LIFESCI 2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Polymerization, Uracil, Galactose

• School: UCLA
• Department: Life Sciences
• Course: LIFESCI 2
• Professor: Arnold, A.P., Esdin, J.

Document Summary

Carbohydrates: source of energy, easily accessible cell surface receptor that determines blood type, structural components, four major categories. Composed of 3 to 20 individual carbohydrates. Most carbohydrate consumed through food: polymerization. Monosaccharides are used our main form of energy. Monosaccharides polymerize and create new covalent bonds to store for a later use. Chitin modified sugars used as surgical threads and the exoskeleton of arthropods. Nucleic acids: polymers that are specialized for genetic material, nucleotides consists of a phosphate group, sugar and base. Nucleotides within one strand covalently bond while nucleotides on different strands create hydrogen bonds to aid the double helix structure. Rna is a lot smaller than dna because rather than providing all the genetic material, rna only copies single genes at a time. Negative atoms (phosphorous) bonded together require lots of energy so when the bond is broken energy is released for use. Cyclic amp functions in communication both within the cell and other cells.