Enzymes, Celiac Disease, Nucleic Acids, and ATP

Vocabulary flashcards covering enzyme factors, gluten and celiac disease, DNA and RNA structure, base pairing rules, and ATP energetics from the lecture transcript.

Inhibitor

A substance or agent that reduces the function of an enzyme.

Activator

A substance or agent that makes an enzyme even more functional.

Cyclooctane

The specific enzyme identified as the target for aspirin in the lecture.

Coenzymes

Assistant molecules to enzymes that tend to be organic in nature.

Gluten

A mixture of proteins found in grains such as wheat, barley, rye, and triticale.

Triticale

A grain that is a combination of wheat and rye.

Celiac Disease

An autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten in the diet, causing the immune system to attack the tissue lining the small intestine.

Autoimmune Disorder

A condition in which the immune system gets confused and targets a tissue in one's own body instead of fighting foreign infections.

Pathophysiology

The study or determination of the underlying cause and functional changes associated with a disease.

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

A large, double-stranded nucleic acid located in the cell nucleus that makes up chromosomes.

Chromosomes

Structures sitting inside the cell nucleus that are made up of DNA in addition to protein.

Gene

A specific piece or region of DNA on a chromosome that provides the information to make a protein.

Ribosomes

Little ball-like structures located outside the nucleus that serve as the site of protein synthesis.

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)

A smaller, single-stranded nucleic acid messenger that retrieves protein-building information from DNA in the nucleus and carries it to the ribosomes.

Watson and Crick

The scientists famous for elucidating the double helix structure of DNA in the 1950s and winning the Nobel Prize.

Double Helix

The structural shape of DNA, consisting of two strands twisted around each other in a clockwise manner like a spiral staircase.

Nucleotide

The building block (monomer) of nucleic acids, consisting of a sugar, three phosphate groups, and a nitrogen-containing base.

Anti-parallel

The structural arrangement of the two strands of DNA running in opposite directions.

Complementary

The property of DNA strands where knowing the order of bases in one strand automatically determines the sequence of bases in the second strand.

Rules of Complementarity

The pairing rules where adenine ($\text{A}$) always pairs with thymine ($\text{T}$) [or uracil ($\text{U}$) in RNA], and guanine ($\text{G}$) always pairs with cytosine ($\text{C}$).

Hydrogen Bond

A weak chemical bond holding complementary nitrogen-containing bases together between the two strands of DNA.

Deoxyribose

The pentagon-shaped sugar found in DNA nucleotides, which has one less oxygen atom than ribose.

Ribose

The pentagon-shaped sugar found in RNA nucleotides.

Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)

A nucleotide consisting of ribose, adenine, and three phosphate groups that acts as the cell's primary source of energy.

Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP)

The molecule containing two phosphate groups that is formed when the terminal phosphate group of ATP is broken off.

Hydrolysis (of ATP)

A reaction using water to break the high-energy bond of ATP's terminal phosphate group, yielding ADP, an inorganic phosphate group, and energy.

Dehydration Synthesis (of ATP)

The reversible reaction that removes water to combine ADP and inorganic phosphate back into ATP.