Reviewer in General Biology 1 (Final Examinations)

Biological Molecules
 POLYMER – is a long molecule consisting of many similar or identical building blocks linked by covalent bonds
 MONOMER – small molecule/repeating units that serve as the building blocks of polymers

Dehydration reaction/ Dehydration synthesis

- Cells link monomers together through a dehydration reaction
- Each monomer added to a chain, a water molecule (H2O) is formed by the release of two hydrogen atoms and one
oxygen atom.

Hydrolysis
- Means to break with water
- breaking of a long-chain compound into subunits by adding water

CARBOHYDRATES
- Commonly known as “carbs”, sugars, or sugar polymers

Functions of Carbohydrates
1. Carbohydrates serves as tough walls for plants.
2. Carbohydrates is a primary source of dietary energy.
3. Carbohydrates provides raw material for building other molecules.

Monosaccharides
❖ Simple sugar/ building blocks of carbohydrates
❖ Cannot be broken down by hydrolysis
❖ Common examples: glucose, found in sports drinks, and fructose, found in fruit

Isomers
• Molecules that have the same molecular formula but different structures
• Ex. Glucose, Fructose and Galactose
Disaccharides
❖ Double sugar
❖ Constructed from two monosaccharides through dehydration
reaction
❖ Ex. lactose, maltose, sucrose
Polysaccharides
❖ Complex carbohydrates
❖ Are long chains of sugar units – polymers of monosaccharides
❖ Starch, glycogen, cellulose and chitin
Starch
▪ Consists of many glucose monomers strung together
▪ Plant cells store starch in granules, where it is available as a sugar
stockpile that can be broken down as needed to provide energy and
raw material for building other molecules.

Glycogen
▪ Animal store excess sugar in the form of a polysaccharide.
▪ Glycogen and starch are similar in structure and both serve as storage polysaccharide in animals and plants
▪ Most of our glycogen is stored as granules in our liver and muscle cells, which break down the glycogen to
release glucose when it is needed for energy.

Cellulose
▪ The most abundant organic compound on Earth, forms cable-like fibrils in the tough walls that enclose plant cells and is a
major component of wood.
▪ The cellulose in plant foods, which passes unchanged through our digestive tract, is commonly known as dietary “fiber” or
“roughage”.

PROTEINS
- Most elaborate of life’s molecules
- Polymer constructed from amino acid monomers.
- It performs most of the task required for life.
- The most important role is as enzymes.
- Enzymes – chemicals that change the rate of chemical reaction without being changed in the process.
- Lactase – one of the thousand examples of enzymes produced by cells.

Amino Acid
-Each amino acid is consisting of a central carbon atom bonded to four covalent partners (carbon, remember, always forms
four covalent bonds).
-Amino acids have an alpha carbon, amine group, carboxylic acid group, and side chain

Proteins as Polymers
- Cells link amino acids monomers together by dehydration reaction.
- Peptide bond – the bond between adjacent amino acids
- Polypeptide – the resulting chain of amino acid
- Protein – is a polymer consisting of one or more Polypeptides

Primary structure – the specific amino acid sequence

Secondary structure – certain stretches of the polypeptide form local patterns called secondary structure. Two types are
named alpha helix and pleated sheet.

Tertiary structure – the overall three-dimensional shape of polypeptide is called tertiary structure. It is reinforced by chemical
bonds between the side groups of amino acid in different regions of the polypeptide chain.

Quaternary structure – proteins with two or more polypeptide chains have a quaternary structure, which results from bonds
between the chains

Denaturation – A protein shape is sensitive to the surrounding environment. An unfavorable change is temperature,
pH, or some other quality of the environment can cause a protein to unravel and lose its normal or native structure.

LIPIDS
- Organic compounds that are hydrophobic (“water-fearing”)
- They do not mix with water.

Fats
❖ Typical fat consists of a glycerol molecule joined with three fatty acids molecules via dehydration reactions
❖ The resulting fat is called triacylglycerol

Fatty acid- composed of 12-20 carbon chains with carboxylic acid

Two types of fatty acid:

o Unsaturated – has a fewer than the maximum number of hydrogen at the location of the double bonds. (E.g Safflower oil,
vegetable oil, Palm oil)
o Saturated – the other two fatty acids in the fat molecule lack double bonds in their hydrocarbon portions. (E.g. butter,
animal fats)
A polyunsaturated fat has several double bonds within its fatty acid.

Steroids
❖ Classified as lipid because they are hydrophobic
❖ Very different from fats in structure and function
❖ All steroids have carbon skeleton that is bent to form four fused rings.

