Biomolecules

• Carbohydrates


  Provide energy to the body, particularly through glucose, a simple sugar. Carbohydrates also have other important functions in humans, animals, and plants.
• Protein


  Helps repair and build your body's tissues, allows metabolic reactions to take place and coordinates bodily functions.
• Lipids


  Acting as chemical messengers, storage and provision of energy
• Nucleic acid


  Storage and expression of genetic information
• Carbohydrates


  Most abundant class of organic compounds found in all living things. Include sugars, starches, cellulose, and many other compounds. They have a H:C:O ratio of 2:1:1. Cn(H2O)n

  
• Functions of carbohydrates


  • It serves as the backbone of other molecules
  • It serves as stored energy (such as starch, cellulose, glycogen)
  • It is the most common source of energy in the body
  • It combines with proteins (glycoproteins) to form structural components of living cells

  
• Role of carbohydrates in photosynthesis

  1. Carbohydrates are synthesized by green plants during photosynthesis, a complex process in which sunlight provides energy to convert CO2 and H2O into glucose plus oxygen

  2. Many molecules of glucose are then chemically linked for storage by the plant in the form of starch

  3. Cellulose is present in the cell wall of a plant and helps the cell maintains the shape of a plant

  
• Classifications of carbohydrates


  • Monosaccharides
  • Disaccharides
  • Polysaccharides

  
• Monosaccharides


  Simplest form of sugar, further classified as either aldoses or ketoses

  
• Monosaccharides


  • Glucose
  • Galactose
  • Fructose

  
• Disaccharides


  Two monosaccharides joined together
• Polysaccharides


  Long chain of monosaccharides joined together

  
• Polysaccharides


  • Glycogen
  • Starch
  • Cellulose

  
• Triglycerides are the most abundant class of lipids in plants & animals, making up more than 95 percent of lipids in the diet
• Triglycerides


  Composed of a glycerol backbone and fatty acids
• Fatty acids


  • Consist of a long, hydrophobic nonpolar hydrocarbon "tail" and a hydrophilic polar carboxylic acid functional group at the "head"
  • Saturated fatty acids have no carbon-carbon double bonds and are solid at room temp
  • Unsaturated fatty acids contain one or more double bonds and exist as liquids at room temperature

  
• Phospholipids


  Fundamental building blocks of cellular membranes, consisting of a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail
• Phospholipids


  • Form a bilayer where the hydrophobic tails point towards each other on the interior and only the hydrophilic heads are exposed to the water
• Waxes


  Composed of fatty acids combined with a much longer alcohol molecule, used as polishers, ointments, and to protect surfaces
• Steroids


  Simple lipids with a backbone structure consisting of four fixed carbon rings, such as cholesterol
• Amino acids


  The building blocks of proteins, can be classified as essential or nonessential
• Proteins

  Large molecules consisting of long complex chains of amino acids linked by strong polypeptide bonds
• Functions of proteins


  • Structure
  • Hormones
  • Transport
  • Storage
  • Catalysis
  • Protection
  • Movement
• DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)


  Chemical which carries the instructions for all traits of an organism, occurs as a double-stranded helix
• RNA (ribonucleic acid)


  Synthesized from DNA and is responsible for protein synthesis, serves as a messenger of the DNA's genetic message to the cytoplasm of a cell where proteins are synthesized
• DNA, along with the instructions it contains, is passed from adult organisms to their offspring during reproduction
• Hydrogen bonds hold the DNA strands together, forming between A and T base pairs as well as between C and G base pairs