Energy & Enzymes - Biol 120

Flashcards covering key vocabulary related to energy, enzymes, and metabolic processes based on lecture notes from Energy & Enzymes in Biol 120.

Energy Systems

Systems that manage the flow and conversion of energy within an organism.

Work

The capacity to do physical work, often related to energy transformations.

Potential Energy

Stored energy that has the capacity to perform work due to its position or arrangement.

Kinetic Energy

The energy of motion, or energy being used to do work.

Thermodynamics

The study of energy transformations in physical and chemical processes.

Entropy

A measure of disorder or randomness in a system; increasing entropy means greater disorder.

Exergonic Reactions

Chemical reactions that release energy; the overall change in free energy (\Delta G) is negative.

Endergonic Reactions

Reactions that require energy input; they absorb energy with a positive (\Delta G) .

Free Energy (\Delta G)

The amount of energy in a system that is available to perform work.

Activation Energy (E_A)

The minimum energy required for a chemical reaction to occur.

ATP

Adenosine triphosphate, the main energy currency of the cell used to drive various biological processes.

Enzyme Specificity

The unique ability of an enzyme to catalyze a specific substrate due to its active site.

Redox Reactions

Reactions that involve the transfer of electrons between substances; oxidation and reduction occur simultaneously.

Metabolic Pathways

Series of enzymatic reactions that process substrates into products, including catabolism and anabolism.

Anabolism

Metabolic pathways that construct molecules from smaller units; they require energy input.

Catabolism

Metabolic pathways that break down larger molecules into smaller ones, releasing energy.

Chemical Bonds

Interactions between atoms that store energy which can be released during chemical reactions.

Energy Coupling

The process of using energy released from exergonic reactions to drive endergonic reactions.

Substrate-Level Phosphorylation

The direct phosphorylation of ADP to form ATP during glycolysis or the Krebs cycle.

Cofactor

An inorganic ion that assists enzymes during catalysis.

Coenzyme

A non-protein organic molecule that assists enzymes; often vitamins or derivative molecules.

Prosthetic Group

A tightly bound, specific non-polypeptide unit required for the biological activity of some enzymes.

First Law of Thermodynamics

The principle stating that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another.

Second Law of Thermodynamics

The principle stating that every energy transfer or transformation increases the entropy of the universe.

Oxidation

The loss of electrons from a substance involved in a chemical reaction.

Reduction

The gain of electrons by a substance involved in a chemical reaction.

Catalyst

A chemical agent that selectively increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed by lowering the E_A .

Active Site

The specific region of an enzyme that binds the substrate and performs catalysis.

Competitive Inhibitor

A substance that reduces enzyme activity by entering the active site in place of the substrate.

Non-competitive Inhibitor

A substance that binds to a site other than the active site, changing the enzyme shape and reducing its function.

Allosteric Regulation

The binding of a regulatory molecule to a protein at one site that affects the function of the protein at a different site.

Feedback Inhibition

A method of metabolic control in which the end product of a pathway inhibits an enzyme within that pathway.