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General Biology: Structure and Function of Large Biological Molecules

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Termini in questo insieme (20)

  • What is a polymer?

    A polymer is a long molecule made up of many similar or identical building blocks called monomers, connected by covalent bonds.

  • What are monomers?

    Monomers are small molecules that serve as the building blocks of polymers.

  • What is a dehydration reaction?

    A dehydration reaction connects monomers by removing a water molecule, forming a covalent bond and requiring energy.

  • What is hydrolysis?

    Hydrolysis breaks covalent bonds in polymers by adding water, releasing energy and separating monomers.

  • What are carbohydrates?

    Carbohydrates include sugars and their polymers, serving as fuel and building material.

  • What are monosaccharides?

    Monosaccharides are simple sugars and the simplest carbohydrates, e.g., glucose.

  • How are disaccharides formed?

    Disaccharides form when two monosaccharides join by a glycosidic linkage via dehydration.

  • What are polysaccharides?

    Polysaccharides are polymers of many monosaccharides joined by glycosidic linkages, functioning in storage or structure.

  • What is the general formula of monosaccharides?

    Monosaccharides typically have molecular formulas that are multiples of \(CH_2O\).

  • How are monosaccharides classified by carbonyl group?

    Monosaccharides are classified as aldoses (aldehyde group) or ketoses (ketone group) based on carbonyl location.

  • How are monosaccharides classified by carbon skeleton size?

    Monosaccharides are classified by carbon number: trioses (3), pentoses (5), hexoses (6).

  • What causes structural diversity in sugars?

    Isomers arise from different spatial arrangements around asymmetric carbons in sugars with the same formula.

  • What is the role of glucose in cells?

    Glucose is a major nutrient used for cellular work and energy extraction via cellular respiration.

  • What is starch?

    Starch is a plant storage polysaccharide made of glucose monomers connected mainly by 1–4 glycosidic linkages.

  • What are amylose and amylopectin?

    Amylose is unbranched starch; amylopectin is branched starch.

  • What is glycogen?

    Glycogen is an extensively branched animal storage polysaccharide similar to amylopectin, stored in liver and muscles.

  • What is cellulose?

    Cellulose is a structural polysaccharide in plant cell walls made of β-glucose monomers with 1–4 linkages, forming straight chains.

  • Why can't humans digest cellulose?

    Humans lack enzymes to hydrolyze β-glycosidic linkages in cellulose, unlike α-linkages in starch.

  • What is chitin and where is it found?

    Chitin is a nitrogen-containing structural polysaccharide in arthropod exoskeletons and fungal cell walls.

  • How does dehydration synthesis form a glycosidic bond?

    Dehydration synthesis removes water between two monosaccharides, forming a glycosidic bond linking them.