MCB 181R Dr Jorstad

Unit 2 Key Concepts Study Guide

Ch 5: Lipids, Membranes, and Transport; Internal Cell Structures
1.

How do lipids differ from the other 3 classes of macromolecules?

2.

What does "saturated" mean, in the context of fatty acids? What is the effect on the shape of
the fatty acid if it is not saturated? Which are liquid or solid, and why?

3.

Which kinds of fats can be problems in human diets: saturated, unsaturated,

polyunsaturated, or partially hydrogenated?

4.

What is special about phospholipids and how are they able to form barriers in cells?

5.

What are the three classes of macromolecules that make up membranes?

6.

Explain the "fluid mosaic model."

7.

How do cells regulate the fluidity of membranes? What membrane elements would be
beneficial to an organism living in a very cold environment? In a very hot one?

8.

How does membrane function to keep important transmembrane proteins close to one
another (and why would they need to do that?)

9.

What is it about phospholipids that enables them to form the barriers necessary to regulate
cell contents?

10. Proteins

that are embedded in and cross the plasma membrane must have regions that are

hydrophilic and others that are hydrophobic. Where must each region be located, and why?
11. What
12. Why

role does cholesterol play?

can't amino acids, sugars, and ions simply diffuse across the plasma membrane with

their concentration gradients?

13. How

can cells regulate their permeability by regulating the lipid tails in their membranesfor

example, in response to changes in temperature? What elements of the membrane would be

changed, and why?
14.

What is meant by the terms uniport, symport, and antiport?

15.

What are the main differences between passive and active transport? (And be familiar

with the examples of how each type works.)

16.

What do the terms hypertonic, isotonic, and hypertonic refer to, in the context of cells?

What happens when a cell is in a hypertonic environment? (What diffuses where, and why?)
What about a cell in a hypotonic environment? (What diffuses where, and why?)
17. What are the 3 elements of cell theory?
18. What is thought to be the adaptive advantage of being surrounded by a membrane?
19. What is the function of the plasma membrane, and what is it about phospholipids that allow
this?
20. What are the adaptive advantages of internal sub-compartments (organelles) in cells?
21. What are the functions of the cell wall (for those cells that have them)?
22. How do prokaryotes differ from eukaryotes in size and structure?
23. What are the main differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes?
24. What is the function of the 1) nucleus, 2) endoplasmic reticulum, 3) Golgi apparatus, 4)
lysosomes, 5) mitochondria, 6) chloroplasts 7) peroxisomes, 8) vacuoles, and 9) the
extracellular structures presented in class?
25. What cellular structures would be involved in the production and export of a protein that
needs to be excreted by the cell?
26. How do the nuclear pores regulate what goes in and out of the nucleus?
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27. What are the functions of the extracellular matrix?

Chapter 6: Making Life Work: Capturing and Using Energy
1.

Metabolism is defined as ... , and it consists of two main categories of

reactions:
2.

What is the main idea of the first law of thermodynamics, and how does this relate

to the biological reactions we'll be studying?

3.

What is the main idea of the second law of thermodynamics, and how does this

relate to the biological reactions we'll be studying?

4.

What is an exergonic reaction, and why is its G less than 0?

5.

What is an endergonic reaction, and why is its G greater than 0?

6.

Life requires a constant input of energy in order to fight disorder. Where does the

energy required to drive endergonic reactions usually come from? Where is the energy in
this molecule?
7.

What is meant by the term "coupling" in the context of using ATP to fuel

endergonic reactions?
8.

What is activation energy, and why do even exergonic reactions have them?

9.

Enzymes do not affect the equilibrium point nor the G of a reaction. What DO

enzymes do, and how?

10.

How do the specific 3-dimensional shape and chemical properties of enzyme

active sites determine enzymes ability to function?

11.

Why do enzymes change shape when they bind substrate?

12.

Why do the reaction rate plateau (level off)? Why does the addition of more

substrate not increase the reaction rate, past a certain point?

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13.

What do coenzymes and cofactors do?

14.

Why do cells need to regulate enzyme activity?

15.

Since most metabolic processes consist of cascades (long pathways) of reactions,

there are many points at which to control the production of the end product. What are these
points?
16.

There are 2 main categories of enzyme inhibition: reversible and irreversible. How

do they differ, and why?

17.

Within the category of reversible inhibition, there are two subcategories of enzyme

regulation: competitive and noncompetitive. How do they differ?

18.

Allosteric enzymes are regulated by one type of noncompetitive inhibition. How

does regulation of these enzymes work?

19.

The synthesis of the amino acid isoleucine from threonine (Fig. 6.18) involves a

metabolic pathway that is regulated by negative feedback. What is negative feedback and
how does it work?
20.

