2025-2026
Proton - Answers Positively charged particle in the nucleus of an atom
- has a mass of 1
Electron - Answers negatively charged particle; located in the space surrounding the nucleus
- has negligible mass
Neutron - Answers Neutrally charged particle found in the nucleus
nonpolar covalent bond - Answers a covalent bond in which the electrons are shared equally by
the two atoms
polar covalent bond - Answers A covalent bond in which electrons are not shared equally
Ionic Bond - Answers A non-covalent interaction: Opposite charged ions bonded through their
difference of electronegativity; both + and - charged molecule
Hydrogen Bond - Answers Attraction between a slightly positive hydrogen atom and a slightly
negative atom.
-weaker than a covalent bond
-H+ bonds with typically O- or N-
van der Waals forces - Answers a slight attraction that develops between the oppositely
charged regions of nearby molecules
-the weakest interactions of forces and leads to dipoles
hydrophilic - Answers water loving (polar): dissolves in water
ex: Salt, Glucose, and Amino Acids
hydrophobic - Answers water fearing (nonpolar): "Floats" in water
ex: oils, fats, cholesterol, and nonpolar amino acids.
oxidation - Answers loss of electrons
reduction - Answers gain of electrons
glycolysis - Answers destruction of glucose molecules (splitting sugar)
Where does glycolysis occur in a eukaryotic cell? - Answers cytoplasm (or cytosol)
, What happens to glucose during glycolysis? - Answers During glycolysis, glucose gets broken
down into two molecules pf pyruvic acid, energy (or ATP) is then released
anaerobic fermentation - Answers Enables cells to produce ATP in the absence of oxygen
Yields little ATP and toxic lactic acid, a major factor in muscle fatigue
aerobic fermentation - Answers when oxygen is present. requires oxygen to break down glucose
terminator - Answers In prokaryotes, a special sequence of nucleotides in DNA that marks the
end of a gene. When transcription stops and the transcript is released.
promoter - Answers A regulatory region where RNA polymerase and associated proteins bind to
the DNA duplex in the process of transcription.
primary transcript - Answers The initial mRNA transcript that is transcribed from a protein
coding gene. Also called pre-mRNA.
-It comes off the template DNA strand
-It contains the complement of every base that was transcribed from the DNA template
Primary Transcript in Prokaryotes - Answers ~mRNA: RNA molecule that combines with the
ribosome to direct protein synthesis
~Transcription & translation are coupled: translation begins even before transcription is
completed
~contain the genetic information for the synthesis of 2 or more different proteins (polycistronic
mRNA)
Primary Transcript in Eukaryotes - Answers ~HAS to be modified by the addition of a 5' cap, a
poly (A) tail (AAA)) to the 3' end and RNA splicing
~polyadenylation- the addition of a string bearing ribonucleotides to the 3' end
Primary Transcript in both Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes - Answers ~complementary to the DNA
template strand
~contains exons and introns
~first step toward making functional RNA (mRNA, tRNA, rRNA)
alternative splicing - Answers Primary transcripts from the same gene spliced in different ways
to yield different mRNAs and therefore different protein products
Protein Structure: Primary - Answers Base; sequence of amino acids