Chapter 1
Natural selection acts on _____, while evolution occurs in ________.
1. Individuals
2. Populations
96% of matter in organisms is comprised of what 4 elements?
1. Hydrogen
2. Carbon
3. Nitrogen
4. Oxygen
What determines the properties of an amino acid?
The R-group
What are the 3 components of a nucleotide monomer?
1. Phosphate group
2. Nitrogenous base
3. 5-carbon sugar
What is the difference between an oligosaccharide and a polysaccaride?
oligo is a small polymer with few sugars, while poly is a large polymer with many sugars.
What are the 2 implications of cell theory?
1. All individuals in a population of single-celled organisms are related by common ancestry.
2. All cells present in a multicellular organism have descended from preexisting cells.
What is a covalent bond?
A bond formed when unpaired valence electrons are shared by 2 atoms.
What is the form of a secondary protein structure?
Hydrogen bonding of the peptide backbone creates either Beta pleated sheets or Alpha helixes.
Describe the secondary form of RNA
1. Complementary base pairing with hydrogen bonds (forms the stem)
2. Strands fold over
3. Unpaired region forms a loop
4. Creates a hairpin shape
What is a glycolipid?
A carbohydrate attached to a lipid
What are the 2 conditions required for natural selection to occur in a population?
1. Individuals must vary in characteristics that are heritable.
2. In a particular environment, certain versions of these heritable traits help individuals reproduce more than other versions (increase fitness).
What makes water a good solvent?
1. Water is polar.
2. H bonds allow for almost any charged or polar molecule to dissolve.
What are 3 functions of proteins?
1. Catalysis
2. Movement
3. Structure
4. Defense
5. Signaling
6. Transport
What separates ribonucelotides and deoxyribonucelotides?
1. Sugar: ribose vs deoxyribose
2. OH vs H at the 2nd carbon
3. Polymerize to form RNA vs DNA
What polysaccarides are used for energy storage, and what enzymes hydrolyze them?
1. Starch is hydrolyzed by amylase
2. Glycogen is hydrolyzed by phosphorylase
What are the 5 characteristics of life?
1. Cells
2. Replication
3. Information
4. Energy
5. Evolution
During chemical evolution ______ decreases and _______ increases.
1. Entropy
2. Potential energy
The amino groups _____ a proton and act as _____, while the carboxyl groups _____ a proton and act as ______.
1. attract
2. bases
3. drop
4. acids
Describe the sugar-phosphate backbone
1. Formed by phosphodiester linkages
2. Directional 5' to 3'
3. One end has an unlinked 5' phosphate group and the other has a 3' hydroxyl group
What are some of the functions of carbohydrates?
1. Store chemical energy
2. Contribute to cell structure
3. Involved with cell recognition and identity
What are the steps of central dogma?
1. DNA's information is transcribed into an RNA copy.
2. The RNA copy is translated to determine what building blocks to use to make a protein.
What occurs during a condensation reaction?
1. Monomers polymerize
2. A water molecule is lost
What is a prion and what can it cause?
1. A prion is an improperly folded form of a normal protein
2. It can cause normal proteins to change their shape to the altered form.
RNA may have formed the first life form. What 3 life characteristics does it possess to support this idea?
1. Information processing
2. Replication of hereditary information
3. Evolution by random changes in nucleic acids
What are the 4 ways in which simple sugar structure varies?
1. Number of carbon atoms present
2. Location of the carbonyl group
3. Different arrangement of the hydroxyl groups
4. Linear and alternative ring forms