Energy & Metabolism
Question: What do all living organisms need to carry out life processes?
Answer: Energy.
Question: What molecule is known as the cell's energy currency?
Answer: ATP.
Question: What molecule stores the genetic instructions for a cell?
Answer: DNA.
Question: What process makes a copy of DNA before a cell divides?
Answer: DNA replication.
Question: What small molecules are joined together to build proteins?
Answer: Amino acids.
Question: What do we call organisms that make their own food?
Answer: Autotrophs.
Question: What does ATP stand for?
Answer: Adenosine triphosphate.
Question: What does DNA stand for?
Answer: Deoxyribonucleic acid.
Question: Which enzyme unzips the two strands of DNA during replication?
Answer: Helicase.
Question: What process copies information from DNA into messenger RNA?
Answer: Transcription.
Question: What is the term for all the chemical processes that occur in an organism?
Answer: Metabolism.
Question: How many phosphate groups does ATP have?
Answer: Three.
Question: What is the name of DNA's twisted ladder shape?
Answer: Double helix.
Question: Which enzyme adds matching nucleotides to the separated DNA strands?
Answer: DNA polymerase.
Question: Where does translation take place?
Answer: At ribosomes in the cytoplasm.
Question: What process breaks large molecules into smaller molecules and releases energy?
Answer: Catabolism
Question: What does ATP become when it loses one phosphate group?
Answer: ADP (adenosine diphosphate).
Question: What are the three parts of a DNA nucleotide?
Answer: A sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogen-containing base.
Question: What is a mutation?
Answer: A change in the nucleotide sequence of DNA.
Question: What type of RNA carries amino acids to the ribosome during protein synthesis?
Answer: Transfer RNA (tRNA).
Question: What is the difference between anabolism and catabolism?
Answer: Anabolism builds larger molecules and requires energy. Catabolism breaks down larger molecules and releases energy.
Question: Explain how ATP releases energy that cells can use.
Answer: ATP reacts with water, causing the third phosphate group to break off. This releases energy for cell activities and produces ADP and a phosphate group.
Question: If one DNA strand has the sequence A–T–G–C–C–A, what would the matching strand be?
Answer: T–A–C–G–G–T.
Question: Name two differences between DNA and RNA.
Answer: Any two of the following:
DNA is double-stranded; RNA is usually single-stranded.
DNA contains deoxyribose sugar; RNA contains ribose sugar.
DNA uses thymine (T); RNA uses uracil (U).
Question: Explain the difference between transcription and translation.
Answer: Transcription makes an RNA copy of DNA instructions in the nucleus. Translation uses the mRNA instructions at a ribosome to assemble amino acids into a protein.