Unit 2 – Chemistry and Macromolecules

Chapter 1: Basic Chemistry

Elements, Atoms, and Components
Matter: Anything that occupies space and has mass
- You and everything around you is made up of matter
- Three physical states of matter: solid, liquid, gas
- Matter is made up of chemical elements

Element: A substance that cannot be broken down to other substances by normal

chemical means
- 118 elements total
- 92 elements are found in nature
- Others can be synthesized
Compound: A substance consisting of two or more elements combined in a fixed
ratio
- A compound has different characteristics than its elements
- Example: table salt is the compound NaCl
- Na is a soft metal
- Cl is a poisonous gas

Components of life:
- Most components in living organisms are made up of at least 3 or 4
elements
- sugar = C,O,H
- Proteins = C,O,H,N,S
The number of elements necessary for life vary depending on the organism
- Humans need 25 elements
 - Plants need 17 elements

The big six:

- The big six are the elements that make up 99% of the matter in our bodies
- O,C,H and N are the main building blocks of proteins, carbohydrates, and
lipids
- P is important in DNA
- P and Ca are the major components of your bones and teeth

Other important Elements

- K,S, Na, Cl, Mg
Used for nerve signaling and chemical reactions
Trace elements
- Boron, Chromium, Cobalt, copper, fluorine, iodine, iron, manganese,
molybdenum, selenium, silicon, tin, vanadium, and zinc
- Some are needed by all organisms, and some are only needed by some
species
Example – iron is needed by all forms of life
Example – Iodine is only needed by vertebrates (animals with
backbone)

Subatomic Particles
- Atom: Smallest unit of matter that still retains the properties of an element
-named for the Greek word meaning “indivisible”
- Every element has its own type of atom different from any other
type of atom

- The atom can be split into subatomic particles

Proton: a single positive electrical charge
Electron: A single negative charge
Neutron: Electrically neutral

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The Atom
- Nucleus: The central core of an atom
- Electrons form a cloud of negative charge around the nucleus
- Negatively charged electrons are held close to the nucleus by their
attraction to the positively charged protons

Atomic number and Mass number

Atomic number: The number of protons in an atom
- Each element has its own unique atomic number
- All atoms of an element have the same atomic number
- An atom typically has the same number of electrons as protons so the net
charge of an atom is zero (or neutral)
Mass number: The sum of the number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus
Example: Helium has 2 protons and 2 neutrons so its mass number is 4

Atomic Mass
Atomic mass: The weight of an atom
- A proton weighs approximately 1 dalton (Da)
- A neutron weighs approximately 1 Da
- An electron weighs 1/2000 the mass of a proton so it contributes a
negligible amount to the weight of an atom

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 Example: Helium’s mass number is 4 so the atomic number is 4 Da
Isotopes
- All atoms of an element have the same atomic number but they may never
differ in mass number
i.e.. The number of protons in the atom never changes but the
number of neutrons can change
Isotopes: Atoms that have the same number of protons and behave the same way
chemically but have different numbers of neutrons

Radioactive Isotopes
- Some isotopes are stable and some are not
Example C12 and C13 are stable isotopes
- C14 is not stable therefore it is a radioactive isotope
Radioactive isotope: The nucleus is unstable causing it to decay spontaneously,
releasing particles and energy (radiation)
- Radiation can damage cellular molecules, particularly by impacting the DNA
- Radioactive molecules can be used by scientists for dating fossils, in
medicine, and in research

Radioactive Isotopes in Medicine

Chemical Tags
- Chemical that accumulate in certain areas of the body can be tagged with
radioactive isotopes. A special camera can be used to detect that
accumulation
Treatment
Example: Iodine accumulates in the thyroid. Thyroid cancer can be targeted
by using radioactive iodine

- Imaging if areas of the body with high levels of metabolism

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 o sugars or gases can be radioactively tagged to image areas of the
body that use the molecules

Chemical Activity of Atoms

- Only electrons are involved in the chemical activity of atoms
- Electrons are located in different electrons shells
- An atom may have one or more electron shells depending on its atomic
number