Cholesterol- It is a key component of the membranes that surround your cells.

Sex hormones- They are steroids, which are not soluble in water. E.g. Testosterone, Progesterone
NUCLEIC ACIDS
- Macromolecules that provide the directions for building proteins.
- The name nucleic comes from their location in the nuclei of eukaryotic cells.
- There are two types of nucleic acid: DNA and RNA
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)
• The genetic material that humans and other organisms inherit from their parents consists of giant molecules of DNA.
• DNA nucleotide consists of the following:
1. Deoxyribose sugar
2. Phosphate group
3. Nitrogenous base- DNA Base Pairs (A-T and C-G)

Purines- Adenine/Guanine
Pyrimidines- Thymine/Cytosine

• Double strand “double helix”

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)

• Its sugar is ribose rather that deoxyribose
• Single stranded form
• RNA nucleotide consists of the following:
1. Ribose sugar
2. Phosphate group
3. Nitrogenous base- RNA Base Pairs (A-U and C-G)

Purines- Adenine/Guanine
Pyrimidines- Cytosine/Uracil

Nucleotides
o Monomers of nucleic acids
o Each nucleotide contains three parts. At the center of each nucleotide is a five- carbon sugar, deoxyribose in DNA and
ribose in RNA.
o Dehydration reactions link nucleotide monomers into long chains called polynucleotides.
o Joined by covalent bonds between the next sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of the next
o Sugar-phosphate backbone – a repeating pattern of a sugar phosphate sugar-phosphate-sugar-phosphate, with the
bases (A, T, C, or G) hanging off the backbone like appendages

Energy and Metabolism

Metabolism-refers to the process involving diverse chemical reactions needed to maintain life processes. It is the overall set
of the chemical processes happening in an organism’s body.
Importance of Enzymes

Chemical reactions in metabolic pathways rarely take place spontaneously. Each reaction step is facilitated, or catalyzed, by
a protein called an enzyme. Enzymes are important for catalyzing all types of biological reactions: those that require energy
as well as those that release energy.
Correct sequence of events to activate an enzyme
*Substrate entering active site-enzyme/substrate complex-enzyme/product complex-products leaving active site

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Photosynthesis the process by which plants and other photoautotrophs generate carbohydrates and oxygen from
carbon dioxide, water, and light energy in chloroplasts. It evolved to store the energy in solar radiation as high-energy
electrons in carbohydrate molecules.

STAGES OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Two Successive Reactions
Photosynthesis takes place in two successive stages:
1. light-dependent reactions, or Light reactions
2. light-independent reactions, or Calvin Cycle

Light Reactions
 converts solar energy into chemical energy to produce NADPH and ATP
 happens in Thylakoid membrane
 Two types of photosystems, photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII), are found in the thylakoid membrane
inside the chloroplast. The de-energized electron from photosystem II fills the void left by the newly energized
electron from photosystem I.
 The high-energy electron travels down a short second leg of the electron transport chain. At the end of the
chain, the electron is passed to NADP+ to make NADPH.
 In the thylakoid membranes, there are antenna pigment molecules that harvest photons and transfer light energy to
the reaction-center chlorophyll. Light causes electrons to get excited and travel down an electron transport chain
embedded in the thylakoid membrane.
 Hydrogen ions flow from the thylakoid space to the stroma through ATP Synthase. They flow passively from high
concentration to low concentration via facilitated diffusion. As they flow through ATP Synthase, the enzyme spins
and produces ATP.
 Releases O2 in the process

Light-independent Reaction (Calvin Cycle)

 happens in the Stroma

Fixation (Stage I)
 In the stroma, in addition to CO2, two other components are present to initiate the light-independent reactions: an
enzyme called ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBisCO) and three molecules of ribulose bisphosphate
(RuBP).
 The enzyme Rubisco attaches to CO2 to RuBP causing the formation of molecules of 3-phosphoglycerate.
 two molecules of 3-phosphoglyceric acid (3-PGA) form. 3-PGA has three carbons and one phosphate. Each turn of
the cycle involves only one RuBP and one carbon dioxide and forms two molecules of 3-PGA.

Reduction (Stage II)

 ATP and NADPH are used to convert the six molecules of 3-PGA into six molecules of a chemical called
glyceraldehyde 3- phosphate (G3P).
Regeneration (Stage III)
  At this point, only one of the G3P molecules leaves the Calvin cycle and is sent to the cytoplasm to contribute to the
formation of other compounds needed by the plant.
 each turn makes two G3Ps, thus three turns make six G3Ps. One is exported while the remaining five G3P
molecules remain in the cycle and are used to regenerate RuBP, which enables the system to prepare for more
CO2 to be fixed.
 Three more molecules of ATP are used in these regeneration reactions.

