Transcript Macromolecules: Building blocks of life

Macromolecules:
Building blocks of life
November 12, 2009
Journal 11/12/09
Explain why water is important to living
organisms.
Answer
Living organisms must have water for life
processes, because molecules and ions must be
free to move and interact, which only happens
when they are dissolved in water. Water also
transports materials in living organisms, such as
in blood or sap.
Objectives:
• Classify the variety of organic compounds.
• Describe how polymers are formed and broken
down in organisms.
• Compare the structures and functions of
carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids,
and relate their importance to living things.
• Identify the effects of enzymes.
Today’s notes:
• We will be getting information from this
power point and putting it into a “foldable”.
• We will need four flaps one for each of the
macromolecules we will be learning.
• You will put the names of the 4
macromolecules on each of the flaps and
put some important information about
each macromolecule under the flap.
• See Mrs. Dion’s model.
Molecular chains that create
macromolecules
• Small molecules bond together to form chains
called polymers. A polymer is a large molecule
formed when many smaller molecules bond
together.
The structure of carbohydrates
• The simplest type of carbohydrate is a simple
sugar called a monosaccharide (mah noh SA
kuh ride). (ie. glucose, fructose)
• The largest carbohydrate molecules are
polysaccharides, polymers composed of many
monosaccharide subunits. (ie. potatoes, liver)
The structure of lipids
• Lipids are large macromolecules that are made
mostly of carbon and hydrogen with a small
amount of oxygen. (ie. fats, oils, waxes)
• They are insoluble in water because their
molecules are nonpolar and are not attracted
by water molecules.
The structure of proteins
• A protein is a large, complex polymer composed
of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and
sometimes sulfur.
The structure of proteins
• The basic building blocks of proteins are called
amino acids.
• There are about 20 common amino acids that
can make literally thousands of proteins.
The structure of proteins
• Proteins are the building blocks of many
structural components of organisms.
The structure of proteins
• Enzymes are important proteins found in living
things. An enzyme is a protein that changes
the rate of a chemical reaction.
• They speed the
reactions in digestion
of food.
Click image to view movie.
The structure of nucleic acids
• A nucleic (noo KLAY ihk) acid is a complex
macromolecule that stores cellular information in
the form of a code.
• Nucleic acids are polymers made of smaller
subunits called nucleotides.
The structure of nucleic acids
• Nucleotides are arranged in three groups—a
nitrogenous base, a simple sugar, and a
phosphate group.
Phosphate
Sugar
Nitrogenous
base
The structure of nucleic acids
• DNA, which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid is
a nucleic acid.
Phosphate
Sugar
Nitrogenous
base
The structure of nucleic acids
• The information coded in DNA contains the
instructions used to form all of an organism’s
enzymes and structural proteins.
• Another important nucleic acid is RNA, which
stands for ribonucleic acid. RNA is a nucleic acid
that forms a copy of DNA for use in making
proteins.