Electron Shells
- Each shell is a characteristic distance from the nucleus
- Within a shell are orbitals, two electrons can be on each orbital
Orbital: Discrete volumes of space in which electrons are most likely to be
found
- The first shell has one orbital and can therefore hold only 2 electrons
- The second and third shells each have 4 orbitals and can therefore each
hold up to 8 electrons

Valence Shells
- Valence shell: The outer shell of an atom
- this shell will not always be full
Valence Electrons: Electrons found on the valence shell
- Atoms interact with other atoms in ways that enable them to complete or
fill their valence shells

Inert Elements
Inert Atoms: Atoms that have complete outer shells
Example: Helium has 2 electrons, therefore its outer shell is full
Example: Neon has 10 electrons, 2 electrons complete the first shell, 8
electrons complete the second hall.

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Chemical Reactions
- Chemical reactions occur when two atoms with incomplete outer shells
interact
Chemical bonds: Attractions and interactions between atoms
Ionic bond: Transfer of electrons from one atom to another
Covalent bond: Sharing of electrons between atoms
Bonding capacity (also called the valence): The number of covalent bonds an
atom can form

Covalent Bonds
Molecule: Two or more atoms bound together by covalent bonds
- Atoms do not always share electrons equally
Electronegativity: An atom’s measure of attraction for shared electrons

Nonpolar covalent bonds: Electrons are shared equally because the

two atoms have the same electronegativity
• Two atoms of the same element

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 • Two atoms that have similar electronegativity

Polar Covalent Bonds

Polar covalent bonds: When two atoms have different electronegativity the
electrons will be pulled closer to the more electronegative element
- One atom will have a slightly negative charge and the other atom will have
a slightly positive charge
- Oxygen is one of the most electronegative elements and therefore almost
always makes a polar covalent bond

Ionic Bonds
- Occurs when two atoms are so unequal in their electronegativity that
the more electronegative atom strips an electron completely away
from the other atom

Ionic Bond Formation

- When an electron is transferred from one atom to
another we are actually transferring one unit of
negative charge

Ion: An atom with an electrical charge due to the

gain or loss of electrons
- he attraction of ions with opposite charges holds
them together

- Na and Cl have both become ions

- Cl- is attracted to Na+ so they form an ionic bond

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Salt
Salt: Any ionic compound
- Salts tend to be very strong and hard when dry, but dissolve easily in
water
- Many drugs are manufactured as salts
- Very stable for shipping and storing dry
- Dissolve easily in water to make a useful medication

Hydrogen Bonds
- Weak bonds within and between
molecules
- They occur between polar molecules
Example: Water (H2O)

- Hydrogen bonds always involve the

atom hydrogen
- Hydrogen is most often attracted to
oxygen and nitrogen atoms

Chemical Reactions
Chemical reaction: Breaking existing chemical bonds and forming
new ones
- Do not create or destroy matter, they simply rearrange the atoms
- Thousands of different chemical reactions are occurring within your cells at
all times

Reactants: Starting materials

Product: The material that results from the chemical reaction

2 H2 + O2  2 H2O
- Covalent bonds are broken between atoms of hydrogen and between
atoms of oxygen
- New covalent bonds are formed between hydrogen and oxygen
Balanced chemical equation: The same number of atoms are on both
side of the chemical equation
• 4 hydrogen atoms
• 2 oxygen atoms

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Chapter 2: Properties of Water

1. Water is cohesive

- Cohesion: the tendency of molecules of the same kind to stick together due
to hydrogen bonds
o Cohesion is much stronger for H20 than for most other liquids
o Example: Trees use cohesion to transport water from their roots all
the way up to their leaves

- Adhesion: The clinging of one substance to another

o Water adheres to cell walls, so they stay well hydrated

Surface Tension
- Related to cohesion
- Surface tension: The measure of how difficult it is to stretch or break the
surface of a liquid
o Hydrogen bonds give water unusually high surface tension
o If you slightly overfill a glass, the water will look like a bubble
standing up over the rim of the glass

