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Unit 3
AP Biology Unit 3 Vocabulary - Maldonado
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Chemical Reaction | The making and breaking of chemical bonds, leading to changes in the composition of matter |
| Enzyme | A macromolecule, most often proteins, serving as a catalyst, a chemical agent that increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction |
| Enzyme-mediated | In a reaction, an enzyme binds to reactants to form an enzyme-substrate complex, which breaks down to release products and the enzyme |
| Substrate | The reactant on which an enzyme works |
| Activation Energy | The amount of energy that reactants must absorb before a chemical reaction will start; also called free energy of activation |
| Catalysis | A modification and especially increase in the rate of chemical reaction induced by material unchanged chemically at the end of the reaction |
| Catalysts | A chemical agent that selectively increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction |
| Competitive Inhibition | A substance that reduces the activity of an enzyme by entering the active site in place of the substrate, whose structure it mimics |
| Denaturation | In proteins, a process in which a protein loses its native shape due to the disruption of weak chemical bonds and interactions; thereby becoming inactive; occurs under extreme conditions of pH, salt concentration, or temperatures |
| Noncompetitive Inhibition | A substance that reduces the activity of an enzyme by binding to a location remote from the active site, changing the enzyme's shape so that the active site no longer effectively catalyzes the conversion of substrate to product |
| pH | A measure of hydrogen ion concentration equal to -log (H+) and ranging in value from 0 to 14 |
| Cyanobacteria | Are a phylum of prokaryotes consisting of both free-living photosynthetic bacteria and endosymbiotic plastids that are present in the Archaeplastida |
| NADPH/NADP+ | Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, an electron acceptor that, as another form, temporarily stores energized electrons produced during the light reactions |
| Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP) | Is an important organic compound in metabolism and is essential to the flow of energy in living cells |
| Aerobic | Means "with air" and so needs oxygen; respiration releases energy in cells by breaking down food substances whilst in the presence of oxygen |
| Anaerobic | Living in the absence of air or free oxygen; pertaining to or caused by the absence of oxygen |
| Cellular Respiration | The catabolic pathways of aerobic and anaerobic respiration, which break down organic molecules and use an electron transport chain for the production of ATP |
| Coenzyme | An organic molecule serving as a cofactor; most vitamins function as this in metabolic reactions |
| Cytosol | The semifluid portion of the cytoplasm |
| Electrochemical Gradient | The diffusion gradient of an ion, which is affected by both the concentration difference of an ion across a membrane (a chemical force) and the ion's tendency to move relative to the membrane potential (an electrical force) |
| Electron | A subatomic particle with a single negative electrical charge and a mass about 1/2,000 that of a neutron or proton; one or more of them move around the nucleus of an atom |
| Electron Acceptor | Is a chemical entity that accepts electrons transferred to it from another compound; it is an oxidizing agent that, by virtue of its accepting electrons, is itself reduced in the process |
| Electron Carrier | Any of various molecules that are capable of accepting one or two electrons from one molecule and donating them to another in the process of electron transport |
| Endothermic | Referring to organisms that are warmed by heat generated by their own metabolism; this heat usually maintains a relatively stable body temperature higher than that of the external environment |
| Fermentation | A catabolic process that makes a limited amount of ATP from glucose (or other organic molecules)without an electron transport chain and that produces a characteristic and product, such as ethyl alcohol or lactic acid |
| Glycolysis | A series of reactions that ultimately splits glucose into pyruvate; occurs in almost all living cells, serving as the starting point for fermentation or cellular respiration |
| Inorganic Chemistry | A study of the chemistry of materials from non-biological origins |
| Lactic Acid | A chemical byproduct of anaerobic respiration |
| NADH/NAD+ | Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a coenzyme that cycles easily between oxidized and reduced states, thus acting as an electron carrier |
| Organic Chemistry | The study of carbon compounds (organic compounds) |
| Oxidative Phosphorylation | The production of ATP using energy derived from the redox reactions of an electron transport chain; the third major stage of cellular respiration |
| Oxidation | The complete or partial loss of electrons from a substance involved in a redox reaction |
| Photophosphorylation | The process of generating ATP from ADP and phosphate by means of chemiosmosis, using a proton-motive force generated across the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast or the membrane of certain prokaryotes during the light reactions of photosynthesis |
| Proton | A subatomic particle with a single positive electric charge, found in the nucleus of an atom |
| Pyruvate | An important chemical compound in biochemistry; it is the output of the metabolism of glucose known as glycolysis |
| Stimuli | In feedback regulation, a fluctuation in a variable that triggers a response |