AP Biology Vocabulary List 2019-2020 PDF

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List of Vocabulary words essential to AP Biology...

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AP Biology Vocabulary List 2019-2020 Unit 1: The Chemistry of Life Term:

Definition of the Term

Electronegativity

is a chemical property that describes the tendency of an atom to attract a shared pair of electrons towards itself

Polar Molecule

A polar molecule is a chemical species in which the distribution of electrons between the covalently bonded atoms is not even. Polarity is a description of how different the electrical poles of a molecule are.

Polar Covalent Bonds

In a polar covalent bond, the electrons shared by the atoms spend a greater amount of time, on average, closer to the Oxygen nucleus than the Hydrogen nucleus.

Hydrogen Bond

a bond between two molecules resulting from an electrostatic attraction between a partially positive charge of an oxygen in one molecule and a partially negative charge of hydrogen

Adhesion

Adhesion is clinging of one type of substance to another dissimilar substance

Cohesion

is the action or property of like molecules sticking together, being mutually attractive

Surface Tension

Is the measure of how difficult it is to stretch or break the surface of a liquid

Kinetic Energy

energy which a body possesses by virtue of being in motion

Thermal Energy

Is the kinetic energy associated with the random movement of atoms which produces heat

Temperature

Represents the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a body of matter, regardless of volume,

Heat

Thermal energy in transfer from one body of matter to another

Calorie (cal)

the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C

Kilocalorie (kcal)

the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1C

Joule (J)

An energy unit which equals 0.239 calorie and one calorie equals 4.184 joules.

Specific Heat

The amount of heat that must be absorbed or lost for 1 g of that substance to change its temperature by 1 Celsius.

Heat of Vaporization

Is the quantity of hat a liquid must absorb for 1 g of it to be converted from the liquid to the gaseous state

Evaporative Cooling

Occurs when the “hottest” molecules, those with the greatest kinetic energy, are the most likely to leave a gas

Solution

A liquid that is a completely homogenous mixture of two or more substances

Solvent

Dissolving agent of a solution (e.g. water)

Aqueous Solution

Is a solution in which the solute is dissolved in water; water is solvent

Solute

Substance that is dissolved (e.g. sugar)

Hydration Shell

The sphere of water molecules around each dissolved ion

Hydrophilic

Any substance that has an affinity or attraction for water

Hydrophobic

Substances that are nonionic and nonpolar, which repel water

Molecular Mass

The sum of masses of all atoms in a molecule.

Mole (mol)

A unit of measurement that represents an exact number of objects: 6.02 x 10 to the power of 23, which is called Avogadro’s number

Molarity

The number of moles of solute per liter of solution – is the unit of concentration most often used by biologists for aqueous solutions

Hydrogen Ion (H+)

A single proton with a charge of 1+

Hydroxide Ion (OH-)

The water molecule that a lost a proton and has a charge 1-

Hydronium Ion (H3O+)

A molecule which is a bond of a proton and a water molecule.

Base

A substance that reduces the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution

Acid

A substance that increases the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution

pH

pH of a solution is defined as the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration

Buffer

Is a substance that minimizes changes in concentration of H+ and OH- in a solution

Ocean Acidification

When CO2 dissolves in seawater, it reacts with water to form carbonic acid, which lowers ocean pH.

Element

A substance that cannot be broken down to other substances by chemical reactions

Matter

Anything that takes up space and has mass

Compound

A substance consisting of two or more different elements combined in a fixed ratio

Essential Elements

Elements that an organism needs to live a healthy life and reproduce

Trace Elements

Elements required by an organism in only minute quantities

Macromolecules

Proteins, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and lipids are the four major classes of biological macromolecules—large molecules necessary for life that are built from smaller organic molecules. Macromolecules are made up of single units known as monomers that are joined by covalent bonds to form larger polymers.

Polymer

A long molecule consisting of many similar or identical building blocks linked by covalent bonds.

Monomers

A molecule that can be bonded to other identical molecules to form a polymer, as well as having functions of their own.

Enzymes

Specialized macromolecules that speed up chemical reactions (catalysts) to bring about a specific biochemical reaction.

Dehydration Reaction

A reaction in which two molecules are covalently bonded to each other with the loss of a water molecule.

Hydrolysis

Is essentially the reverse of the dehydration reaction and happens when the bond between monomers is broken by the addition of a water molecule, with a hydrogen from water attaching to one monomer and the hydroxyl group attaching to the other

Hydroxyl Group

The hydroxyl group is a functional group consisting of a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to an oxygen atom. The hydroxyl group is denoted by -OH in chemical structures and has a valence charge of -1.