2. Hydrogen bonds allow water to moderate temperature

- Thermal energy: Energy associated with the random movement of atoms
and molecules
- Heat: Thermal energy transferring from a warmer body of matter to a
cooler body of matter
- Temperature: the measure of the intensity of heat. The average speed of
molecules in a body of matter

o Water heats up more slowly than other compounds such as metals

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Temperature Moderation
- Warm molecules move more quickly than cold molecules
- Hydrogen bonds need to be broken to allow molecules to move more
quickly
- Heat must be absorbed to break hydrogen bonds
- Water absorbs a large amount of heat to break its bonds before
temperature increases
- When water cools it releases a lot of heat
o Molecules slow down and hydrogen bonds are reformed

Water and temperature

- Earth has a huge amount of water which all helps to moderate temperature
- This keeps the temperature of our planet within limits that permit life
o During warm periods, oceans, lakes, and rivers store huge amount of
heat from the sun
o As the seasons become cooler, water releases its stored heat and
warms the air
o Your body is 66% water; therefore, it helps to moderate your body
temperature in the same way

Evaporative cooling

- Evaporation: the change of a substance from liquid state to gas state

- Evaporative cooling: when evaporation occurs, the liquid that remains is, on
average, cooler than it was before
- The molecules with the greatest energy (the hottest molecules) evaporate
so the average temperature of what remains is lower
o Evaporative cooling is what your body is doing when you sweat, it
helps you to avoid over heating
o The evaporation of surface water cools tropical seas

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 3. Solid Water is Less Dense Than Liquid Water

- Hydrogen bonds
o Hydrogen bonds are relatively warm and unstable
o As water freezes the hydrogen bonds are stabilized and each
molecule keeps the others “at arm’s length”
o This creates a 3-dimensional crystal
o Results in fewer ice molecules than liquid molecules in the same
amount of space

4. Water is the Solvent of Life

- Solution: a liquid consisting of a uniform mixture of two or more substances
- Solvent: the dissolving agent
- Solute: a substance that is dissolved
- Aqueous solution: a solution in which water is the solvent

o Water is a great solvent because of the polarity of its molecules

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Water Dissolves Ionic Compounds

- Water can dissolve any ionic compound

o Example NaCl dissolved in H20
o Positive H atoms are attracted to Cl- ions
o Negative O atoms are attracted to Na+ ions
o Water molecules will therefore surround and separate every single
ion in a grain of salt

o Seawater and your cells both contain a huge concentration of

dissolved ions

Water Dissolves Non-ionic compounds

- Water can dissolve compounds that are not ionic as well
- Example: A spoonful of sugar will dissolve in water
o Sugar is a polar compound
o Water will surround the compound and form hydrogen bonds with
the polar regions
- Large molecules such as proteins can also be dissolved if they have ionic or
polar regions on their surfaces
- Water is the primary solvent in cells, blood, and plant sap

Acids and Bases

- Some water molecules will dissociate into hydrogen ions (H+) and
hydroxide ions (OH-)
- These ions are very reactive and drastically affect proteins and other
molecules
- Some chemical compounds contribute H+ to a solution and others take H+
out of the solution
- These are called acids and bases
- The pH scale is used to describe how acidic or basic a solution is
o pH stands for “potential of hydrogen”

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 - Acid: A substance that donates H+ to a solution
o An acid has a higher concentration of H+ that OH-

- Base: A substance that reduces the amount of H+ in a solution

o OH- combines with the H+ in the solution to form H20 , lowering the
amount of H+ in the solution
o Other bases accept H+ ions< resulting in higher concentrations of
OH- being present

pH Scale
- Range from 0 to 14
- Each pH unit is a 10-fold change in the concentration of H+ in a solution
o ie. pH 2 has 10 times more H+ ions than pH 3

- Pure water has a pH Of 7.0

- It is neither acidic or basic. It is neutral
- The concentration of H+ and OH- are equal

pH and our bodies

- pH in most of our cells is close to 7.0
- pH of our blood is 7.4
- a human will die in minutes if the pH of the blood goes as low as 7.0 or as
high as 7.8

- Buffers help us maintain a constant pH in our bodies

- Buffer: A substance that minimizes changes in pH
o Accepts H+ when it is in excess, and donate H+ when it is depleted
o This keeps the amount of H+ in solution constant

