecules specific chemical properties?

Functional groups

What are large organic molecules containing dozens of carbon atoms and many functional groups called?

Macromolecules

Name four major groups of biologically important macromolecules.

Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids

What are molecules containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, primarily used by living organisms as a source of energy?

Carbohydrates

What is the simplest type of sugar molecule?

Monosaccharide

What is a sugar molecule composed of two monosaccharides linked by a covalent bond?

Disaccharide

What is the primary energy-storage carbohydrate used by living things?

Glucose

What is a complex carbohydrate composed of long chains of monosaccharides?

Polysaccharide

What polysaccharide do plants use to store chemical energy?

Starch

What are molecules composed of many linked subunits called?

Polymers

What are the individual sub units of a polymer called?

Monomers

What polysaccharide is the major component of plant cell walls?

Cellulose

What modified form of cellulose forms the tough exoskeleton of insects and crustaceans?

Chitin

What type of molecule is composed of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, with a higher proportion of hydrogen atoms than carbohydrates?

Lipid

What lipid molecule is composed of glycerol and three fatty acids?

Triglyceride

What is a triglyceride containing fatty acids with only single covalent bonds between carbon atoms?

Saturated triglyceride (saturated fat)

What is a triglyceride containing fatty acids with double bonds between carbon atoms?

Unsaturated triglyceride (unsaturated fats)

What are lipid molecules commonly used by plants and some animals as waterproof coatings?

Waxes

What are lipid molecules similar to triglycerides that play a key role in the structure of cell membranes?

Phospholipids

What are the lipid molecules composed of four carbon rings?

Steroids

What type of unbranched polymer that is composed of amino acids do proteins consist of?

Proteins

What is a protein subunit?

Amino acid

What is a bond between amino acids in a protein molecule?

Peptide bond

What is a short chain of amino acids?

Polypeptide

What is the production of proteins called?

Protein synthesis

What are proteins that speed up chemical reactions?

Enzymes

What is a chemical that speeds up chemical reactions?

Catalyst

What is a change in the three-dimensional shape of a protein caused by high temperatures or harsh acidic, basic, or salty environments called?

Denaturation

What are polymers containing subunits called nucleotides?

Nucleic acids

What nucleic acid stores hereditary information?

DNA

What nucleic acid decodes hereditary information?

RNA