Transport Mechanism

Gorter and Grendel Lipid Bilayer Model (1952)

Movement of Substance Across the Membrane

Phospholipid bilayer
1. Passive Transport
- requires no energy input, as compounds are
able to move freely across the membrane
based only on a favorable concentration
gradient

Types of Passive Transport

A. Diffusion
- movement of materials following the
concentration gradient
- from the region of high concentration to the
region of low concentration.

Phospholipid molecule
- Amphipathic
- Hydrophilic head
- Hydrophobic tail
B. Osmosis
Hydrophobic tail - Water molecules move across a
- Saturated – fatty acid that lacks double band semipermeable membrane following a
- Unsaturated – fatty acids possessing double concentration gradient from a region with
bonds result in kinks in the hydrophobic tails higher water potential to the region with low
water potential.

C. Facilitated Diffusion
- Solute molecules bind specifically to a
membrane protein carrier (a facilitative
transporter)

Hydrophilic
- the ability to mix well, dissolve, or to be
attracted to water

Hydroponic
- “resistant to or avoiding wetting”
 - the process of capturing a substance or
particle from outside the cell by engulfing it
with the cell membrane.

2. Active Transport
- The transport of molecules from a low-
concentration region to a
- high-concentration region with the expense of
energy (Adenosine triphosphate – ATP)
1. Phagocytosis, or cellular eating, occurs
when the dissolved materials enter the cell.
2. Pinocytosis, or cellular drinking, occurs
when the plasma membrane folds inward to
form a channel allowing dissolved substances
to enter the cell.

Movement of Ca2+ ions out of cardiac muscle

cells
- This triggers relaxation, allowing the heart to
be refilled with blood before the start of the
next heartbeat.

EXOCYTOSIS
- a form of active transport through which large
molecules are moved from the interior to the
exterior of the cell. Vesicles are packaged
within the cell and transported to the cell
membrane, where their phospholipid bilayers
fuse.
Biomolecule
- Organic molecule that includes
carbohydrates, protein, lipids, and nucleic
acid.
- Important for survival of living cells.

Enzymes
- The mediators of metabolism, responsible
for virtually every reaction that occurs in a
cell
- All biological catalysts were proteins

ENDOCYTOSIS
Enzymatic reaction
- are complex biochemical processes that
involve the interaction of enzymes with
substrates to facilitate chemical reactions.
- The rate of reactions is affected by several
factors.

Substrate concentration
- At low concentrations, increasing the
substrate concentration will increase the
reaction rate, but at high concentrations, the
reaction rate will reach a maximum level, and
adding more substrate will not affect the rate
of the reaction.

Factors affecting the enzymatic reaction

Temperature
- As temperature increases, the rate of
enzymatic reactions increases up to a
certain point.
Types of Biomolecules
- Enzyme activity declines rapidly at
temperatures beyond the optimum range
1. Nucleic Acids
due to denaturation
- Constructed out of Long monomers called
“nucleotides”.
- Storage and transmission of genetic
information.
- DNA and RNA

pH level
- pH level can alter the shape of the
enzyme’s active site
- Each enzyme has an optimum pH range in
which its activity is highest

Parts of Nucleotide
- Phosphate group
- Pentose sugar
- Nitrogenous base (adenine)
 Types of RNA

1. Messenger RNA (mRNA)

- Single stranded RNA involved in protein
synthesis
- mRNA is made from a DNA template during
the process of transcription

2. Transfer RNA (tRNA)

DNA RNA - The link between messenger RNA (mRNA)
molecule and the growing chain of amino
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Ribonucleic Acid acids that make up a protein

- replicates and - Converts genetic 3. Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

stores genetic information - Location where the protein is made
information. contained within - Part of the ribosome
- Genetic blueprint DNA to a format
for all genetic used to build
information proteins, and then
contained within an moves it to
organism ribosomal factories

Double helix (2 strand) Single Strand

Deoxyribose Sugar Ribose Sugar

Bases: Base:
- Adenine (A) - Adenine (A)
- Thymine (T) - Uracil (U)
- Cytosine (C) - Cytosine (C)
- Guanine (G) - Guanine (G)

Located only in the Travels around the

nucleus nucleus to the
cytoplasm

Central Dogma
- (theory) genetic information flows only in
one direction, from DNA, to RNA, to
protein, or RNA directly to protein
1. DNA Replication
- Process by which the genome’ DNA is
copies in cells
- Before a cell divides, it must first copy (or
replicate) its entire genome so that each
resulting daughter cell ends up with its own
complete genome
D. Elongation
- DNA polymerase starts synthesizing the
new DNA strand in the 5’ to 3’ direction,
using the RNA primer as a starting point.
- The template strand is read in the 3’ to 5’
direction.
- As the polymerase moves along the template
strand, it add nucleotides complementary
to the template strand to the growing new
strand.
- DNA polymerase can only add nucleotides to
the 3’ end of the new strand, so the lagging
strand is synthesized discontinuously in
short fragments called Okazaki fragments.

A. Unwinding
- The double helix structure of DNA unwinds
by breaking the hydrogen bonds between
the base pairs.

- This process is catalyzed by enzymes called

helicases.

