Chapter 3 Key Terms

A long molecule consisting of many similar building blocks

The repeating units that serve as building blocks of polymers

Specialized macromolecules that speed up chemical reactions such as those that make or break down polymers

• Reaction that occurs when two monomers are disassembled, resulting in the consumption of a water molecule
• Building of polymers

• A reaction that occurs when two monomers are disassembled, resulting in the consumption of a water molecule
• Breaking apart polymers

Include sugar monomers and polymers of sugars

• Simple sugars, sugar monomers
• Classified by the location of the carbonyl group and the number of carbons in the carbon skeleton
• Major fuel for cells and as raw materials for building molecules

• Carbohydrate macromolecules 
• Polymers of sugars and have both energy storage nad structural roles in biology
• Function determined by its sugar monomers and the positions of its glycosidic linkages

Formed through a dehydration reaction that joins two monosaccharides

A storage polysaccharide of plants consists entirely of glucose monomer

• Multibranched polysaccharide of glucose that serves as a form of energy storage in humans, animals, and fungi
• Primarily stored in liver and muscles
• Main form of glucose storage in the body

Directed synthesis of mRNAs followed by protein synthesis from the mRNA

• Each gene along a DNA molecule directs synthesis of an mRNA
• Flow of Genetic Information: DNA->RNA->Protein

The building block of nucleic acids (DNA or RNA)

• Nitrogenous base
• A pentose (5-Carbon) sugar
• One or more phosphate groups

The portion of a nucleotide without the phosphate

• Pyrimidines: cytosine, thymine, uracil
• Purines: adenine, guanine

Sugar found in DNA

Sugar found in RNA

DNA molecules have two polynucleotide strands spiraling around an imaginary axis

• Adenine(A) pairs with thymine(T); or uracil (U)
• Guanine (G) always pairs with cytosine (C)

• Organic molecules with amino and carboxyl groups
• Differ in their properties due to differing side chains (R groups)

Covalent bonds that link Amino Acids

• Polymer of amino acids
• Range from a few amino acids to more than a thousand
• Each polypeptide has a unique linear sequence with a carboxyl end and an amino end 
• N-terminus to C-terminus

• One clss of large biological molecules that does not include true polymers
• Mix poorly, if at all, with water (hydrophobic)
• Consist mostly of hydrocarbons (C & H)
• Important: fats, phospholipids, and steroids

Constructed from two types of smaller molecules (glycerol and fatty acids)

3 fatty acids joined to 1 glycerol by ester linkage

A three-carbon alcohol with a hydroxyl group attached to each carbon

Consists of a carboxyl group attached to a long carbon skeleton

• Have max number of hydrogen atoms possible and no double bonds
• Solid at room temperature

• Have one or more double bonds
• Liquid at room temperature
• Plant fats and fish fats

Lipids characterized by a carbon skeleton consisting of four fused rings

• A type of steroid
• Component in animal cell membranes and a precursor from which other steroids are synthesized
• High levels may contribute to cardiovascular disease