BIOL 301 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1.2: Metabolome, Biomolecule, Cell Membrane
25 Jan 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Principles of biology chapter 1. 2: chemical foundations: all organisms share an evolutionary origin, which explains our biochemical unity (we show similarities in biochemical processes) In living organisms, the most abundant elements are hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon: make up the vast majority of cell mass. There is a universal set of small organic molecules in the cytosol: these are metabolites in important cellular pathways. Individually, too small to be considered macromolecules: oligomers: shorter polymers, supramolecular complexes such as ribosomes are assembled from macromolecules. When a molecule has one chiral carbon, it has two stereoisomers. When there are two or more (n) chiral carbons, 2n stereoisomers can exist of the molecule: enantiomers: stereoisomers that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other. In organisms, chiral molecules often exist in only one form: this is because the enzymes that synthesize the biomolecule are chiral.