How and why is enzyme function affected by pH and temperature?

Chapter 7: Cellular Respiration

1.

Where is the energy in a molecule of glucose?

2.

Cells access this energy in a tightly-controlled set of reactions that first transfer some of
the bond energy to ATP and an electron carrier called NADH, in a process called glycolysis.
What is left of the 6-carbon glucose molecules are two 3-carbon molecules of ...

3.

If O2 and the proper enzymes are present, the pyruvate can be completely oxidized in the
citric acid cycle. What does this (oxidized) mean, and where does it take place in eukaryotes
and prokaryotes?

4.

What are the products of the citric acid cycle? What happens to each of them during
oxidative phosphorylation (= the respiratory chain = the electron transport chain)? Is any ATP
synthesized, and if so, how?

5.

Approximately how many high-energy ATP molecules are synthesized per molecule of
glucose in glycolysis followed by cellular respiration, and at which stages?

6.

What is usually the limiting reactant in glycolysis and why?

7.

How is this reactant regenerated in cellular respiration? How is it regenerated in

fermentation?

8.

Does fermentation itself provide any additional ATPs to organisms who break down
glucose in the absence of O2? Explain.

9.

During oxidative phosphorylation, the synthesis of ATP is driven by a proton gradient.

Where is this proton gradient located in eukaryotic mitochondria? How is the gradient
established, and how is it a source of energy?

10.

What exactly is the role of O2 in cellular respiration?

11.

Trace the path taken by the electrons that start out in covalent bonds between carbon
molecules in glucose and end up going through the ETC.

12.

Compare the fates of NADH and pyruvate in fermentation and cellular respiration. (How
is NADH oxidized in each case, and is pyruvate oxidized or reduced?)

13.

Cyanide binds irreversibly to cytochrome c oxidase (the last protein in the ETC),
preventing it from either picking up electrons (i.e., being reduced) or passing them on (being
oxidized). What effect would this have on the synthesis of ATP in a cell exposed to cyanide?
Would NADH still be oxidized back to NAD+?

14.

The drug dinitrophenol (DNP) dissolves hole in the mitochondrial membranes. What
effect would this have on the synthesis of ATP and the oxidation of NADH?

15.

Are there separate, independent metabolic pathways (like glycolysis followed by the citric
acid cycle) to extract energy from other classes of molecules, such as proteins, fats, and
nucleic acids? Explain.

16.

Fig. 7.18 (slide 49 PowerPoints) shows both negative and positive feedback in the
regulation of allosteric enzymes that are important in the metabolic pathways we've been
learning about. How do these 2 types of feedback differ?

17.

Make sure you understand what is going on in Fig. 7.19 (slide #50). Why does it make
sense that high levels of ATP allosterically inhibit various parts of the pathway? Why does it
make sense that high levels of citrate inhibit glycolysis?

Chapter 8: Photosynthesis
1 Photosynthesis is about bringing energy and carbon molecules from outside living organisms
into the biosphere.
2 In words, rather than symbols, what is the chemical formula for PSN (include energy), and
how does it relate to the formula for cellular respiration? Describe the ways in which they are
(and are not) the reverse of one another.
3 What are the two major pathways in PSN, where does each take place, and what are the
products of each?
4 What happens when a photon of light hits a chlorophyll molecule?
5 What is the role of water in the light reactions, and when is O 2 produced?
6 Describe the mechanism by which ATP is synthesized in the light reactions.
7 What is the chemiosmotic synthesis of ATP?
8 How/why is there energy in a proton gradient?
9 Where do the electrons that start out in water end up at the end of the light reactions?
10 What is the energy generated in the form of ATP and NADPH used for in the CBC?
11 The CBC churns out glucose molecules, one for every ____ turns. Where do the carbon
molecules come from, and why does it take this many turns?
12 What is the molecule that initially binds CO2 in C3 plants, and what is the enzyme that
catalyzes this reaction? Is this an important enzyme, in the overall scheme of life on earth?
Explain.
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13 How do initial carbon fixation and sugar synthesis differ in C 3 and C4 plants?
14 By the end of the CBC, where are the electrons that started out in water? Trace their path.
15 What will the plant do with the glucose it has made?
16 Be prepared to compare CR (cellular respiration) and PSN (photosynthesis) on the
following topics: a) the ETCs (what is different/same about them?); b) the cycles
(CAC & CBC; what is different/same?); c) the differing roles of O 2 & H2O; d) the roles
of the e-carriers (where to they ferry e- from/to? where are they oxidized, where are
they reduced?); e) role of ATP