Carbohydrates

Any of a large group of organic compounds occurring in foods and living tissues and including sugars, starch, and cellulose. They

contain hydrogen and oxygen in the same ratio as water (2:1) and typically can be broken down to release energy in the animal body. Monosaccharides

Any of the class of sugars (e.g., glucose) that cannot be hydrolyzed to give a simpler sugar and generally have molecular formulas that are some multiple of the unit CH20

Disaccharide

Consists of two monosaccharides joined by a glycosidic linkage

Glycosidic Linkage

A covalent bond formed between two monosaccharides by a dehydration reaction.

Polysaccharides

Macromolecules, polymers with a few hundred to a few thousand monosaccharides joined by glycosidic linkage

Glycogen

A polysaccharide stored by animals, that is a polymer of glucose that is like amylopectin but more extensively branched

Cellulose

A polysaccharide that is a major component of the tough walls that enclose plant cells.

Chitin

A structural polysaccharide used by arthropods to build their exoskeletons

Lipids

Any of a class of organic compounds that are fatty acids or their derivatives and are insoluble in water, due to their hydrocarbon structures, but soluble in organic solvents.

Fats

Fats are a subgroup of compounds known as lipids that are found in the body and have the general property of being hydrophobic. Fats are also known as triglycerides, molecules made from the combination of one molecule of glycerol with three fatty acids

Fatty Acid

A carboxylic acid consisting of a hydrocarbon chain and a terminal carboxyl group, especially any of those occurring as esters in fats and oils

Triacylglycerol

Simplest lipids formed by fatty acids. It is made up of three fatty acids ester linked to a single glycerol.

Saturated Fatty Acids

Hydrocarbon chain of fatty acids, in which there are no double bonds between carbon atoms composing the chain, and as many hydrogen atoms as possible are bonded to the carbon skeleton

Unsaturated Fatty Acids

Has one or more double bonds between carbon atoms composing the hydrocarbon chain of the fatty acids, with one fewer hydrogen atom on each double-bonded carbon.

Carbon Skeleton

A carbon skeleton is the chain of carbon atoms that forms the “backbone,” or foundation, of any organic molecule.

Trans Fats

Are a form of unsaturated fat that is made through the chemical process of hydrogenation of oils.

Phospholipid

The structure of the phospholipid molecule generally consists of two hydrophobic fatty acid "tails" and a hydrophilic "head" consisting of a phosphate group.

Steroids

A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes which alter membrane fluidity; and as signaling molecules.

Cholesterol

A compound of the sterol type found in most body tissues. Cholesterol and its derivatives are important constituents of cell membranes and the precursors of other steroid compounds

Catalysts

A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change

Polypeptide

a linear organic polymer consisting of a large number of aminoacid residues bonded together in a chain, forming part of (or the whole of) a protein molecule

Protein

Proteins are polymers of amino acids. ... Proteins have a variety of functions in cells. Major functions include acting as enzymes, receptors, transport molecules, regulatory proteins for gene expression, and so on.

Peptide Bond

A compound consisting of two or more amino acids linked in a chain, the carboxyl group of each acid being joined to the amino group of the next by a bond of the type -OC-NH-

Primary Structure of a Refers to the sequence of amino acids in the polypeptide chain. The primary structure is held together by peptide bonds that are Protein made during the process of protein biosynthesis. Secondary Structure of a Elements typically spontaneously form as an intermediate before Protein the protein folds into its three dimensional tertiary structure. Secondary structure is formally defined by the pattern of hydrogen bonds between the amino hydrogen and carboxyl oxygen atoms in the peptide backbone α Helix

The alpha helix is a common motif in the secondary structure of proteins and is a right hand-helix conformation in which every backbone N−H group hydrogen bonds to the backbone C=O group of the amino acid located three or four residues earlier along the protein sequence

Β Pleated Sheet

The β-sheet is a common motif of regular secondary structure in proteins. Beta sheets consist of beta strands connected laterally by at least two or three backbone hydrogen bonds, forming a generally twisted, pleated sheet

Tertiary Structure of a Protein tertiary structure is the three dimensional shape of a Protein protein. The tertiary structure will have a single polypeptide chain "backbone" with one or more protein secondary structures, the protein domains Hydrophobic Interaction

Describe the relations between water and hydrophobes (low water-soluble molecules).

