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Unit 1
AP Biology Unit 1 Vocabulary - Maldonado
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Adhesion | The clinging of one substance to another by means of hydrogen bonds |
Cohesion | The linking together of like molecules, often by hydrogen bonds |
Hydrogen Bond | A type of chemical bond that is formed when the slightly positive hydrogen atom of a polar covalent bond in one molecule is attracted to the slightly negative atom of a polar covalent bond in another molecule or in another region of the same molecule |
Polar | Having electrical or magnetic polarity, usually positive and negative |
Surface Tension | A measure of how difficult it is to stretch or break the surface of liquid |
Atom | The smallest unit of matter that retains the properties of an element |
Essential Element | A chemical element required for an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce |
Macromolecule | A giant molecule formed by the joining of smaller molecules, usually by a dehydration reaction |
Cleavage | The splitting of chemical bonds; the disassociation when a molecule is cleaved into two or more fragments |
Dehydration Synthesis | A chemical reaction in which two molecules become covalently bonded to each other with the removal of a water molecule |
Hydrolysis | A chemical reaction that breaks bonds between two molecules by the addition of water |
Monomer | The subunit that serves as the building block of a polymer |
Amino Acid | An organic molecule possessing both a caboxyl and an amino group; amino acids serve as the monomers of polypeptides |
Amino Terminus/N-Terminus | A chemical group consisting of a nitrogen atom bonded to two hydrogen atoms |
Carbohydrates | A sugar (monosaccharide) or one of its dimers (disaccharides) or polymers (polysaccharides) |
Carboxyl Terminus/C-Terminus | A chemical group consisting of a single carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom and also bonded to a hydroxyl group |
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) | A nucleic acid molecule, usually a double-stranded helix, in which each polynucleotide strand consists of nucleotide monomers with a deoxyribose sugar and the nitrogenous base |
Deoxyribose | The sugar component of DNA nucleotides, having one fewer hydroxyl group than ribose, the sugar component of RNA nucleotides |
Hydrophilic | Having an affinity for water |
Hydrophobic | Having no affinity for water; tending to coalesce and form droplets of water |
Lipid | Any of a group of large biological molecules, including fats, phospholipids, and steroids, that mix poorly, if at all, with water |
Nitrogenous Base | A molecule that contains nitrogen and has the chemical properties of a base; found in DNA and RNA |
Nucleic Acid | A polymer (polynucleotide) consisting of many nucleotide monomers |
Nucleotide | The building block of a nucleic acid, consisting of a five-carbon sugar covalently bonded to a nitrogenous base and one or more phosphate groups |
Phosphate | A chemical group consisting of a phosphorous atom bonded to four oxygen atoms; important in energy transfer |
Phospholipids | A lipid made up of glycerol joined to two fatty acids and a phosphate group; the head of the molecule is hydrophilic while the tails are hydrophobic |
Polymer | A long molecule consisting of many similar or identical monomers linked together by covalent bonds |
Protein | A biologically functional molecule consisting of one or more polypeptides folded and coiled into a specific three-dimensional structure |
R group | An abbreviation for any group in which a carbon or hydrogen atom is attached to the rest of the molecule |
Ribonucleic Acid | A type of nucleic acid consisting of nucleotides made up of nucleotide monomers with a ribose sugar and the nitrogenous bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil; usually single-stranded |
Ribose | The sugar component of RNA nucleotides |
Saturated Fats | A type of fat in which the fatty acids in their chains are all carbons which are connected by single bonds, thus maximizing the number of hydrogen atoms that are attached to the carbon skeleton; normally solid at room temperature |
Unsaturated Fats | A type of fat that is made up of fatty acids that have one or more double bonds between carbons in the hydrocarbon tail, reducing the number of hydrogen atoms attached to the carbon skeletons; normally a liquid at room temperature |
3' | refers to the number of carbon atoms in a deoxyribose sugar molecule; has a free hydroxyl group on the 3' carbon of its terminal sugar |
5' | refers to the number of carbon atoms in a deoxyribose sugar molecule; has a free hydroxyl group on the 5' carbon of its terminal sugar |
Alpha Helice | A coiled region constituting one form of the secondary structure of proteins, arising from a specific pattern of hydrogen bonding between atoms of the polypeptide backbone |
Antiparallel - in regards to DNA | Referring to the arrangement of the sugar-phosphate backbones in a DNA double helix; they run in opposite 5' to 3' directions |
Beta-Sheet | One form of the secondary structure of proteins in which the polypeptide chain folds back and forth; two regions of the chain lie parallel to each other and are held together by hydrogen bonds between atoms of the polypeptide backbone |
Covalent Bond | A type of strong chemical bond in which two atoms share one or more pairs of valence electrons |
Double Helix | The form of native DNA, referring to its two adjacent antiparallel polynucleotide strands wound around an imaginary axis into a spiral shape |
Peptide | The covalent bond between the carboxyl group on one amino acid and the amino group on another, formed by a dehydration reaction |
Polypeptide | A polymer of many amino acids linked together by peptide bonds |
Primary Structure | The level of protein structure referring to the specific linear sequence of amino acids |
Secondary Structure | Regions of repetitive coiling or folding of the polypeptide backbone of a protein due to hydrogen bonding between constituents of the backbone |
Subunit | A subdivision or a distinct component of a larger unit |
Synthesis | The production of chemical compounds by reaction from simpler materials |
Tertiary Structure | The overall shape of a protein molecule due to interactions of amino acid side chains, including hydrophobic interactions, ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds, and disulfide bridges |
Sugar-Phosphate Backbone | It forms the structural framework of nucleic acids, including DNA and RNA; this backbone is composed of alternating sugar and phosphate groups, and defines directionality of the molecule |