Bio Revision Questions

Chapter 2 --- Lipids

1. What makes a lipid? - made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (just like carbohydrates) - BUT has much smaller proportion of O compared to H and C.

2. What are the 4 types of lipids? Triglycerides, phospholipids, steroids and waxes

3. What are the 2 types of molecules that made up triglyceride? Fatty acid and glycerol

4. What is a glycerol molecule like? - an alcohol with 3 carbons - each carbon bearing a hydroxyl group

5. What is a fatty acid molecule like? - composed of a long hydrocarbon chain - and a carboxyl group (-COOH) at the end of the hydrocarbon chain

6. What are saturated and unsaturated fatty acids? - saturated: contain only C-C and C-H single bonds - unsaturated: contain 1 or more C=C double bonds

7. How is a triglyceride molecule formed? 1) three fatty acids each join to one glycerol molecule 2) by an ester linkage 3) formed between OH groups of glycerol and COOH of each fatty acid 4) through a condensation reaction 5) with the removal of a water molecule for each ester linkage formed

8. Why is triglyceride insoluble in water? 1) a large part of the molecule is made up of the long hydrocarbon chains of the fatty acids 2) which are hydrophobic and unable to form bonds with water 3) because they are comprised of many non-polar C-H bonds

9. Are fatty acids and glycerol soluble in water? - glycerol is soluble in water because it has OH groups that can form H-bonds with water - fatty acids are soluble in water because COO- can interact with water, however the longer the hydrocarbon chain, the greater the number of non-polar C-H bonds, the less soluble the fatty acid

10. Give 2 examples of triglycerides? Fats and oils

11. What are fats solid at room temperature while oil remains liquid at room temper ature?
1) Fats contain saturated fatty acid chains 2) that can pack closely together 3) enabling fats to solidify 1) Oils contain unsaturated fatty acid chains 2) which contain cis C=C double bonds 3) that can give rise to kinks 4) which prevent the chains from packing closely 5) thus oils cannot solidify

12. What is the major function of triglyceride? How does the structure of triglyceride adapts to this function?
Major function: Energy storage a) Fatty acid chain of triglyceride is comprised of many C-H bonds which can be oxidized to release energy b) Triglyceride is insoluble due to its long hydrophobic hydrocarbon chains (refer to question 8) will not affect the water potential of the cell (do not affect the movement of water in/out of cell)

13. What advantage does an animal get by storing fats rather than carbohydrates as energy?
Compared to one gram of carbohydrates: 1) one gram of fats has a lower proportion of O and a much higher proportion of C and H (because of long fatty acid chain) 2) thus have a higher proportion of C-H bonds 3) from which energy can be released by oxidation

4) hence a gram of fats stores and yields about twice as much energy as a gram of carbohydrates 5) and is a more compact energy store (1g of fats has as much energy as 2g of carbohydrates) 6) since animals are mobile and need a lot of energy, carrying a compact energy store in the form of fats in their body is more suitable and efficient than carrying a bulky energy store in the form of carbohydrate

14. What other functions does triglyceride have?

1) Oxidation of triglycerides produces metabolic water, which is essential for desert animals 2) Fats found beneath the skin layer provide thermal insulation to mammals 3) Fats can protect vital organs by forming a protective layer around internal organs which cushions the organs and act as shock absorbers 4) fats are less dense than water and hence improve the buoyancy of mammals especially marine mammals

15. What is a phospholipid molecule like?

- made up of two fatty acids attached to one glycerol molecule - and the third OH group of glycerol is joined to a phosphate group (PO42-) which has a negative charge - forming a hydrophilic phosphate head (phosphate group) and two hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails (fatty acid chains) - hence phospholipids are amphipathic (having both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions)

16. Describe and explain how phospholipids behave in water. 1) the hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails are non-polar and cannot form bonds with water, so are excluded from water 2) the hydrophilic phosphate head is charged, so has an affinity for water and interacts with the water molecules 3) therefore when phospholipids are in water, they assemble into double-layer aggregates (phospholipid bilayer or micelle) 4) with a hydrophobic core that is shielded from water

17. What are the functions of phospholipids?

1) Major component of membranes a) act as a boundary between intracellular and extracellular environment by controlling the permeability of the membrane (hydrophobic core region is only permeable to non-polar molecules) b) allow compartmentalization within a cell c) move laterally within the membrane, thus making the membrane fluid and allows movement of proteins within the membrane (More details in Chapter 6 Membranes) 2) Major component of liposomes (vesicles surrounded by a lipid bilayer) - Liposomes can be used to carry therapeutic DNA into a target cell during gene therapy, by fusing with the membrane of the target cell and releasing the DNA into the cell

18. What is cholesterol?

- a type of steroid - a cholesterol molecule is composed of a hydrophilic OH group and a hydrophobic four-ring structure - hence is amphipathic (just like phospholipid)

19. What is the main function of cholesterol? Regulates membrane fluidity

20. How does cholesterol regulate membrane fluidity? - cholesterol molecules are incorporated into the phospholipid bilayer, with the hydrophilic OH group aligned with the phosphate heads and the ring structure tucked into the hydrophobic core - prevent the membrane from being overly fluid at warm temperatures by interacting with the phospholipids (forming Van der Waals interactions) and hence restricts their lateral movement - prevent the membrane from being overly firm at low temperatures by preventing the close packing of phospholipids and hence prevents the membrane from solidifying

21. Describe the fat test (emulsion test). 1) Prepare 2 drops/a small piece of test sample in a test tube. 2) Add 2cm3 of ethanol. Mix well. 3) Add 2cm3 of water. Shake vigorously. 4) If an emulsion is formed, lipid is present.