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Map amino acids: Proteins glossary biological macromolecules: DNA, RNA and proteins. This term is used particularly in reference to structural modeling. biomolecular interactions: Studies of membranes, proteins and peptides, and drug interactions with proteins and DNA, from the molecular level to the whole organism using a broad spectrum of biophysical, synthetic and biological methods. [School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birbeck, Univ. of London, UK] http://www.bbk.ac.uk/bcs/research/bmi.html Narrower terms: Proteomics protein- DNA interactions, protein- protein interactions, protein- RNA interactions Related terms: Omes & omics glossary: interactome, interactomics, kinomics biomolecules: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomolecule An organic molecule, part of a living organism.
Includes proteins, DNA,
RNA. carbohydrate
binding proteins CBPs: Proteins glossary chemical compound: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_compound compound: A pure and homogeneous substance consisting of atoms or ions of different elements in definite proportions, usually having properties unlike those of its constituent elements. A compound can be broken down into two or more other substances by chemical means. Glossary, Life Sciences Data Archive, NASA, 2006 http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/common/glossary.cfm glycobiology, glycoproteins, glycoscience, glycotechnology: Glycosciences
macromolecular complexes: It
is now clear that most functions in the cell are not carried out by
single protein enzymes, colliding randomly within the cellular
jungle, but by macromolecular complexes containing multiple subunits
with specific functions ( macromolecular systems: Complexes or cellular systems composed of macromolecules (proteins, DNA, RNA, polysaccharides, etc.) such as RIBONUCLEOPROTEINS, CHROMATIN, MULTIENZYME COMPLEXES and other multimeric proteins. MeSH macromolecule (polymer molecule): A molecule of high relative molecular mass, the structure of which essentially comprises the multiple repetition of units derived, actually or conceptually, from molecules of low relative molecular mass. Notes: 1. In many cases, especially for synthetic polymers, a molecule can be regarded as having a high relative molecular mass if the addition or removal of one or a few of the units has a negligible effect on the molecular properties. This statement fails in the case of certain macromolecules for which the properties may be critically dependent on fine details of the molecular structure. 2. If a part or the whole of the molecule has a high relative molecular mass and essentially comprises the multiple repetition of units derived, actually or conceptually, from molecules of low relative molecular mass, it may be described as either macromolecular or polymeric, or by polymer used adjectivally. [IUPAC Compendium] A general term to describe a "huge molecule." Although there is no set criteria for macromolecules, they are generally considered to be structures with over 1000 atoms. DNA and proteins are common examples of macromolecules. Glossary, Curriculum Reform Project, Dept. of Chemistry, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, 1999 http://www.chem.wisc.edu/~newtrad/CurrRef/Glossary/Glossary.html Related terms: large molecules, small molecules micromolecules: Early biochemists thought small. They knew a lot about the little molecules in the cells ... Into the nineteen- twenties and after, many biochemists doubted the reality of very large molecules, even when they were using the activity of enzymes, unpurified, as practical tools to catalyze small molecular reactions. There was no way biochemists then could discern that the molecules in the cell are all either small or very large, with nothing between - that even small macromolecular chains are forty times or more the size of even the largest, so to speak, micromolecules. [HF Judson Eighth Day if Creation, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1996 p. 186] "Any type of molecule composed of a relatively small number of atoms. ... generally ... has a mass less than about 10 kDa. [Oxford Biochem] Related terms: small molecules, specificity Compare macromolecules How does this word relate (if it does) to small molecules? mole, mol: The mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon 12. 2. When the mole is used, the elementary entities must be specified and may be atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, other particles, or specified groups of such particles. [Bureau International de poids et mesures, SI base units, Système International d'Unités, (International System of Units)] http://www.bipm.fr/enus/3_SI/base_units.html Narrower terms: Ultrasensitivity glossary attomole, femtomole, picomole, yoctomole, zeptomole molecular biology: "Molecular biology is an ambiguous terms," Crick said the first time we [he and author Horace Judson Freeman] met... "The term is used in two rather different ways. First, in a very general sense it can mean almost anything - the attempt to understand any biological problem at the level of atoms and molecules. You could talk about the molecular biology of animal behavior - and that's not so far-fetched as you might imagine,; some senior molecular biologists are getting close to that. Second there is a classical sense of the term, and this is much narrower: classical molecular biology has been concerned with the very large, long- chain biological molecules - the nucleic acids and proteins and their synthesis. Biologically, this means genes and their replication and expression, genes and the gene products. ... Several ideas underlay the classical research, Crick said, "The most basic idea is that biological information is mainly carried by the sequence of side groups on the regular backbone of a macromolecule. The genetic information is not conveyed and expressed by a large number of intricate symbols - it's not in Chinese - but in two very simple and as it were alphabetic languages. Genetically, the information is