Andrés López Forastier

Biology 1
Chapter 3 Notes
1. Got Lactose?
a. Milk is a very healthy drink, but most people begin to lose the ability to digest milk at around age 2.
b. Discomfort from drinking milk suggest lactose intolerance.
c. Lactase is produced to absorb the sugar lactose.
d. During childhood, lactase levels significantly decrease in most people.
i. Lactose that is not broken down by lactase is fed to bacteria where they belch out gaseous
byproducts, this accumulation of has produces uncomfortable symptoms.
e. There is no cure to increase the production of lactase.
f. Lactose intolerance shows one way the interplay of biological molecules can affect your health.
2. Organic Compounds
a. Overview
i. A cell is made up of mostly water and carbon-based molecules.
ii. Carbon plays a big role in the chemistry of life because it can form skeletons of large, complex,
and diverse molecules.
1. Carbon based molecules are called organic compounds.
b. Carbon Chemistry
i. An atom of carbon can share electrons with other atoms in four covalent bonds that can branch
off in four directions.
ii. It is possible to construct an endless diversity of carbon skeletons.
1. Molecules with multiple carbon intersections can form very detailed shapes.
iii. Carbon is in literally everything, ranging from methane, to gasoline, to octane, to fat molecules.
iv. The properties of an organic compound also depend on the atoms attached to the skeletons.
v. Functional groups ae the groups of atoms directly involved in chemical reactions.
1. Each of them plays a role during chemical reactions.
2. Some functional groups are -OH, and -COOH.
3. Most biological molecules have 2 or more functional groups.
c. Giant Molecules from Smaller Building Blocks
i. Molecules of living things are either carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
ii. Macromolecules are giant molecules formed by joining smaller molecules, such as proteins,
polysaccharides (carbohydrates), and nucleic acids.
1. Macromolecules can be understood because they are polymers, large molecules made by
stringing together many smaller molecules called monomers.
2. Macromolecules can be understood by considering which monomers make them up and
how those monomers are attached together.
iii. Cells link monomers together to form a polymer through a dehydration reaction, the removal of a
molecule of water.
1. For each monomer added to a chain, a water molecule (H2O) is formed by the release of
two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen (water) atom from the reactants.
iv. Hydrolysis is the opposite of a dehydration reaction.
1. It occurs when water is added.
3. Large Biological Molecules
a. Carbohydrates
i. Class of molecules that includes sugars and polymers of sugars.
ii. In animals, carbohydrates are a primary source of dietary energy and raw material for
manufacturing other kinds of organic compounds; in plants, carbohydrates serve as a building
material for much of the plant body.
 Andrés López Forastier
Biology 1
b. Monosaccharides
i. Simple sugars are the monomers of carbohydrates, they cannot be broken down into smaller
sugars.
1. Glucose and fructose are isomers, molecules that have the same molecular formula but
different structures.
2. The molecular formula for glucose is C6H12O6, fructose has the same formula, but its
atoms are arranged differently.
3. Minor differences in the arrangement of atoms give isomers different properties.
a. The rearrangement of functional groups makes fructose taste sweeter than
glucose.
ii. Monosaccharides are the main fuel molecules for cellular work.
iii. The use of simple sugars as both energy resources and organic building blocks clearly illustrates
the theme of transformations of energy and matter that constantly occur in all biological systems.
c. Disaccharides
i. Double sugars are constructed from two monosaccharides by a dehydration reaction.
1. Maltose and Lactose.
ii. Disaccharides are made from dehydration reactions.
iii. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), is made through a commercial process that uses an enzyme to
convert natural glucose in corn syrup to the much sweeter fructose.
iv. HFCS is a clear, goopy liquid containing about 55% fructose; it is much cheaper than sucrose and
easier to mix into drinks and processed foods.
v. Sucrose is the most common disaccharide.
d. Polysaccharides
i. Complex carbohydrates are long chains of sugars.
1. Starch
a. Starch consists of long strings of glucose monomers.
b. Starch granules serve as carbohydrate “storage tanks” from which plant cells can
withdraw glucose for energy or building materials.
c. Animals store excess glucose in the form of a polysaccharide called glycogen.
