AP Biology
UNIT ONE Study Guide
Concepts to understand:
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4 reasons why water is essential to life
How the pH scale is interpreted
How acids and bases affect solutions and living systems
How buffers work to stabilize pH levels
How the structure of carbon is linked to its importance in building macromolecules
How functional groups work (in general, you don’t need to memorize them)
Macromolecule vocabulary: monomer, polymer, dehydration synthesis, hydrolysis
Carbohydrates:
o Structure: Monomer form, polymer form, types of linkages (bonds)
o Function: differences in energy availability in monomer vs polymer, differences between starch,
glygogen, cellulose
Lipids:
o Structure: Glycerol linked with three fatty acid chains (ester linkages)
 Difference between saturated and unsaturated fatty acid chains
 How denaturing occurs, what happens
o Function: Phospholipids, fats, steroids/cholesterol/hormones
Proteins
o Structure
 Of Amino Acids. How they are the same and how they differ (don’t need to memorize all Rgroups)
 Structure and types of bonds found at each level
o Function: Don’t need to know all functions, but have examples
Nucleic Acids
o Structure: Sugar-phosphate backbone with nitrogenous base, forms a helix
o Function: DNA and RNA (all we need to know for now)
Membranes
o Structure: Phospholipid bilayer, fluid mosaic model, integral & peripheral proteins
o Function: Selective permeability. What molecules will diffuse, which won’t
Importance of high Surface are to volume ratios, how cells increase it
Diffusion and osmosis: which way water flows in terms of hyper vs hypo tonicity and water potentials.
Importance to maintaining life
Osmosis vocab: Turgid, flaccid, plasmolysis, Dynamic equilibrium
How to find the water potential of a cell when you know the water potential or molarity of the solution
that it is in
Active vs. Passive transport
Endo- and exocytosis
Structure and Function of all organelles
Endosymbiont Theory
Element
Compound
Potential energy
Covalent bonds
Single bond
Double bond
Electronegativity
Nonpolar bonds
Polar bonds
Ion
Cation
Anion
Ionic bond
Ionic compounds (salts)
Hydrogen bonds
Reactant
Product
Polar molecule
Cohesion
Adhesion
Specific heat
Heat of vaporization
Evaporative cooling
Solution
Solvent
Solute
Aqueous solution
Organelles
Eukaryotic cells
Prokaryotic cells
Cytosol
Cytoplasm
Plasma Membrane
Chromosomes
Chromatin
Nucleous
Free/bound Ribosomes
Endomembrane system
Vesicles
Endoplasmic Reticulum
Selective permeability
Amphipathic
Fluid mosaic model
Integral proteins
Peripheral proteins
Sideness of membrane
Aquaporins
Diffusion
Concentration gradient
Passive transport
Hydrophilic
Hydrophobic
Hydrogen ion
Hydroxide ion
Base
Acid
pH scale
buffer
Organic Compound
Macromolecule
Hydrocarbon
Functional groups
Polymer
Monomer
Dehydration reaction
Hydrolysis
Sugars
Monosaccharides
Carbohydrates
Disaccharide
Glycosidic linkage
Polysaccharide
Starch
Cellulose
Lipids
Fat
Fatty acid
Rough ER
Smooth ER
Transport Vesicles
Gogli apparatus
Lysosome
Phagocytosis
Food Vacuoles
Contractile Vacuole
Central Vacuole
Mitochondria
Chloroplasts
Endosymbiont theory
Cytoskeleton
Osmosis
Tonicity
Isotonic
Hypotonic
Hypertonic
Osmoregulation
Turgid
Flaccid
Facilitated diffusion
Membrane potential
Saturated fatty acid
Unsaturated fatty acid
Phospholipid
Steroids
Cholesterol
Catalysts
Polypeptide
Protein
Amino acid
Peptide bond
Primary structure
Secondary structure
α-helix
β-pleated sheet
Tertiary structure
Hydrophobic interactions
Disulfide bridges
Quaternary structure
Denaturation
Nucleic acid
Deoxyribonucleic Acid
Ribonucleic Acid
Polynucleotides
Nucleotides
Nitrogenous base
Deoxyribose
Ribose
Microtubules
Centrioles
Microfilaments
Intermediate filaments
Cell wall
Primary cell wall
Cell junctions
Plasmodesmata
Tight junctions
Desmosomes
Gap Junctions
Electrochemical gradient
Ion channels
Active transport
Sodium-potassium pump
Exocytosis
Endocytosis
Phagocytosis
Pinocytosis