Station 1: Nucleic Acids

Mission Macromolecules!

Directions: There are four stations that your group needs to visit. At each station, there will be a reading. All members of your group need to read this. Then, there is a series of questions that need to be answered from that reading. Again, each member needs to answer the questions. Then comes the challenge! At each station, there will be a challenge that needs to be completed by the group. Only one product needs to be created by the group. Put all of your names on the activity and take it with you. These will be collected at the end of the period. You will have approximately 20 minutes at each station to complete both tasks!

Station 1: Nucleic Acids

Station 2: Proteins

Station 3: Carbohydrates

Station 4: Lipids

Station 1: Nucleic Acids

Questions:

A) What does a DNA nucleotide consist of?

B) What are two differences between RNA and DNA?

C) In what direction does transcription take place (that is the direction that RNA polymerase adds bases)?

Assessment: If you were performing a lab experiment and you counted there were 100 adenine nitrogen bases, how many thymine bases would you expect to have? Why?

Mission: Build a model of DNA using the model building pieces located at your station. Correctly color, cut, and label every piece of the DNA model.

Station 2: proteins

Questions:

A) What does an amino acid consist of?

B) How are all amino acids different from one another?

C) How are all proteins different from one another?

Assessment: What stage of protein folding involves making disulfide bridges between the R groups of different amino acids?

Mission: Build a model of hemoglobin, a protein located on red blood cells that delivers oxygen to all of your cells. Use the pipe cleaners presented at the table to aid in your mission.

Station 3: carbohydrates

Questions:

A) What is dehydration synthesis?

B) How is sucrose formed?

C) Why can our bodies not digest cellulose?

Assessment: If you wanted to make a complex carbohydrate, how would your lab group perform such a task?

Mission: Using the laptops at your station [or your awesome Smart Phones with unlimited data], research which soda contains the most carbohydrates. This soda should be an American product. Write down the details of your soda in the data table at the station.

Station 4: lipids

Questions:

A) How are lipids commonly used in the body?

B) How are phospholipids different from normal lipids?

C) What is the difference between LDL and HDL?

Assessment: What elements make up a lipid? What other macromolecule contains the same elements?

Mission: Using the laptops at your station [or your awesome Smart Phones], research the fattiest fast food meal that you can make. Your meal must include one entrée, one side dish, one drink, and one dessert. You can use any fast food restaurant that you want. Write down the details of your meal in the data table at the station.

Station 1: Nucleic Acids

In nucleic acids, biological information is encoded in sequences of nucleotide monomers. Each nucleotide has structural components: a five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose or ribose), a phosphate, and a nitrogen base (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine, or uracil).

Themain difference between DNA and RNAis the sugar present in the molecules. While the sugar present in an RNA molecule isribose, the sugar present in a molecule of DNA isdeoxyribose. Deoxyribose is the same as ribose, except that the former has one more OH.

DNA does not usually exist as a single molecule, but instead as a tightly-associated pair of molecules. These two long strands entwine like vines, in the shape of a double helix. This arrangement of DNA strands is called antiparallel. The asymmetric ends of DNA strands are referred to as the 5′ (five prime) and 3′ (three prime) ends. One of the major differences between DNA and RNA is the sugar, with 2-deoxyribose being replaced by the alternative pentose sugar ribose in RNA. The fourbases found in DNAareadenine(abbreviated A),cytosine(C),guanine(G) andthymine(T). A fifthpyrimidinebase, calleduracil(U), usually takes the place of thymine inRNAand differs from thymine by lacking a methyl group on its ring.

Nucleic acids have ends, defined by the 3' and 5' carbons of the sugar in the nucleotide, that determine the direction in which complementary nucleotides are added during DNA synthesis and the direction in which transcription occurs (from 5' to 3').

Station 2: Proteins

Proteins are macromolecules that are made of monomers called amino acids. There are 20 amino acids that are commonly used in most biological processes. DNA is used to code for proteins in processes called transcription and translation (already learned). All amino acids have the same basic structure: an amino group (NH3), a carboxyl group (COOH), a Hydrogen, and an R group all located around a central carbon.

The R group of an amino acid can be categorized by chemical properties (hydrophobic, hydrophilic and ionic), and the interactions of these R groups determine structure andfunction of that region of the protein.

Once a polypeptide chain is completed via protein synthesis, the amino acid chain will undergo protein folding at a chaperonin. There are four basic types of protein folding:

Primary Folding: Just a sequence/chain of amino acids

Secondary Folding: Amino acids get linked together with hydrogen bonds

Tertiary Folding: Alpha helices and beta-pleated sheets form between R groups on amino acids (such bonds include disulfide bridges)

Quarternary Folding: Occurs when a protein forms from more than 1 amino acid chain.

In proteins, the specific order of amino acids in a polypeptide (primary structure) interacts with the environment to determine the overall shape of the protein, which also involves secondary tertiary and quaternary structure and, thus, its function.

Station 3: carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are composed of sugar monomers whose structures and bonding with each other by dehydration synthesis determine the properties and functions of the molecules.When two monomers join, water is released (this is dehydration synthesis). Carbohydrates are commonly used as energy sources for the body. Such common carbohydrates that exist are glucose, sucrose, and fructose.

Formation of Sucrose:

The most common plant carbohydrate is cellulose. One of the most common human carbohydrates is starch. Humans cannot digest the plant carbohydrate cellulose. Cellulose andstarchboth consist ofglucose polymers. However, the nature of the bonds are different, giving them a different 3-dimensional structure.Cellulose has β (beta)glycosidic bonds, whereas starch has α (alpha) bonds. The difference in the bonds causes enzymes to digest starch, because it fits into the active site, but the different shape of cellulose makes it the wrong shape for human enzymes to digest.

Station 4: lipids

Lipids are most commonly known as fats or waxes. They are complex structures found inside the human body and are often used as energy sources. In general, lipids are nonpolar. They carry no charge and are composed of many covalent bonds (the elements share electrons equally). Lipids also tend to be quite large in nature.

Phospholipids are a type of lipid found in eukaryotic cell membranes. Phospholipids, however, have regions of polarity and nonpolarity. The head of the phospholipid is polar, often hydrophilic, and interacting with other polar molecules such as water. The tails of the phospholipid are nonpolar, creating a region of nonpolarity where small, nonpolar items can pass through the region with ease.

Lipids can be detected in your body with a lipid panel (taken with a blood test). When you get a lipid panel, there are three main types of cholesterol that are tested: low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). Triglycerides, another type of lipid in the blood, are also tested.

Low density lipoproteins, also referred to as LDL, is known as the "bad cholesterol". LDLs are produced by the liver and carry cholesterol and other lipids (fats) from the liver to different areas of the body, like muscles, tissues, organs, and the heart. It is very important to keep LDL levels low.

High density lipoprotein, also known as HDL, is considered the "good" cholesterol. HDL is produced by the liver to carry cholesterol and other lipids (fats) from tissues and organs back to the liver for recycling or degradation.

Very low density lipoproteins, or VLDL, are lipoproteins that carry cholesterol from the liver to organs and tissues in the body. They are formed by a combination of cholesterol and triglycerides.

station 2: proteins

Station 3: carbohydrates data table

Soda drink: ______

Manufacturer: ______

Total Carbohydrates: ______(g)

Sugars: ______(g)

Total Fat: ______(g)

Total Calories (per 1 can): ______(g)

Station 4: lipids data table

Fast food restaurant: ______

Entrée: ______lipid amnt: ______

Side dish: ______lipid amnt: ______

Drink: ______lipid amnt: ______

Dessert: ______lipid amnt: ______

Total lipid amount: ______(g)