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Chapter 3: Macromolecules

Carbon
- Almost all the molecules in a cell are composed of carbon bound together
and bound to other elements
- These molecules form the structure of cells and carry out the cellular
functions
- Organic compounds: Carbon based molecules
o Usually contains hydrogen atoms bound to the carbon atoms

Chemistry of Carbon
- Carbon has 6 electrons
- Carbon can form 4 covalent bonds to complete its valence shells
- This gives carbon the ability to form molecules with complex 3-D forms
- Example: Methane
o Carbon forms single bonds with 4 hydrogen atoms
o Forms the shape of a tetrahedron

- Each carbon atom in a molecule is a point where the molecule can branch
in up to 4 different directions
o An organic molecule can have very elaborate shapes
- The shape of a molecule usually determines its function
- Different shapes occur when a carbon atom forms double bonds
o Example: Carbon and oxygen can share two bonds. This is called a
double bond

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Carbon Skeleton
- Carbon Skeleton: The chain of carbon atoms that forms the backbone of an
organic molecule

- Isomers: Compounds with the same chemical formula but different

structural arrangements
o Example: Butane and isobutane both have the formula C4H10 but
one is linear and the other is branched
o Example: 1-butene and 2-butene both have the formula C4H8 but
the double bond is in a different position. This causes the molecule to
have a different 3D shape

Isomers in Pharmacology
- Structure determines function
o One of our unifying themes in biology
- Isomers are important in pharmacology
o Two isomers of a drug may not be equally effective
o Two isomers of a drug can have very different effects on a person
- Example: Methamphetamine occurs as two different isomers
o One is the addictive illegal drug, the other is a harmless sinus
medication

Hydrocarbon
- Hydrocarbons: Molecules that consist of only carbon and hydrogen
o Example: Methane
- Major components of petroleum (fossil fuels)
o Provide much of the world’s energy
- Rare in living organisms
- Found in regions of some much larger more complect compounds

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 o Example: Fats, which provide fuel for your body, Have a hydrocarbon
component to them

Chemical Groups
- Chemical group: Atoms that are attached to the carbon skeleton
- Chemical groups affect the function of a molecule
- Example: Testosterone and estradiol are the same molecule with only a
slight difference in chemical groups
o These hormones are responsible for producing male and female
features in many animals

- Hydroxyl: Alcohols
- Carbonyl: Simple sugars all contain carbonyl groups
- Carboxyl: These can donate an H+ from solution to become ionized and are
called amines
- Phosphate group: Often ionized because O atoms are negative. These
organic phosphates are involved in energy transfers
- Methyl group; Affects the expression of genes

Functional groups
- Functional groups: Chemical groups that affect a molecule’s function by
participating in chemical reactions

- Polar Groups
o Makes the molecules hydrophilic (water soluble)
o Important when a cell is composed mostly of water
o Hydroxyl, Carbonyl, carboxyl. Amino, and phosphate groups
- Non-Polar group
o Makes the molecule hydrophobic (not water soluble)
o Methyl group
o Not reactive, not water soluble
o Affects shape of the molecule

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Classes of Molecules
- Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids
- Macromolecules: very large molecules
o Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids
o Example: a single protein may consist of thousands of atoms
- Polymers: Small molecules joined together in chains
o Macromolecules are made of large polymers
o Long molecule consisting of many identical or similar building blocks
o Long molecules consisting of many identical or similar building blocks
all strung together in a chain
- Monomers: The building blocks of polymers

Making Polymers
- Monomers are linked together using a dehydration reaction
- Dehydration reaction: removes a molecule of water as two molecules
become bonded together
o OH- from one molecule, H+ from the other molecule
- A new covalent bond forms between the broken ends of the monomers to
bind them together

Breaking Polymers
- Polymers are broken back into monomers to be recycled by the cell
- Hydrolysis: The digestion of polymers into monomers
o Opposite of dehydration reaction
- OH- attaches to one monomer and H+ attaches to the other monomer
o Example: Digestion of food. Large molecules are broken into
monomers which can then be transported through your body to the
cell

