AP BIOLOGY REVIEW
NOTE:
1)The packet is the best thing to study (and
an AP REVIEW BOOK!!)
Chemistry of Life
 The main atoms of life:
-hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen
-What’s so great about carbon?
-H + O2 makes water. Water is essential because:
-cohesion, adhesion, capillary action
-high heat capacity (it can store a lot of heat!)
-Remember: hydrogen bonds gives water it’s
ability for almost everything. Hydrogen bonds is
one water sticking to another water.
-The action of water holding together itself is called
polar covalent.
More Chemistry of Life
 pH on a scale from 1-14
 Where is it acidic? Basic (alkaline)?
Functional Groups
 Amino= NH2
 Carboxyl= COOH
 Carbonyl= CO (aldehyde or ketone?)
 Hydroxyl= OH
Major Organic Molecules
 1. Carbohydrates
(monosaccharide= glucose, fructose)
(disaccharide= sucrose…held by glycosidic
bond)
(polysaccharides= storage like starch or
structure like cellulose)
Remember carbs are a great source of
energy!
Major Organic Molecules
 2. Proteins (amino acids linked together by
PEPTIDE bonds)
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Primary- just the code
Secondary- influenced by H+ bonds
Tertiary- influenced by R groups
Quaternary- influenced by subunits of
proteins binding together
Major Organic Molecules

Lipids
1. Consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
but not the 1:2:1 ratio of carbs.
2. They have glycerol + fatty acids.
3. Lots of H+= saturated.
Examples: fats, oils, phospholipids, and
STEROIDS
Major Organic Molecules
 Nucleic Acids
This includes DNA, RNA, and actually ATP.
Remember that DNA is double stranded and
more stable than RNA.
Remember ATP is an energy molecule
involved in energy requiring/making steps.
It’s energy can easily be transferred to do
cellular work.
Prokaryote, Plant Eukaryote, Animal
Eukaryote
 ONLY BACTERIA ARE PROKARYOTES!!
Prokaryote= no nucleus, no organelles, cell wall,
ribosomes
Plant Eukaryote= square, has nucleus + organelles,
ribosomes, cell wall, chloroplasts, cell plate during
mitosis
Animal Eukaryote= circle, has nucleus + organelles,
ribosomes, NO cell wall, lysosomes, centrioles,
cleaveage furrow during mitosis
Junction, Junction…what’s your
function? 
 Desomosome= holds adjacent cells together
 Gap Junction= in animal cells, allows
communication between cytoplasm of
adjacent cells
 Tight Junction= tight connection between
membranes of cells
 Plasmodesmata= only in plant cells, it’s
basically a gap junction in plant cells
If you have these to pick from



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A) NAD+
B) NADP+
C) Oxygen
D) FADH2
E) Cytochrome…could you name their
functions?
Photosynthesis
 Light dependent reactions make ATP, NADPH,
and O2. They occur in the thylakoids.
 P680 (photosystem II, makes ATP + NADPH) and
P700 (photosystem I, makes ATP only…if this is
the only one that goes it’s called CYCLIC)
 Light independent reaction (Calvin cycle) uses the
ATP and NADPH + CO2 to make glucose.
 Remember rubisco (RuBP) fixes CO2 in the
Calvin…unless it’s a C4 plant. Then it’s PEP.
 Photorespiration= BAD thing, it’s the fact that
rubisco fixes O2 and CO2
Plants
 Bryophytes= early plants like mosses, liverworts,
no vascular tissue
 Anything that has vascular tissue is called a
TRACHEOPHYTE. Have seen this used on the AP
test*
 Plants reproduce in an alternation of generations.
(What does that mean?)
 Haploid= gametophyte (when it’s sperm, when it’s
an egg)
 Diploid= sporophyte (when it’s a zygote, when it’s
an embryo)
Plants Cont.
 $$Double fertilization just means normal plant
fertilization…it makes one embryo and one
endosperm$$
 Plant Hormones:
-Cytokinin
-Auxin
-Abscisic Acid (ABA
-Giberellin
-Ethylene
Molecular Genetics