CAM and C4 Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis in desert plants has evolved adaptations that conserve water. In harsh, dry heat, every drop of water must
be used to survive. Because stomata must open to allow for the uptake of CO2, water escapes from the leaf during active
photosynthesis. Desert plants have evolved processes to conserve water and deal with harsh conditions. A more efficient
use of CO2 allows plants to adapt to living with less water.
 In case of both C4 and CAM plants rubisco is not used to fix carbon initially and the first stable product formed
is Oxaloacetate in the presence of PEP Carboxylase enzyme, which is a 4C molecule that later converts into malic
acid in both the cases.

Cellular Respiration
Cellular respiration is the set of catabolic pathways that break down the nutrients we consume into usable forms of chemical
energy (ATP). Cellular respiration can occur both with or without the presence of oxygen, and these two main forms are
referred to as aerobic and anaerobic respiration, respectively. There are key differences between the two, primarily that
aerobic respiration is a much more evolved process with a significantly higher yield of ATP.

Summary: C6H12O6 + 6O2  6CO2 + 6H2O + ATP

Cellular Respiration events

Glycolysis—Pyruvate oxidation—Krebs cycle—Oxidative phosphorylation

Aerobic Respiration
There are three main stages of aerobic respiration – glycolysis, the Krebs Cycle, and the electron transport chain.
 Oxygen molecule is the final acceptor of electrons at the end of the electron transport system

Glycolysis
 one molecule of glucose is converted into two molecules of pyruvate over the course of a ten-step reaction involving
different enzymes at each step
 Glycolysis requires two molecules of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), two molecules of inorganic
phosphorous, and two molecules of ADP (adenine diphosphate).
 ATP produced through substrate-level phosphorylation
 The end products of Glycolysis are NADH and Pyruvate

Pyruvate Oxidation
 Pyruvate oxidation pathway will result in carbon dioxide and NADH 2 being released but not ATP
 Pyruvic acid molecules in the mitochondrial matrix split into carbon dioxide and an acetyl group

Krebs Cycle/Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle/Citric Acid Cycle

 The Krebs Cycle is a stage of cellular respiration that takes place in the mitochondria in the presence of oxygen,
unlike glycolysis, which occurred in the cytosol and can occur without oxygen being present.
 The citric acid cycle produces two ATP per glucose molecule.
 The citric acid cycle uses both NAD+ and FADH as electron carriers.
 This pathway will result in the production of four carbon dioxide molecules, two ATP molecules, NADH 2 and FADH2
 Note: For one cycle, two molecules of carbon, three molecules of NADH, one molecule of FADH2 and one molecule of ATP or
GTP are produced

Oxidative Phosphorylation/Electron Transport Chain

This takes place near the membrane of the mitochondria, in a large protein complex that functions as an ATP factory. One
of the primary functions of the membrane of the mitochondria is to prevent the flow of protons into the organelle, which
establishes a strong gradient of positive charge on either side of this membrane.

Oxidative Phosphorylation
 the direct source of energy used to convert ADP + Pi to ATP energy released from ATP synthase pumping
hydrogen ions against their concentration gradient
 Approximately 30-32 molecules of ATP are produced from the complete oxidation of two molecules of glucose
(C6H12O6) in cellular respiration
Electron Transport Chain
 The electron transport chain is located on the cristae of the mitochondria.
 The electron transport chain contains cytochrome molecules.
 The electron transport chain ends when oxygen accepts electrons.
 The net product of the electron transport chain (from one molecule of glucose) is 32 molecules of ATP, as well as
six molecules of water

Anaerobic Respiration
 In the absence of oxygen, there is another form of cellular respiration that is available to organisms – anaerobic
respiration.
 If there is not enough oxygen available for the energetic demands the body is still able to produce small amounts of
energy without oxygen as an electron acceptor.
 Fermentation is important in cellular metabolism because it generates glucose for the cell in the absence of O2.
 Lactic acid buildup is what causes cramps during intense exercise, and that discomfort can only be alleviated by re-
oxygenating your body, which will allow for aerobic respiration to begin and stimulate the breakdown of lactic acid
into carbon dioxide and water.
 Aerobic respiration is far more efficient and will generate much more energy from the same molecule of glucose;
anaerobic respiration produces 2 ATP versus 36 ATP in aerobic respiration.