The Foundations of Biochemistry

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Questions

Question 1

What are the four most abundant elements in living organisms, making up more than 99 percent of the mass of most cells?

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Question 2

According to the 'Cellular Foundations' section, what is the term for the entire collection of small molecules in a given cell under a specific set of conditions?

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Question 3

What is the upper limit of a cell's size primarily set by?

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Question 4

What is the term for molecules that have the same chemical bonds and formula but different fixed spatial arrangements of atoms?

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Question 5

A chemical reaction has a standard free-energy change (ΔG'°) of -17.1 kJ/mol. What is its equilibrium constant (K'eq)?

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Question 6

Which property of biomolecular interactions requires specific configurations, as exemplified by the phrase that 'a left glove does not fit a right hand'?

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Question 7

What is the end result of the process of feedback inhibition in a metabolic pathway?

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Question 8

The Miller-Urey experiment demonstrated the abiotic production of what types of biomolecules under simulated prebiotic Earth conditions?

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Question 9

What is the defining characteristic of the 'RNA world' hypothesis?

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Question 10

How did eukaryotic cells likely acquire mitochondria and chloroplasts, according to the endosymbiotic theory?

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Question 11

If a molecule has 4 chiral centers, how many stereoisomers are possible?

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Question 12

What is the defining characteristic of an exergonic reaction in terms of its free-energy change (ΔG)?

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Question 13

In the standard biochemical convention for representing three-dimensional sugar structures with Fischer projection formulas, how are horizontal and vertical bonds oriented?

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Question 14

What is the function of the enzyme DNA ligase in the context of DNA cloning?

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Question 15

Genes found in different species that are derived from a common ancestral gene and have the same function are known as what?

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Question 16

What does a negative value for the change in enthalpy (ΔH) signify for a chemical reaction?

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Question 17

Organisms that derive their energy from the oxidation of a chemical fuel are known as what?

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Question 18

What is the approximate bond length of a carbon-carbon double bond, as mentioned in the section on carbon's bonding versatility?

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Question 19

The endosymbiotic theory suggests that eukaryotes are more closely related to which domain of life?

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Question 20

What is the primary thermodynamic driving force for the formation of micelles from amphipathic lipids in an aqueous solution?

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Question 21

What type of macromolecule constitutes the largest fraction of a cell, besides water?

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Question 22

The first law of thermodynamics, as it applies to biochemistry, is the principle of:

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Question 23

What is the key structural difference between maleic acid and fumaric acid?

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Question 24

The energy of the absorbed light converts 11-cis-retinal to all-trans-retinal in the vertebrate retina. What is the approximate energy of this absorbed light per mole?

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Question 25

If a reaction has an equilibrium constant (K'eq) of 1.0, what is its standard free-energy change (ΔG'°)?

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