Metabolism & Pathways
The sum of all biochemical reactions occurring in the body.
What is metabolism?
The primary energy currency of the cell
What is ATP?
The sugar found in RNA but not DNA
What is ribose?
The building blocks of proteins
What are amino acids?
The primary storage polysaccharide in humans
What is glycogen?
Pathways that breakdown molecules to generate energy
What are catabolic pathways?
The reduced electron carrier generated during glycolysis and the TCA cycle
What is NADH?
Nitrogenous bases with a double-ring structure
What are purines?
The amino acid that lacks chirality
What is glycine?
A monosaccharide containing six carbon atoms
What is a hexose?
The metabolic pathway that converts glucose into pyruvate
What is glycolysis?
This pathway generates NADPH for reductive biosynthesis and antioxidant defense.
What is Pentose Phosphate Pathway (PPP)?
The bond linking nucleotides together in RNA and DNA strands
What are phosphodiester bonds?
The level of protein structure determined by hydrogen bonding along the peptide backbone
What is secondary structure?
The glycosidic linkage found between glucose units in glycogen
What is an a-1,4 glycosidic bond?
This molecule acts as a branch point connecting glycolysis, lipogenesis, and the TCA cycle
What is Acetyl-CoA?
The reduced coenzyme required for fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis
What is NADPH?
The carbon atoms involved in forming phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides
What are the 3' hydroxyl and 5' phosphate carbons?
The covalent bond formed between cysteine residues that stabilizes tertiary structure
What is a disulfide bond?
What are phospholipids?
Metabolic reactions that replenish TCA cycle intermediates removed for biosynthesis
What are anaplerotic recations?
The process by which the proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane is used to synthesize ATP
What is Oxidative Phosphorylation?
The chemical interaction responsible for complimentary base pairing between DNA strands
What are hydrogen bonds?
The level of protein structure that describes interactions between multiple polypeptide chains
What is quaternary structure?
The thermodynamic force that drives lipid bilayer formation and protein folding
What is the hydrophobic effect?