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Learning Targets Unit 1

The document summarizes key concepts about the chemistry of life that comprise 8-11% of the AP exam. It covers the properties of water that are important for biological function, the composition of macromolecules like carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, how monomers connect to form these polymers through bonds, how the sequence and structure of polymers determine their function, and the structural similarities and differences between DNA and RNA.

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101 views3 pages

Learning Targets Unit 1

The document summarizes key concepts about the chemistry of life that comprise 8-11% of the AP exam. It covers the properties of water that are important for biological function, the composition of macromolecules like carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, how monomers connect to form these polymers through bonds, how the sequence and structure of polymers determine their function, and the structural similarities and differences between DNA and RNA.

Uploaded by

api-522789883
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Unit 1: Chemistry of Life 8-11% of AP Exam

Topic Learning Targets (I can …) and Success Criteria (I am learning how …) Content
Check-off
(Learning targets are in bold with their success criteria listed beneath)

1.1 Explain how the properties of water that result from its polarity and hydrogen bonding affect its
biological function.

The subcomponents of biological molecules and their sequence determine the properties of that
molecule.

Living systems depend on properties of water that result from its polarity and hydrogen bonding.

They hydrogen bonds between water molecules result in cohesion, adhesion, and surface tension.

1.2 Describe the composition of macromolecules required by living organisms.

Organisms must exchange matter with the environment to grow, reproduce, and maintain
organization.

Atoms and molecules from the environment are necessary to build new molecules—

a. Carbon is used to build biological molecules such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and
nucleic acids. Carbon is used in storage compounds and cell formation in all organisms.

b. Nitrogen is used to build proteins and nucleic acids. Phosphorus is used to build nucleic
acids and certain lipids.

1.3 Describe the properties of the monomers and the type of bonds that connect the monomers in
biological macromolecules.

Hydrolysis and dehydration synthesis are used to cleave and form covalent bonds between
monomers.

Exclusion Statement: The molecular structure of specific nucleotides, amino acids, and
carbohydrate polymers are beyond the scope of the AP Exam.

1.4 Describe the properties of the monomers and the type of bonds that connect the monomers in
biological macromolecules.

Structure and function of polymers are derived from the way their monomers are assembled—

a. In nucleic acids, biological information is encoded in sequences of nucleotide monomers.


Each nucleotide has structural components: a five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose or ribose), a
phosphate, and a nitrogen base (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine, or uracil). DNA and
RNA differ in structure and function.

b. In proteins, the specific order of amino acids in a polypeptide (primary structure)


determines the overall shape of the protein. Amino acids have directionality, with an
amino (NH2) terminus and a carboxyl (COOH) terminus. The R group of an amino acid can
be categorized by chemical properties (hydrophobic, hydrophilic, or ionic), and the
interactions of these R groups determine structure and function of that region of the
protein.

c. Complex carbohydrates comprise sugar monomers whose structures determine the


properties and functions of the molecules.

d. Lipids are nonpolar macromolecules—


i. Differences in saturation determine the structure and function of lipids.
ii. Phospholipids contain polar regions that interact with other polar molecules, such as
water, and with nonpolar regions that are often hydrophobic.

Exclusion Statement: The molecular structure of specific lipids.

1.5 Explain how a change in the subunits of a polymer may lead to changes in structure or function
of the macromolecule.

Directionality of the subcomponents influences structure and function of the polymer—

a. Nucleic acids have a linear sequence of nucleotides that have ends, defined by the 3’
hydroxyl and 5’ phosphates of the sugar in the nucleotide. During DNA and RNA synthesis,
nucleotides are added to the 3’ end of the growing strand, resulting in the formation of a
covalent bond between nucleotides.

b. DNA is structured as an antiparallel double helix, with each strand running in opposite 5’
to 3’ orientation. Adenine nucleotides pair with thymine nucleotides via two hydrogen
bonds. Cytosine nucleotides pair with guanine nucleotides by three hydrogen bonds.

c. Proteins comprise linear chains of amino acids, connected by the formation of covalent
bonds at the carboxyl terminus of the growing peptide chain.

d. Proteins have primary structure determined by the sequence order of their constituent
amino acids, secondary structure that arises through local folding of the amino acid chain
into elements such as alpha-helices and beta-sheets, tertiary structure that is the overall
three-dimensional shape of the protein and often minimizes free energy, and quaternary
structure that arises from interactions between multiple polypeptide units. The four
elements of protein structure determine the function of a protein.

e. Carbohydrates comprise linear chains of sugar monomers connected by covalent bonds.


Carbohydrate polymers may be linear or branched.

1.6 Describe the structural similarities and differences between DNA and RNA.
DNA and RNA molecules have structural similarities and differences related to their function—
a. Both DNA and RNA have three components—sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous
base—that form nucleotide units that are connected by covalent bonds to form a linear
molecule with 5’ and 3’ ends, with the nitrogenous bases perpendicular to the sugar-
phosphate backbone.

b. The basic structural differences between DNA and RNA include the following:
i. DNA contains deoxyribose and RNA contains ribose.
ii. RNA contains uracil and DNA contains thymine.
iii. DNA is usually double stranded; RNA is usually single stranded.
iv. The two DNA strands in double-stranded DNA are antiparallel in directionality.

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