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Diversity of Polymers
- Thousands of macromolecules can be made from a small list of ingredients
o All forms of life use the exact same ingredients
o Proteins are made from only 20 amino acids
o DNA is made from only 4 different monomers called nucleotides
o Arrangement of the monomers is key to the diversity of polymers

Macromolecule #1: Carbohydrates

- Sugars
- Can be small molecules
o Example: sugars dissolved in sugary drinks
- Can be large molecules
o Example: starch which is found in pasta and potatoes
- Most carbohydrates are hydrophilic
o Example: cotton bath towels (made up of mostly carbohydrates) will
absorb a lot of water
- Monosaccharides: simple sugars
o Example: Honey is made up of two monosaccharides, glucose and
fructose

Monosaccharides
- Chemical formula is generally a multiple of CH2O
o Example: the formula for glucose is C6H12O6
- Sugars typically contain a carbonyl group and multiple hydroxyl groups
o Glucose and fructose are isomers

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 o This small difference makes fructose taste far sweeter than glucose

Monosaccharides Form Rings

- Monosaccharides can have anywhere from three to seven carbon atoms in
their carbon skeleton
o Most are pentoses (5 carbon) and hexoses (6 carbon)
- Glucose and fructose both have 6 carbon atoms
- Most 5 and 6 carbon sugars are found primarily as ring structures

Sugars (carbohydrates)
- Most sugar names end is ‘ose’
- Enzymes that break sugars apart end in ‘ase’
o Example: The sugar lactose is broken down using the enzyme lactase
- Monosaccharides are the main fuel for cellular function
- Energy is released when they are broken down, the cell can immediately
use that energy for other processes
- The sugar backbone is repurposed to make other molecules such as amino
acids and fatty acids

Disaccharides
- Disaccharides: two monosaccharides linked together using a dehydration
reaction
- Example: Maltose is made of two glucose molecules
o Beer making, malt, whiskey, malted milk candy, and in seed
germination (agriculture)
- Example: Sucrose is a glucose bound to a fructose

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 o Found in plant sap (ex. Maple syrup)
o We extract is from sugar cane and sugar beets to use as table sugar

Polysaccharides
- Macromolecules
- Hundreds or thousands of monosaccharides linked together
- Function as storage molecules or structural compounds
- Three most common types
o Starch
o Glycogen
o Cellulose
- A fourth type is chitin
o Structural polysaccharide in insects and crustaceans to build their
exoskeletons, and the cell wall of fungi

Starch
- Storage polysaccharide in plants
o Use as a carbohydrate bank
o Plants can withdraw glucose units for energy and building materials
- Chains of glucose monomers
- Coils into helical shape that are either branched (multiple chains bound
together) or unbranched (straight)
- Most animals, including us, have enzymes that allow us to break down the
starch that we eat
- Main sources in the human diet are potatoes and grains\

Glycogen

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 - Glucose storage molecule in animals
- Highly branched
- Primarily stored in your liver and muscles cells
- Liver and muscle cells can hydrolyze glycogen to release glucose molecules
when needed

Cellulose
- Polymer of glucose
- Arranged in cable-like microfibrils (layers of strings)
- Most abundant organic compound on earth
- Major components of the tough walls that enclose plant cells
- Animals cannot break down cellulose
o This is referred to as insoluble fibre
o Found in fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains
- Some microorganisms can hydrolyze cellulose
o Found in the guts of cows and termites
o Fungi recycle cellulose in ecosystems

Macromolecule #2 – Lipids
- All are hydrophobic (They do not mix well with water)
o Example: salad dressing that has not been mixed will have an oil layer
(lipid) and a vinegar layer (mostly made of water)
- The smallest of the macromolecules
- They are not polymers made up of monomers
- 3 important types of lipids
o Fats, phospholipids, steroids

Fat
- Large lipid consisting of two smaller molecules – glycerol and fatty acids

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 - Fatty acids: Carboxyl group bound to a hydrocarbon chain (usually 16 or 18
carbons long)
- Hydrocarbon chains are non-polar
o This is why fats are hydrophobic
- Glycerol and fatty acids are linked together by a dehydration reaction
- 3 fatty acids linked to a glycerol molecule makes a fat
o Synonym for a fat is triglyceride

