Biological Principles, Simplified

Carbohydrates, Lipids, and Nucleic Acids This lesson will go over carbohydrates (sugars), lipids (fats), and nucleic acids (proteins).  Carbohydrates :   - Composition:  C, H, and O.  - Function : Quick energy (glucose), energy storage (starch, glycogen), structural materials (cellulose).  - Types of carbs: S imple and complex sugars.  Simple Sugars   Provide the body with quick energy.       - Monosaccharides (monomers):  1 monomer of sugar (mono-saccharide = one-sugar).          - Glucose            - Fructose            - Galactose       - Disaccharides (oligomers - usually means 2 to 10 monomers, not yet a polymer):  2 monomers of sugar (di-saccharide = two-sugar). Linked by glycosidic bonds.            - Sucrose (Glucose + fructose)           - L...

Enzymes Now that we've learned what exactly a protein is, let's focus on a specific type of protein: an enzyme. An enzyme is a biological catalyst that regulates chemical reactions. All enzymes have an active site, are specific (only work for their type of substrate) and are recycled. Examples include sucrase, lipase, protease and pepsin. Note that majority of enzymes will end in "-ase". If you see "-ase" at the end of a word, it is likely an enzyme. A substrate is the substance that an enzyme acts upon. It is the reactant that binds to an enzyme. You can guess what sort of substrate an enzyme will act upon by its name. Sucrase, for example, is made up of "sucrose" and "-ase" to get sucrase. Therefore, you can assume that sucrase is the enzyme for the substrate sucrose (type of sugar). Lipase is made up of "lipid" and "-ase" - therefore, lipase is the enzyme for lipids (fats).  Can you guess what substrate protease dig...

 Welcome to Biological Principles, Simplified! Are you in need of help or just want to learn biology? Maybe you want to surprise your biology teacher with concepts that only an AP bio kid would know (and possibly become their favorite, smartest student?) Congrats, you're in the right place :) I try to simplify biological concepts here, with pictures to improve comprehension. In later posts, I might go deeper than a normal biology curriculum would go or introduce a topic not even in the biology curriculum. Everything will build on previous posts so if it's ever too complicated, go back to the last post and try to fully grasp everything. Of course, you can always leave a comment! I'll try to respond within a day, and most definitely within a few days.       If you ever see this guy: That means stop scrolling! The answer to a problem will be below this lovely monkey. Try to figure out the answer before scrolling to test your understanding (it might be the answer to...

  Proteins, Monomers, and Polymers We start off with monomers! A monomer is a type of molecule that has the ability to chemically bond with other monomers to create a chain. These include animo acids and glucose. Think of them like individual building blocks - you can connect them together to form a complete structure.  The chain we've made with these monomers is called a polymer - literally, just a chain of monomers. Polymers include cellulose and enzymes (a type of protein). A protein is a polymer (made out of the monomers called amino acids). Amino acids are bonded together via peptide bonds to form a polypeptide known as a protein. It is made up of the elements Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Hydrogen. Proteins have a wide variety of functions: they can be enzymes, like amylase; be used in structure, like keratin and collagen; used in transport, like aquaporins and hemoglobin; cell communication, like hormone signals, neurotransmitters, and receptors; defense, like antibodie...

E lements and Properties Biochemistry is probably the most basic level of knowledge for biology - everything is built on these principles. You'll learn about basic elements, properties, and more. This lesson specifically is essentially a short recap of chemistry. Let's dive in!  First off, we'll start with what counts as organic. Organic molecules or compounds are carbon-based , meaning they have a carbon within their structure. They also usually contain hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen. Anything that doesn't contain a carbon, like water (H2O), is not organic. Interestingly, carbon dioxide isn't considered to be organic, so there are exceptions to this rule, but generally, if it has a carbon, it's organic. Carbon's unique property of having only 4 valence electrons allows it to bond particularly well, which we'll see later in saturated polymers. Next, we have the properties of water. Water has:  - Cohesion : water bonding to other water molecules (same spec...