Life in the Universe quiz 5

6 key properties of life

order, reproduction, development/growth, energy utilization, response to environment, and evolutionary adaption

evolution/natural selection

overproduction offspring, competition for survival, food/shelter/clean water, traits better for survival

inescapable conclusion

unequal reproductive success, certain traits are better for survival

cells

basic unit of life, use DNA, same basic parts

molecules in cells

crust of molecules from proteins

enzymnes

help out chemical reactions (speeds up)

nucleic acid

DNA and RNA

amino acid

70 on earth, 20 elements for life, all left handed

metabolism

source of carbon and source of energy, many chemical reactions occur in living organism

order

life is non random

carbon

not the most abundant element but forms the backbone of organic molecules, strong bonds, double bonds, 4 bonds at once, CO2 is mobile, basis of life on earth

silicon

binds are significantly weaker, does not form double bonds, offers no mobility, 1000x as abundant as carbon

carbohydrates

source of energy, cellular structures

lipids

??

source of carbon

build chemical products

source of energy

fuel metabolic processes

heterotrophs

obtain carbon by eating

autotrophs

obtain carbon directly from the environment

ways cells can obtain energy for metabolism

radioactive energy direct from sunlight (photo), chemical energy through eating (chemo), and chemical energy from inorganic chemical in environment

reproduction

needed for life to survive the death of an individual

1st law of thermodynamics

law of conservation of energy

2nd law of thermodynamics

left alone, system will tend toward disorder

life

something that can reproduce and evaluate through natural selection

evolution

change with time

basic structure of DNA

double helix linked with four bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), thymine (T), and cytosine (C)

gene

DNA sequence for a single protein or function

genome

an organism’s complete set of genes

role of RNA

looks like single DNA strand, many cell functions

mutation

the agent of evolution and change of molecular machinery

extremophiles

survive in environments that would be lethal to humans