Biology IMPORTANT Review Terms

The ones that HENRY needs to studyt

Photosynthesis Equation

6CO2 + 6H20 + Light energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2

Cellular Respiration Equation

 C6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2  + 6H2O + Energy

Electron Transport Train

Four protein complexes in the inner mitochondrial membrane that transfers electrons from donors to acceptors.

Exergonic

Chemical process that releases free energy, resulting in a net decrease of Gibbs free energy.

Endergonic

A chemical process that requires an input of energy, resulting in products with higher free energy than the reactants.

Acetyl CoA

 Metabolic intermediate that delivers an acetyl group to the Krebs cycle.

Kreb’s Cycle

Series of reactions that oxidizes acetyl CoA to release stored energy.

Substrate

Specific molecule an enzyme acts upon in biochemical reactions. 

Photosynthesis

The process by which plants produce energy through sunlight. 

Light Dependent Reactions

 Initial stages of photosynthesis occurring in the thylakoids where light energy is converted into chemical energy. 

Light Independent Reactions

The Calvin Cycle is the second stage of photosynthesis, occurring in the stroma where ATP and NADPH are used to convert CO₂ into carbohydrates. Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate.

G3P

Vital 3 carbon sugar phosphate produced in photosynthesis and glycolysis. Used in the calvin cycle to process carbohydrates. 

Rubisco

The enzyme that starts carbon fixation in the Calvin cycle by converting CO₂ into organic molecules like glucose.

Autosome

Any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome.

Checkpoint

control point in cell cycle. 

Gamete

 sex cell (sperm or egg).

Gene

DNA segment for a trait.

Haploid

having one chromosome set.

Interphase

growth and DNA replication stage.

Meiosis

cell division making gametes

Metaphase

chromosomes line up in center.

Mitosis

division producing identical cells,

Mutation

 change in DNA sequence, neither good nor bad.

Nucleotide

building block of DNA.

Prophase

chromosomes condense and appear.

Tetrad

paired homologous chromosomes.

Zygote

 fertilized egg cell.

Codominance

Genetic inheritance pattern where two different traits are expressed simultaneously. 

Incomplete Dominance

Incomplete dominance occurs when two alleles blend instead of fully masking each other. Inheritance is the passing of genetic material from parent to offspring. The law of independent assortment states that traits are passed independently from parents to offspring.

Law of Segregation

How traits are passed down from parent to offspring. 

Self Fertilization

A reproductive process where an organism fuses its own male and female gametes to create offspring.

True Breeding

 Organisms that consistently produce offspring with the same phenotype as the parents when self-fertilized or mated with another individual of the same lineage.

DNA Helicase

An enzyme that unzips the DNA double helix.

DNA Ligase

An enzyme that joins DNA fragments together.

DNA Polymerase

An enzyme that builds new DNA strands by adding nucleotides.

DNA Replication

The process of copying DNA before cell division.

Free Nucleotide

An unattached nucleotide available to join a growing DNA strand.

Nucleotide

The building block of DNA made of a sugar, phosphate, and base.

Semiconservative Replication

DNA replication where each new DNA molecule contains one old strand and one new strand.

Anticodon

A three-base sequence on tRNA that matches an mRNA codon.

RNA Polymerase

 An enzyme that builds RNA during transcription.

Transcription

The process of copying DNA into mRNA.

Transfer RNA (tRNA)

RNA that carries amino acids to the ribosome.

Translation

The process of building proteins using mRNA instructions.