E. Proofreading
- DNA polymerase has a proofreading
activity that checks each newly added
nucleotide for errors.
- If an error is detected, the polymerase
B. Stabilization removes the incorrect nucleotide and
- Single-stranded DNA-binding proteins replaces it with the correct one.
(SSBPs) bind to the separated strands to
prevent them from reannealing.

- Reannealing. renaturation/ reconstruction of

a DNA sample that has been dissociated by
heating

F. Removal of RNA primers

C. Priming
- DNA polymerase requires a 3’-OH group to
start synthesizing the new DNA strand.
- Therefore, a short RNA primer is
G. Sealing of DNA nicks (single-strand
synthesized by an enzyme called primase.
breaks)
- The RNA primer provides the necessary 3’-
- DNA ligase seals the nicks between adjacent
OH group.
Okazaki fragments, joining them into a
continuous strand

Transcription (DNA to mRNA)

- is a process in which a DNA strand provides
the information for the synthesis of an
RNA strand.
- The enzymes responsible for transcription are
called RNA polymerases.
- The single-stranded RNA receives a 5'
capping by 7-methylguanosine, which is
often an mRNA sequence, as well as the
addition of poly-A-tail on the 3' end
(polyadenylation).

A. Initiation
- RNA polymerase binds to a specific
sequence of DNA called the promoter region
- The site on the DNA to which an RNA
polymerase molecule binds prior to
initiating transcription is called the
promoter called TATA box
- Several other proteins such as transcription
factors and binding proteins also
participate at the initiation site and function
together as a complex

Splicing
- It works by removing all the introns (non-
coding regions of RNA) and splicing back
together exons (coding regions).

B. Elongation
- Once the RNA polymerase is able to bind to
the section of the gene that will undergo
transcription, it continues to separate the
double helix and synthesize RNA in a 5' to
3' direction.
- Elongation proceeds until the polymerase
meets the hairpin loop structure.

Translation (mrna to protein)

- is the process of synthesizing proteins from
the information encoded in messenger RNA
(mRNA).

A. Initiation
- The small subunit of the ribosome binds to
the mRNA molecule at the 5' and moves
C. Termination
along the mRNA until it reaches the start
- Once the elongation stops at the termination
codon (AUG) that specifies the beginning
sequence, it causes the polymerase to fall
of the protein-coding sequence.
off, thus beginning the termination phase.
- The initiator tRNA carrying the amino acid
methionine (Met) then binds to the start
codon with the help of initiation factors
- The large subunit of the ribosome joins the
complex to form the functional ribosome.

D. Post-Transcriptional Modification
 C. Termination
- The ribosome reaches a stop codon (UAA,
UAG, or UGA) that signals the end of the
protein-coding sequence.
- a release factor binds to the stop codon,
causing the ribosome to release the
completed protein chain and disassemble into
Binding sites in the Ribosomes its subunits.
- The protein chain is then folded into its final
three binding sites for tRNA: conformation and may undergo further
1. designated the A (aminoacyl) site, which modifications before it becomes a functional
accepts the incoming aminoacylated protein.
tRNA;
2. P (peptidyl) site, which holds the tRNA with
the nascent peptide chain; and
3. E (exit) site, which holds the deacylated
tRNA before it leaves the ribosome.

B. Elongation
- In the elongation stage, the ribosome
moves along the mRNA molecule in a 5' to
3' direction, adding one amino acid at a time
to the growing protein chain.
Photosynthesis
Chemical Equation of Photosynthesis
How does photosynthesis work?
Autotrophs
- Organisms that can manufacture their own
organic nutrients from the simplest types of
inorganic molecules, such as carbon dioxide
(CO2 ) and hydrogen sulfide (H2 S).
Types of Autotrophs
A. Chemoautotrophs
- utilize the chemical energy stored in
inorganic molecules (such as ammonia,
hydrogen sulfide, or nitrites) to convert CO2
into organic compounds
B. Photoautotroph
- utilize the radiant energy of the sun to convert
CO2 into organic compounds
- a process in which energy from sunlight is
transformed into chemical energy that is
stored in carbohydrates and other organic
molecules
Light-dependent reaction
- First step of photosynthesis
- Takes place in the thylakoid
- Reaction with the presence of light
- Light energy is converted to ATP and NADPH
Photons
- “particles” of light Chlorophyll
- light-absorbing photosynthetic pigment
Photosystems
- large pigment-protein complexes where the
light-absorbing reactions of photosynthesis
occur
Reaction-Center Chlorophyll
- transfers electrons to an electron acceptor
Photophosphorylation
- the process in which sunlight is used to form
Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) from
Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP)
Photolysis
- the process of splitting water molecules into
H+ and O2 by the action light
NADP+ (Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
phosphate)
- An electron carrier capable of donating
electrons to the reaction
ATP
- An energy carrier molecule that contains a
large amount of chemical energy stored in its
high-energy phosphate bonds
Geo (reduction)
- Gaining of electrons and hydrogen ions
Light-independent reaction
- Second step of photosynthesis
- Takes place in the stroma
- Reaction without the presence of light
- Carbon dioxide is converted to glucose
Rubisco
(ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase)
- An enzyme in chloroplasts that catalyzes the
reaction in which CO2 molecules taken up
from the atmosphere are covalently linked to
organic molecules during photosynthesis