1
BI 102 – General Biology
Instructor: Waite
Study Guide for Quiz/Exam 2
Quiz 2: Covers Lectures 3, 5, 6, Lab 2
Exam 2: Covers Lectures 3, 5 – 7, Labs 2-3
Enzymes

Know that in a chemical reaction, atoms are rearranged (not created, not destroyed) and energy
is always involved

Know that catabolic reactions break down molecules and release energy (e.g. digestion)

Know that anabolic reactions build larger molecules and require energy (e.g. growth)

Understand that both catabolic and anabolic reactions are required to build up tissues –

Primary source of energy for anabolic reactions is catabolic reactions

Energy stored in chemical bonds of food molecules is released to fuel other processes

Larger molecules = more bonds = more energy

Be able to define the term activation energy (Ea)

Know why overcoming Ea for the reactions in metabolism is so important

Be able to describe what a catalyst does

Know about enzymes

Proteins

Name usually ends in “-ase”

Biological catalysts

EXTREMELY specific – an enzyme that binds to sucrose will not bind to lactose, even though
they have the same chemical formula

Catalyze both catabolic and anabolic reactions

Critical to nearly every biological process

Know the definitions of the terms active site and substrate

Important drug targets for activation or inhibition
Cells

Smallest unit that displays all the characteristics of life

Know the elements of cell theory

Know the general differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells; give examples of each; given
a diagram, be able to identify each

Give examples of unicellular and multicellular eukaryotes

Know the 4 basic components all cells have in common and their functions

Know the benefit of cells staying small; know why eukaryotic cells are able to grow larger than
prokaryotic cells
2
BI 102 – General Biology
Instructor: Waite

Study Guide for Quiz/Exam 2
Know the basic functions of each of the organelles

Cell wall (know how this is different from a cell membrane, and which organisms have one)

Cytoskeleton

Cellular extensions (microvilli, cilia, flagella)

Ribosomes

Endomembrane system

Vacuoles

Nucleus

Mitochondria

Plastids (chloroplasts)
Cell Membranes

Know the 5 general functions of the cell membrane

Know that the environment outside the cell and inside the cell is mostly water; the cell
membrane itself is fundamentally non-polar and hydrophobic, but can exist in a watery
environment because of the phospholipid

Know about phospholipids – how they are both polar and non-polar; know how they are arranged
in the bilayer so that they can exist in a watery environment; know that the membrane must be
fluid, and know what influences the fluidity of the membrane (temperature, fatty acid tail
saturation, cholesterol)

Know the factors that allow some molecules to pass directly through the cell membrane

Size, charge, polarity (small, uncharged, non-polar molecules will pass through)

Know that substances that pass through the membrane will only do so along a concentration
gradient

Know the additional components of the cell membrane (other than phospholipids) and their
functions; given a diagram, be able to label the various components

Pay special attention to the various types and functions of membrane proteins

Be able to identify and know the difference between integral and peripheral membrane proteins

Know the difference between simple diffusion and facilitated diffusion; know that diffusion of
all kinds will only occur along a concentration gradient

Be able to define passive transport; know that both simple and facilitated diffusion are forms
of passive transport


Know that membrane channels and carriers can be regulated by…

Turning them on and off

Changing the number of them on the membrane
Know that water only diffuses directly through the cell membrane at a very slow rate; mostly
takes place through a membrane channel called aquaporin

Know the conditions required for osmosis to take place
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BI 102 – General Biology
Instructor: Waite
Study Guide for Quiz/Exam 2
 Know about active transport – know the different types, why they are used (to move things
against a concentration gradient, or move large amounts of things), and that they all use energy
(ATP, pressure, concentration gradient)

Know what endocytosis and exocytosis are, and what they are for; know that phagocytosis and
pinocytosis are specialized types of endocytosis
(END OF MATERIAL FOR QUIZ 2)
Photosynthesis

Know that energy is required to drive all chemical reactions that sustain life; all living things
ultimately derive energy from the sun, either directly through photosynthesis, or indirectly
through the food chain

Photosynthesis = process by which living things trap energy from the sun in the molecular bonds
of sugar

Know where in the plant, and where in the plant cell photosynthesis takes place; know how the
leaf is a specialized structure for photosynthesis (cuticle, stomata, chloroplasts)

Know the ingredients required for photosynthesis

Understand the nature of light; what happens when photons of light strike an object (absorbed,
reflected, transmitted); understand what determines color (wavelength of reflected light)

Know that pigments in plants absorb and reflect light and will determine a plant’s color; know
that the primary pigment in green plants in chlorophyll, but that others are present (such as
carotenes)

Understand why white is “bright” and what makes something black

Know that photosynthesis can be split into light-dependent reactions and light-independent (or
dark) reactions, and that both take place in the chloroplast (although in different
compartments)

Light reactions: driven by high energy electrons that are ejected from chlorophyll; these
electrons then release energy, which is used to make ATP and NADPH


Water is split apart in the process, which makes oxygen gas
Dark reactions (Calvin cycle): use ATP, NADPH, CO2 to make glucose
Cellular Respiration

ALL cells perform cellular respiration (animal, plant, bacterial, protozoan, etc)

Takes place in mitochondria

Uses oxygen and sugar to produce ATP; releases CO 2, heat as waste products

In photosynthetic organisms: oxygen from light reactions and sugars from dark reactions of
photosynthesis fuel cellular respiration
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BI 102 – General Biology
Instructor: Waite
Study Guide for Quiz/Exam 2
 In non-photosynthetic organisms: oxygen from breathing and sugars from eating fuel cellular
respiration

Know that cellular respiration is ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSIBLE to an organism – will die within
minutes if respiration is blocked

Temporary alternative pathway = fermentation

Far less efficient than respiration

Animals, bacteria generate lactic acid as waste

Yeast generate CO2, ethanol as waste

Review summary slide in lecture notes

Understand how plants and animals are linked together in the energy cycle