carried by nucleic acid, in the sequence of bases; but many such sequences can be translated into the other language - the amino - acid sequences of proteins - by special pieces of biochemical machinery. This machinery is rather elaborate, but the basic biological mechanisms are; nevertheless, in principle, comparatively simple, and they turn out, with minor variations, to be the same throughout nature - just as we had assumed. The simplicity and universality of these mechanisms is, I think, the main reason why molecular biology has been able to advance so rapidly. Because it is impossible to deny that molecular biology, since the discovery of the structure of DNA, has been wildly successful." HJ Freeman Eighth Day of Creation, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1996 pp. 178-179 molecular crowding: Within cells a significant volume is occupied by molecules. These molecules (proteins, RNA, sugars and others) are said to provide a crowded environment for any molecule of interest. This crowding can drastically alter the kinetics or biophysical properties molecules. Elisa Cooper http://home.earthlink.net/~dispsfgrl/elisa/ molecular motors: Protein based machines that are involved in or cause movement such as the rotary devices (flagellar motor and the F1 ATPase) or the devices whose movement is directed along cytoskeletal filaments (myosin, kinesin and dynein motor families). MeSH, 1999 molecular weight: See relative molecular mass. [IUPAC Compendium] molecule: An electrically neutral entity consisting of more than one atom (n > 1). Rigorously, a molecule, in which n > 1 must correspond to a depression on the potential energy surface that is deep enough to confine at least one vibrational state. See also molecular entity. [IUPAC Compendium 1998] A group of atoms arranged to interact in a particular way; one molecule of any substance is the smallest physical unit of that particular substance. [ORD] A chemical made up of two or more atoms. The atoms in a molecule can be the same (an oxygen molecule has two oxygen atoms) or different (a water molecule has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom). Biological molecules, such as proteins and DNA, can be made up of many thousands of atoms. [CancerNet] Smallest particle of a compound that has all the chemical properties of that compound. A single atom is usually not referred to as a molecule, and ionic compounds such as common salt are not made up of molecules. Unlike ions, molecules carry no electrical charge [encyclopedia.com] http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/m1/molecule.asp Related term: compounds multimer: A protein made up of more than one peptide chain. [FAO] nucleic acid: A macromolecule composed of linear sequences of nucleotides that perform several functions in living cells, e.g., the storage of genetic information and its transfer from one generation to the next DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the expression of this information in protein synthesis (mRNA, tRNA) and may act as functional components of subcellular units such as ribosomes (rRNA). [IUPAC Medicinal Chemistry] Either of two kinds of molecules (DNA and RNA) formed by chains of nucleotides, that carry genetic information. [NIGMS] nucleotide, nucleotides: Nucleosides with one or more phosphate groups esterified mainly to the 3'- or the 5'- position of the sugar moiety. Nucleotides found in cells are adenylic acid, guanylic acid, uridylic acid, cytidylic acid, deoxyadenylic acid, deoxyguanylic acid, deoxycytidylic acid and thymidylic acid. [IUPAC Bioinorganic] The building block of DNA or RNA. Each nucleotide consists of a sugar component, a phosphate group, and an organic base. Four organic bases exist in DNA (adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine) and in RNA (adenine, cytosine, guanine, and uracil). [NHLBI] Half a "rung" on the DNA ladder. oligo: A prefix meaning "a few" and used for compounds with a number of repeating units…The limits are not precisely defined, and in practice vary with the type of structure being considered, but are generally from 3 to 10. [IUPAC Compendium] A shortened form of oligonucleotide. oligomer molecule: A molecule of intermediate relative molecular mass, the structure of which essentially comprises a small plurality of units derived, actually or conceptually, from molecules of lower relative molecular mass. [IUPAC Compendium 1998] Related terms: molecular weight, relative molecular mass oligonucleotide: An oligomer resulting from a linear sequences of nucleotides. [IUPAC Medicinal Chemistry] Macromolecules composed of short sequences of nucleotides that are usually synthetically prepared and used e.g. in site directed mutagenesis. [IUPAC Bioinorganic] Up to 20 nucleotides [King, Lackie] 2-10 nucleotides [Oxford Biochem] Related terms: oligos, probe oligosaccharides: Glycosciences phospholipid: A fatty compound that contains phosphate. Phospholipids make up much of the outer membranes of cells and organelles. [NIGMS] polymers: Compounds formed by the joining of smaller, usually repeating, units linked by covalent bonds. These compounds often form large macromolecules (e.g., polypeptides, proteins, plastics). MeSH polypeptides: Protein categories proteins: Naturally occurring and synthetic polypeptides having molecular weights greater than about 10,000 (the limit is not precise). [IUPAC Compendium] Related terms Proteins glossary. Narrower term: peptides purine: The bases adenine and guanine in DNA and RNA. pyrimidine: The bases cytosine, thymine and uracil in DNA and RNA. RNA: RNA glossary relative molecular mass Mr: Ratio of the mass of a molecule to the unified atomic mass unit. Sometimes called the molecular weight or relative molar mass. [IUPAC Compendium] saccharides: Glycosciences supramolecular: Composed of more than one molecule, more complex than one molecule. uracil: RNA glossary Bibliography How to look for other unfamiliar terms IUPAC definitions are reprinted with the permission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. |
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