Fatty Acids
- Unsaturated fatty acid: A hydrocarbon chain has one or more double bond
o Causes the chain to have fewer hydrogen atoms
o Causes kinks or bends in the hydrocarbon chain
- Saturated fatty acid: A hydrocarbon chain that has only single bonds
o The chain will have the maximum possible number of hydrogen
atoms (carbon are saturated with hydrogens)

- Unsaturated fatty acids

o Fats of most plants and fish
o The kinks stop them from packing closely together
o Remain liquid at room temperature (Example: olive oil)
- Saturated fatty acids
o Most animal fats
o No bends in the fatty acid chains, so they can pack closely together
o Solid at room temperature (example: butter)
- Partially hydrogenated oils: Unsaturated fats that have been converted to
saturated fats

Fat storage
- Main Function of fats is energy storage
- A gram of fat stores twice as much energy as a gram of carbohydrates
- Plants store most of their energy as carbohydrates
- Animals store their energy as fats

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Phospholipids
- Major components of cell membranes
- Life could not exist without phospholipids
- Similar in structure to fats
o Glycerol, two fatty acid chains, and one phosphate group
o Phosphate/glycerol portion is polar (hydrophilic)
o Fatty acid chains are non-polar (hydrophobic)
Phospholipids
- Arrange themselves in a double layered sheet
- Fatty acid tails in the middle
- Glycerol heads on the outside
- This is how membranes are formed

Steroids
- Carbon skeleton contains 4 fused rings
- Different steroids vary in the chemical groups attached to them
- Example: Cholesterol
o Common component of animal cells
o Precursor for the production of other steroids including sex
hormones
o If cholesterol levels are too high, it can contribute to atherosclerosis
(clogged arteries causing heart disease)

Macromolecule #3 – Proteins
- Proteins: Polymer of small building blocks called amino acids
o Almost all functions in your body depend on proteins
o Structurally and functionally the most varied and elaborate
molecules in living organisms
- Tens of thousands of different proteins in your body

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Roles of Proteins
- Enzymes
- Transport Molecules: Import and export nutrients and wastes from the cells
- Defense proteins: Antibodies in the blood stream
- Signaling proteins: Coordinate your body’s activities
- Receptor Proteins: Receive and transmit signals on the cell surface
- Contractile Proteins are in your muscles
- Structural proteins: Make up your tendons, ligaments and connective tissue
- Storage proteins: Supply amino acids to develop embryos

Structure and Function

- Function of the protein depends on its shape
- Globular proteins
o Most enzymes and many other proteins
o Example: Lysozyme (found in your sweat, tears, and saliva to kill
bacterial invaders
- Fibrous Proteins
o Structural proteins are often fibrous
o These make up hair, tendons, and ligaments
o The shape of the proteins makes the filament very strong

Protein Shape
- Each protein has a specific, unique shape
- Proteins must recognize and bind to other molecules to function

- Example: the shape of lysozyme may appear haphazard, but it has a very
specific role to play

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Denaturation
- Denaturation: process where a protein unravels and loses its shape and
therefore its function
- Heat can denature a protein
o Example: when you fry an egg, the proteins in the clear egg white are
denatured so they become opaque and solid
- In the correct environmental conditions a protein spontaneously folds into
the proper shape
o Cells maintain these specific condtions internally

Incorrect Folding
- What happens when a protein does not fold correctly
- Often this causes diseases
- Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease both involve the accumulation of mis-
folded proteins
- Prions: Infectious misshapen proteins associated with degenerative brain
diseases
o Example: Mad cow disease

Amino Acids
- The building blocks of proteins
- There are 20 standard amino acids
- All have an amino group and a carboxyl group
- Central carbon atom is also bound to a hydrogen atom and to a variable
chemical group (R)
- R can be a single hydrogen atom (the simplest amino acid, glycine)
- R can be additional carbon atoms bound to various functional groups