A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
F)
G)
H)
I)
Replication vs. Transcription vs. Translation…Think
about where these are involved!
DNA polymerase
RNA polymerase
DNA ligase
Okazaki fragments
Restriction Enzyme
Reverse Transcriptase
Primer
Promoter
Helicase
Frequently Missed Genetic Words
 Epistasis (example: albinism)
 Pleiotrophy (example: siamese cat color and
cross eyed)
 Polygenic Inheritance (example: skin)
 Complete Dominance vs. Incomplete
Dominance vs. Multiple Alleles
Classification
 Recall:
–K
P
C
O
F
G
S
– Remember that it’s from least most specific
6 Kingdoms:
-archabacteria
-eubacteria
-protista
-fungi
-plantae
-animalia
The “Favorite” Phylums
 Expect 1-2 questions related to this out of the
100 multiple choice questions. These are in your
AP Review Packet…
 Porifera (sponges)
 Cnidaria (jellyfish, sea anemones, corals)
 Mollusca (snails, octupus, squid)
 Annelida (segmented worms)
 Arthropoda (insects, spiders, crustaceans)
 Echniodermata (star fish, sea urchins)
 Chordata (animals that have notochord
{becomes brain + spinal cord}, gill slits, muscular
tail)
A word about symmetry…
 Symmetry is important in the sense that it
has to do with lower/higher organisms
(milestone)
 RADIAL symmetry- circular, disk shaped.
Simple. Echnioderms + Porifera
 BILATERAL symmetry- if organism cut in
half, they have symmetric halves. More
complex. Compartmentalized.
A word about animal behavior…
 Imprinting (geese) vs. Classical
Conditioning (dog slobber) vs. Operant
Conditioning (shocking mice)
 Insight (reasoning)- for higher organisms
 Kinesis vs. Taxis
FROM BIO I…Ecology (in eco
packet)
 Four levels of organization:
 Biosphere- (think BIG)- this is the entire part
of the earth where living things live
 Ecosystem- interaction of living/nonliving
things
 Community- Group of populations
interacting in same area
 Population= group of individuals of same
species interbreeding
Three Forgotten Biomes (Ecology
cont.)
 Tundra (northernmost regions)
Flora (plants) = not much, some trees, grass
Fauna (animals) = arctic foxes, snowy owls, reindeer
-Taiga (northern forests)
Flora=conifers
Fauna= caribou, wolves, moose, rabbits
Temperate Deciduous Forests
Flora= Trees that drop their leaves in winter
Fauna= deer, wolves,
Eco…the most IMPORTANT (and
from the packet)
-r strategists (think they breed like cRazy)they live in uncertain environments, breed
fast, don’t care for young, short life span,
small (example: bacteria, weeds)
-k strategists- live in stable environments,
long life span, care for young (example:
elephant, humans)
-Carrying Capacity= the max number of
individuals of a species that a habitat can
support
Reproductive Barriers
Leading to Speciation
 Prezygotic Barriers
 Postzygotic Barriers
1. Habitat Isolation
2. Temporal Isolation
3. Behavioral Isolation
Mating
4. Mechanical Isolation
5. Gametic Isolation
Fertilization
6. Reduced Hybrid viability
7. Reduced Hybrid fertility
8. Hybrid breakdown
4% of a sheep population has black wool, 96%
white. If black wool is recessive what % of the
population is heterozygous?
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q2=.04
q = √.04= .2
1-q = p
1-.2= .8
So q= .2 p=.8
Substitute in 2pq
2 (.8) (.2) = .32 or 32%
4% of a sheep population has black wool, 96%
white. If black wool is recessive what % of the
population is heterozygous?
 What % of the population is homozygous for
white wool?
 Substitute in for p2
 .82= .64 = 64%
Plants

Meristems-generate cells throughout the plants life.
– Apical- extend roots and shoots (Primary Growth)
– Lateral- add girth (secondary growth)

Transport tissues
– Xylem-water and minerals
– Phloem- carry sugar
 Phloem is made of:
-Sieve tube cells and companion cells
 Xylem is made of:
– Tracheids- long thin
– Vessel elements- wider, shorter
– Both are dead at functional maturity

Movement of water from roots to leaves occurs by
– Bulk-Flow- the movement of fluid driven by a pressure difference at opposite
ends of a conduit.
– The pressure difference is generated at the leaf end by transpirational pull (
lower pressure) at the leaf end.
– Water pulled tight against the cell walls in the air spaces of the leaf cause the
negative pressure which draws water up xylem.
Major Branches of the Animal Kingdom
Coelomate
Have a true coelom- a
body cavity lined with
tissue of mesodermal
origin
Protostomes
Mollusks, Annelids and Arthropods
-Spiral Cleavage (cell divisions are
along a diagonal line)
-Determinate (cell fate is
established early)
Mouth forms from blastopore
“Porifera”
Sponges
Animals
Bilateria
(bilateral symmetry)
Cephalization
3 germ layers
Pseudocoelomatea
Subkingdom
Eumetazoa
Rotifer-Coelom not
completely lined by
mesoderm
Radiata-”Cnidarians”
Radial Symmetry
Acoelomate
No cavity between the gut and the
body wall.
Flatworm “Platyhelminthes”
Schizocoelus (solid masses of
mesoderm form coelom)
Deuterostomes
Echinoderms and Chordates
-Radial Cleavage (cell divisions line up
with the original cell divisions).
-Indeterminate (allows for identical
twins!)
-anus forms from blastophore
-Enterocoelous (outpockets of the
archenteron form the coelom)
Operons
 In Prokaryotes
 Region of a chromosome where a set of
genes are transcribed at one time.
 Allows all of the enzymes needed for a
pathway to be present at once.
 Two Types
– Inducible are usually off but can be turned on.
Like the lac operon.