2. Glycogen
a. Most of your glycogen is stored in liver and muscle cells, which break down the
glycogen to release glucose when you need energy.
b. Hence, carbo-loading.
c. However, if that energy is not used in a day or so, it turns into fat.
3. Cellulose
a. It is the most abundant organic compound on Earth, it forms cable-like fibrils in
the tough walls that enclose plant cells and is a major component of wood and
other structural components of plants.
b. Cellulose is also a polymer of glucose, but its glucose monomers are linked in a
way that cannot be broken by any enzyme produced by animals.
i. Microorganisms in digestive tracks of animals break it down.
c. Dietary fiber is not digested but the fiber is helpful to the body.
e. Lipids
i. Almost all carbohydrates are hydrophilic molecules that dissolve readily in water, in contrast,
lipids are hydrophobic, and they do not mix with water.
ii. Lipids are not macromolecules and they are not really polymers built from repeating monomers.
f. Fats
 Andrés López Forastier
Biology 1
i. Consists of a glycerol molecule joined with 3 fatty acid molecules by dehydration reactions.
1. The result is a fat molecule called a triglyceride.
ii. A fatty acid is a long molecule that stores a lot of energy.
1. Adipose cells are what they are stored in, this allows adipose tissue (body fat), not only to
store energy but cushion vital organs and insulate us.
iii. Unsaturated fatty acids have fewer than the maximum number of hydrogens at the double bond.
1. Liquid at room temperature.
iv. Saturated fatty acids have the maximum number of hydrogen atoms, giving them a straight shape.
v. A polyunsaturated fat has several double bonds within its fatty acids.
vi. Monounsaturated fats are unsaturated fats with just one double bond.
vii. Hydrogenation is the process of adding hydrogen to convert unsaturated fats to saturated fats.
1. Creates trans fats, a type of unsaturated fat that is bad for your health.
viii. Not all fats are unhealthy, such as omega-3 fatty acids.
g. Steroids
i. Lipids that are very different from fats in structure and function.
1. Have carbon skeleton with four fused rings.
ii. Cholesterol is the key component of the cell membranes and are the base steroid from which your
body produces other steroids, such as sex hormones.
iii. Anabolic steroids are synthetic variants of testosterone that mimic some of its effects.
1. Abuse of these steroids can cause problems, they are used by many athletes.
h. Proteins
i. A polymer of amino acid monomers and it accounts for more than 50% of the dry weight of most
cells, and they are instrumental in almost everything cells do.
1. Many different types of proteins, each with a unique three-dimensional shape
corresponding to a specific function.
i. The Monomers of Proteins: Amino Acids
i. Amino acids consist of a central carbon atom bonded to four covalent partners.
ii. Three of those attachments are common to all 20 amino acids: a carboxyl group (−COOH), an
amino group (−NH2), and a hydrogen atom.
iii. The variable component of amino acids is called the side chain (R group), it is attached to the
fourth bond of the central carbon.
iv. Each amino acid has a unique side chain which gives it its special chemical properties.
j. Protein Shape
i. Dehydration reactions link amino acid monomers together.
ii. The bond that joins adjacent amino acids is called a peptide bond.
1. The resulting long chain is called a polypeptide.
iii. A functional protein is one or more polypeptide chains precisely twisted, folded, and coiled into a
molecule of unique shape.
iv. The difference between a polypeptide and a protein is like the relationship between a long strand
of yarn and a sweater.
1. To be functional, the long fiber (the yarn) must be precisely knit into a specific shape (the
sweater).
v. Each protein has a unique sequence of amino acids.
vi. For all proteins, structure and function are interrelated.
vii. Misfolded version of proteins can cause disease and brain disorders.
viii. Prion proteins destruct brain tissue.
ix. A protein’s shape is sensitive to the environment.
 Andrés López Forastier
Biology 1
x. The amino acid sequence of each polypeptide chain is specified by a gene.
k. Nucleic Acids
i. Macromolecules that store information and provide the instructions for building proteins.
ii. DNA and RNA.