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 - Amino acids can be either hydrophobic or hydrophilic
- Hydrophobic amino acids have non-polar R groups
- Hydrophilic amino acids have polar R groups or are charged
-

Linked Amino Acids

- Peptide bond: Dehydration reaction forms between the carboxyl group of
one amino acid and the amino group of the other amino acid
- Dipeptide: Molecule (or peptide) made of two
- Polypeptide: A chain of amino acids
- Most proteins are at least 100 amino acids long, some are thousands in
length

Polypeptides Are Not Complete Proteins

- Proteins are made of polypeptides
- A polypeptide must be coiled and folded into its final shape to make a
protein
- R groups on the amino acids affect the folding of the polypeptide
o Hydrogen bonds and ionic bonds between R groups will hold parts of
the protein together
o Covalent bonds between sulfur atoms form disulfide bridges
- Hydrophobic amino acids will cluster in the centre of a globular protein,
Hydrophilic amino acids will face the outside

Primary Structure
- Primary structure: Sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide chain
- Secondary Structure: Segments of the polypeptide chain coil and fold into
reginal patterns
- Tertiary Structure: The overall 3D shape of the folded polypeptide
- Quaternary Structure: Some proteins consist of more than one polypeptide
chain. The chains are each called a subunit. The subunits interact with each
other in the quaternary structure to form the completed protein

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 o A protein will not be functional until all subunits come together in
the quaternary structure

Macromolecule #4 – Nucleic Acids

- Gene: The unit of inheritance that determines the amino acid sequence of a
polypeptide
- DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): The nucleic acid that a gene is made of
- RNA (ribonucleic acid): Nucleic acid that assembles the polypeptide
according to the instructions in DNA

Nucleotides
- Nucleotides: The monomers that make up nucleic acids
o 5 carbon sugar (deoxyribose in DNA, ribose in RNA)
o Negatively charged phosphate group
o Nitrogenous base: Structure that contains nitrogen and carbon

- Nitrogenous bases in DNA are adenine (A), Thymine (T), guanine (G), and
cytosine (C)
- Nitrogenous bases in RNA are A,G,C, and uracil (U)
- RNA does not use thymine and DNA does not use uracil

Polymer
- Polynucleotide: Polymer built from nucleotide monomers
- Nucleotides are bound together using a dehydration reaction
- The sugar of one nucleotide binds to the phosphate group of the other
nucleotide
- Makes a sugar phosphate backbone with the nitrogenous base outside of
the backbone

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Nucleic Acid Structure
- RNA consists of a single polynucleotide strand
- DNA consists of two polynucleotide strands that wind around each other in
a double helix
o Nitrogenous bases protrude into the centre of the helix and pair with
each other
o A pairs with T; G pairs with C
o Pairs are held together by hydrogen bonds
o Strands are complementary because pairings are always the same
you can predict the sequence of one strand if you know the sequence
of the others

Function of Nucleic Acids

- Inheritance: DNA is the genetic material we inherit from our parents
- DNA is arranging in chromosomes
- Each Chromosome carries several hundred genes
- DNA is a unique molecule because it provides directions for its own
replication
- Every time a cell divides, the DNA must make a copy of itself so that each
cell will have the genetic material identical to that of the parent cell

DNA Replication
- Complementary base pairing is the key
- The double helix begins by unzipping so that the strands are separated
- A new complementary strand is constructed alongside each of the original
strands
- Now there are two identical DNA molecules

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 - These genes are the instructions that program all of the cell’s activities by
guiding the productions of proteins

Gene Expression
- Gene expression: The production of proteins using the instructions found in
DNA

Transcription
- Transcription: A gene in DNA directs the synthesis of an RNA molecule
o DNA is transcribed to RNA
o Uses complementary nitrogenous base pairing
 G pairs with C: U pairs with A
- The information is still all in the language of nucleic acids

Translation
- Translation: The building of a protein from the instructions found in RNA
- A single strand of RNA can fold due to complementary base pairing
o The 3D shapes are necessary for function and result in different types
of RNA
o 3 different types of RNA are needed for protein synthesis
 mRNA, rRNA, tRNA

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