Disulfide Bridges

A disulfide bond, also called an S-S bond, or disulfide bridge, is a covalent bond derived from two thiol groups. In biochemistry, the terminology R-S-S-R connectivity is commonly used to describe the overall linkages. The most common way of creating this bond is by the oxidation of sulfhydryl groups.

Is the number and arrangement of multiple folded protein Quaternary Structure of a Protein subunits in a multi-subunit complex. It includes organisations from simple dimers to large homooligomers and complexes with defined or variable numbers of subunits. Collagen

Collagen is the main structural protein in the extracellular matrix in the various connective tissues in the body. As the main component of connective tissue, it is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up from 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content.

Hemoglobin

A red protein responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood of vertebrates. Its molecule comprises four subunits, each containing an iron atom bound to a heme group

Sickle-Cell Disease

A severe hereditary form of anemia in which a mutated form of hemoglobin distorts the red blood cells into a crescent shape at low oxygen levels.

Denaturation

Is a process in which proteins or nucleic acids lose the quaternary structure, tertiary structure, and secondary structure which is present in their native state, by application of some external stress or compound, such as a strong acid or base, a concentrated inorganic salt, an organic solvent.

X-Ray Crystallography

Experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions.

Gene

A distinct sequence of nucleotides forming part of a chromosome, the order of which determines the order of monomers in a polypeptide or nucleic acid molecule which a cell (or virus) may synthesize.

Nucleic Acid

A complex organic substance present in living cells, especially

DNA or RNA, whose molecules consist of many nucleotides linked in a long chain Deoxyribonucleic (DNA)

Acid

Deoxyribonucleic acid, a self-replicating material which is present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes. It is the carrier of genetic information

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)

Ribonucleic acid, a nucleic acid present in all living cells. Its principal role is to act as a messenger carrying instructions from DNA for controlling the synthesis of proteins, although in some viruses RNA rather than DNA carries the genetic information

Gene Expression

The appearance in a phenotype of a characteristic or effect attributed to a particular gene.

Polynucleotides

A linear polymer whose molecule is composed of many nucleotide units, constituting a section of a nucleic acid molecule

Nucleotides

A compound consisting of a nucleoside linked to a phosphate group. Nucleotides form the basic structural unit of nucleic acids such as DNA.

Pyrimidine

Pyrimidines are simple aromatic compounds composed of carbon and nitrogen atoms in a six-membered ring.The three pyrimidines are thymine which is only found in DNA, uracil which is only found in RNA, and cytosine which is found in both DNA and RNA.

Purines

Purine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound that consists of a pyrimidine ring fused to an imidazole ring. It is water-soluble. Purine also gives its name to the wider class of molecules, purines, which include substituted purines and their tautomers. They are the most widely occurring nitrogen-containing heterocycles in nature.

Deoxyribose

A sugar derived from ribose by replacing a hydroxyl group with hydrogen.

Heterocycle

Heterocyclic compound, also called heterocycle, any of a major class of organic chemical compounds characterized by the fact that some or all of the atoms in their molecules are joined in rings containing at least one atom of two elements other than carbon

Ribose

Ribose is a carbohydrate with the formula C₅H₁₀O₅; specifically, it is a pentose monosaccharide with linear form H−−(CHOH)₄−H, which has all the hydroxyl groups on the same side in the Fischer projection. The term may refer to either of two enantiomers.

Double Helix

In molecular biology, the term double helix refers to the structure formed by double-stranded molecules of nucleic acids such as DNA. The double helical structure of a nucleic acid complex arises as a consequence of its secondary structure, and is a fundamental component in determining its tertiary structure.

Antiparallel

A term applied to two molecules that are side by side but run in opposite directions. The two strands of DNA are antiparallel. The head of one strand is always laid against the tail of the other strand of DNA.

Bioinformatics

Combines biology, computer science, information engineering, mathematics and statistics to analyze and interpret biological data

Genomics

Interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes

Proteomics

Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, functions.

Unit 2: Cell Structure and Function

and their

Term:

Definition of the Term

Unit 3: Cellular Energetics Term:

Definition of the Term

Unit 4: Cell Communication and Cell Cycle Term:

Definition of the Term

Unit 5: Heredity Term:

Definition of the Term

Unit 6: Gene Expression and Regulation

Term:

Definition of the Term

Unit 7: Natural Selection Term:

Definition of the Term

Unit 8: Ecology Term:

Definition of the Term...