1. The genetic material that humans and all other organisms inherit from their parents
consists of giant molecules of DNA.
2. The DNA resides in the cell as one or more very long fibers called chromosomes.
3. A gene is a unit of inheritance encoded in a specific stretch of DNA that programs the
amino acid sequence of a polypeptide.
4. A cell’s RNA molecule help translates chemical code of nucleic acid language to protein
language.
iii. This interaction of three types of molecules—DNA, RNA, and proteins—enables the
transmission of hereditary information from one generation to the next, ensuring the continuity of
life.
iv. Nucleic acids are polymers made from monomers called nucleotides.
1. At the center of each nucleotide is a five-carbon sugar, deoxyribose in DNA and ribose in
RNA.
2. Attached to the sugar is a negatively charged phosphate group containing a phosphorus
atom bonded to oxygen atoms (PO4−).
3. Also attached to the sugar is a nitrogen-containing base made of one or two rings.
4. The sugar and phosphate are the same in all nucleotides; only the base varies.
5. Each DNA nucleotide has one of four possible nitrogenous bases: adenine (A), guanine
(G), cytosine (C), or thymine (T)
v. Adenine and Guanine have double ring structures.
vi. Dehydration reactions link nucleotide monomers into long chains called polynucleotides.
1. In a polynucleotide, nucleotides are joined by covalent bonds between the sugar of one
nucleotide and the phosphate of the next.
2. This results in a sugar-phosphate backbone, a repeating pattern of sugar-phosphate-sugar-
phosphate, with the bases (A, T, C, or G) hanging off the backbone like appendages.
3. A to T and G to C
vii. DNA is double-stranded, with two polynucleotide strands coiled around each other to form a
double helix.
viii. DNA and RNA are both polymers of nucleotides, but they do have differences.
1. As its name ribonucleic acid denotes, the sugar in RNA is ribose rather than deoxyribose.
2. Instead of the base thymine, RNA has a similar but distinct base called uracil (U).
a. Except for the presence of ribose and uracil, an RNA polynucleotide chain is
identical to a DNA polynucleotide chain.
3. RNA is usually found in living cells in single-stranded form, whereas DNA usually exists
as a double helix.
4. Does Lactose Intolerance Have a Genetic Basis?
a. Background
i. Like all proteins, the enzyme lactase is encoded by a DNA gene.
ii. A reasonable hypothesis is that lactose-intolerant people have a defect in their lactase gene.
1. However, this hypothesis is not supported by observation.
2. Even though lactose intolerance runs in families, most lactose-intolerant people have a
normal version of the lactase gene.
b. Method
 Andrés López Forastier
Biology 1
i. A group of scientists proposed that lactose intolerance is correlated with one nucleotide at a site
on chromosome 2 that falls outside the lactase gene itself.
ii. To test this hypothesis, they examined the chromosomes of 196 lactose-intolerant people from
nine families.
c. Results
i. Their results showed a 100% correlation between lactose intolerance and having cytosine (C)
rather than thymine (T).
ii. Depending on the nucleotide sequence within the distant region of the DNA molecule, the action
of the lactase gene is ramped up or down.
iii. This study shows how a small change in a DNA nucleotide sequence outside of a gene itself can
affect production of a protein and the well-being of an organism.
5. The Evolution of Lactose Intolerance in Humans
a. Lactose intolerance is found in 80% of African Americans and Natives Americans and 90% of Asian
Americans, but only about 10% of Americans of northern European descent.
b. Domesticated cattle first appeared in northern Europe about 8,000 years ago.
c. With dairy products available year-round, natural selection would have favored people with a mutation
that kept the lactase gene switched on beyond infancy.
d. In cultures where dairy products were not a dietary staple, natural selection would not favor such a
mutation.
e. This research shows that lactose intolerance is the human norm and that “lactose tolerance” is a relatively
recent mutation.
f. Genetic mutations that confer a selective advantage, such as surviving cold winters or drought by drinking
milk, spread rapidly where the climate favored such changes.
g. Whether you can digest milk is therefore an evolutionary record of the cultural history of your ancestors.