Status Updates From The Machinery of Life

2.8 Fig Summary
- Rhodopsin : senses light in retinas
- Insulin / Glucose : hormones that deliver opposite messages about blood sugar levels
- Pepsin : protein-digesting machine, breaks down food in stomach
- Antibodies : recognition of foreign objects
- Ferritin : stores Fe ions in cell
- Collagen : sturdy cables that support organs/tissues
- Actin : structural girders that can be assembled and disassembled at will

- Oxygen makes RNA less stable than DNA
- Proteins : long chains of amino acids (AAs, twenty different ones) that preform differing functions (catalysts, adopt a defined shape, etc)
- Assemble themselves with help of hydrophilic and hydrophobic AAs in the protein
- Small fraction of AA combinations work
- Lipids are molecules with a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tails, allows them to form waterproof sheets

Omg Fig. 2.6 is so cool. I’ve seen them before, but having them in scale with each other is amazing to see.

Machinery of cells built of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and polysaccharides.
Chemical personality based on chemical complementarity (how well molecules fit together) and hydrophobicity (amount it repels water), nitrogen and oxygen tend to be hydrophilic whereas carbon tend to be hydrophobic