Week 3 - Cells & cellular energy
Please provide complete answers (mechanistic explanations) to the following questions. Please answer all parts
of each question.
Week 3 - Cells & Cellular Energy
1. Consider cellular energy & metabolism:
(7)
a. What organelle is the main site of cellular energy (ATP) production?
Mitochondria
b. What organic molecule do cells commonly metabolize (split/burn) to make ATP during intense
exercise?
Glucose
c. Cells do this by two processes; name them both.
Aerobic & anaerobic respiration
d. What inorganic molecule must a cell have to produce LOTS of ATP molecules (36) from that
single organic molecule?
Oxygen
e. In comparison to me (I don’t run marathons), would a marathon runner have more, less, or an
equal number of mitochondria in his leg muscle cells? Why?
More mitochondria because a
cell will increase its mitochondrial density in response to increased use.
2. Consider the organelles involved in macromolecule production:
(5)
a. Where, in the cell, are proteins synthesized?
@ Ribosomes
b. Where are carbohydrates and lipids synthesized?
Smooth ER
c. What organelle modifies, packages and ships proteins off for further processing at the Golgi
apparatus?
Rough ER
d. What organelle first handles food absorbed by cells?
Lysosomes
e. Where, in the cell, did that organelle originate?
Golgi Apparatus
3. Consider monomers, the bonds that join them, and the reactions that form those bonds:
(6)
a. What are the molecular monomers of nucleic acids?
Nucleotides
b. What three distinct molecules make up each of these monomers?
Sugar, phosphate,
nitrogenous base
c. What type of reaction joins these monomers? Dehydration synthesis
d. What kind of bond forms, between monomers on adjacent DNA strands, and causes DNA to
assume its helical structure?
Hydrogen bond
4. Name two cytoskeletal elements that provide structure for a cell. What type of organic molecule are
they made of?
(3)
Microfilaments, microtubules & intermediate filaments; all are made of protein
5. Beginning from the nucleus and working toward the plasma membrane, name all the organelles that
have a phospholipid bilayer.
(5)
Rough and Smooth ER, Golgi Apparatus, lysosomes, transport vesicles, mitochondria,
chloroplasts, vacuoles