Chapter 2

•The Structure and Function of large

Biological Macromolecules
Structure and Function of Macromolecules
Structure and Function of Macromolecules
What is a polymer?
Poly = many; mer = part. A polymer is a large molecule consisting
of many smaller sub-units bonded together.
What is a monomer?
A monomer is a sub-unit of a polymer.
• Macromolecule:
Organic molecules weigh > 105 daltons.
Constructed of smaller units called polymers.
Polymers are subdivided into monomers.
Making and breaking of polymers:
Polymerization occur by Dehydration

• Dehydration synthesis: is an anabolic process by which two

molecules are chemically bonded through the use of enzymes
and a loss of water. Example: glucose + glucose = maltose +
water
• Hydrolysis: is a catabolic process by which the bond between
monomers are broken by the enzyme and the addition of water.
Example: Sucrose + water = glucose + fructose.
• Monomerization or depolymerization occur by hydrolysis or hydration
 1. Carbohydrates
• Sugars
• Carbo = carbon, hydrate = water; carbohydrates have the molecular
formula (CH2O)n
• Functions:
• Store energy in chemical reactions/bonds.

• Glucose is the most common monosaccharide

• Glucose is produced by photosynthetic autotrophs
 1. Carbohydrates
Include sugars and their polymers
A. Monosaccharide: one monomer
• Include 3 – 7 carbons with the –OH group being present on
each carbon except one, which is double bonded to an
oxygen (carbonyl group)
• Examples: Ribose, Glucose, Galactose & fructose.
B. Disaccharides: composed of two monosaccharides
• Double sugars
• Examples: sucrose = glucose + fructose.
• maltose = glucose + glucose,
• lactose = glucose + galactose.
 C. Polysaccharides
• Structure: Polymers of a few hundred or a few thousand of
monomers monosaccharides.
• Functions: energy storage molecules or for structural support:
 1. Carbohydrates

Polysaccharides found as;

• 1) Structural or 2) Storage polysaccharides.
Storage Polysaccharides:
Starch : plant (Amylose is the simplest form of starch.)
Glycogen : animal (stored in the liver and muscles of vertebrates.)
Structural Polysaccharides:
Cellulose of plant cell wall
Chitin of Fungi cell wall
 2. Lipids
• Structure: Greasy or oily nonpolar compounds
• Functions:
• Energy storage
• membrane structure
• Protecting against desiccation (drying out).
• Insulating against cold.
• Absorbing shocks.
• Regulating cell activities by hormone actions.
 2. Lipids
• A group of polymers that do not mix with water [hydrophobic)

• Include: fats, phospholipids, & steroids.

• I) - Fats: large, composed glycerol & fatty acid.

• The bond connecting the glycerol and fatty acids in the fat
molecule is called an ester bond.
• There are two types of fatty acids: saturated and unsaturated.

• The saturated fatty acids do not contain any double bonds between the
carbons, while the unsaturated fatty acids contain one or more double
 2. Lipids

Saturated and Unsaturated Fats

• Unsaturated fats :
• liquid at room temp
• one or more double bonds between carbons in the fatty acids allows for “kinks” in the
tails
• most plant fats
• Saturated fats:
• Have no double bond but only single C-C bonds in fatty acid tails
• solid at room temp
• most animal fats
 2. Lipids

• II- Phospholipids: related to fats but contain 2 fatty acids &

phosphate, making up the plasma membrane of cells, The
phosphate group is hydrophilic while the fatty acid area is
hydrophobic.
• Phospholipid structure
• Consists of a hydrophilic “head” and hydrophobic “tails”

CH2 +
Hydrophilic head

N(CH )
3 3 Choline
CH2
O
O P O–
Phosphate
O
CH2 CH CH2
Glycerol
O O
C O C O

Fatty acids
Hydrophobic tails

Hydrophilic
head
Hydrophobic
tails

(c) Phospholipid
(a) Structural formula (b) Space-filling model
Figure 5.13 symbol
 2. Lipids

• III- Steroids: Characterized by a carbon skeleton of 4 fused rings.

found in all animal tissue (cholesterol).

• Cholesterol functions in many ways: it is a precursor from which

many of the bodies steroids are constructed from. It also adds strength
to the plasma membrane in animal cells
IV. Waxes

• Function:
• Lipids that serve as coatings for plant parts and as animal coverings.
 3. Proteins
• Structure:
• Polypeptide or polyamino acid chains
• Consist of peptide bonds between 20 possible amino acid
monomers
• Have a 3 dimensional globular shape
 Proteins .3
• Make up 20-30% of the Dry Weight of Most Cells.

• Types of proteins

1. Structural (support) examples: elastin, collagen, & keratin

2. Storage food source, examples: ovalbumin & casein

3. Transport moves other substances, examples: hemoglobin

& cell membrane proteins
 3. Proteins
4. Hormonal coordinates bodily activities, example insulin

5. Antibodies defense, examples: Ig.E, IgA,and Ig.G

6. Enzymes aid in chemical reactions, examples: amylase &

proteases
 1. Functions of Proteins

• Enzymes which accelerate specific chemical reactions up to 10 billion

times faster than they would spontaneously occur.

• Structural materials, including keratin (the protein found in hair and

nails) and collagen (the protein found in connective tissue).
 Enzymes

• Most of which are proteins that acts as a catalyst, speeding up chemical

reactions
• Catalysts or biocatalyst or biological catalyst:
• chemical agents that selectively speed up chemical reactions without being
consumed by the reaction.
1 Active site is available for 2 Substrate binds to
a molecule of substrate, the Substrate enzyme.
reactant on which the enzyme acts. (sucrose)

Glucose
Enzyme
OH (sucrase)
H2O
Fructose
H O

4 Products are released. 3 Substrate is converted

Figure 5.16 to products.
• Specific binding, such as antibodies that bind specifically to foreign
substances to identify them to the body's immune system.

• Specific carriers, including membrane transport proteins that move

substances across cell membranes, and blood proteins, such as
hemoglobin, that carry oxygen, iron, and other substances through
the body.
• Contraction, such as actin and myosin fibers that interact in muscle
tissue.
• Signaling, including hormones such as insulin that regulate sugar
levels in blood.
 Nucleic Acids (NA): DNA & RNA .4
Structure of Amino Acid Monomers

Amino Acids

• Amino acids consist of carbon bonded to, amino group

& carboxyl group.

• There are 20 different amino acids.

• Proteins are formed by bonding amino acids together.

 Nucleic Acids (NA): DNA & RNA .4
Levels of Protein structure
• Primary: the unique sequence of amino acids in the protein

• Secondary : the coiling or bending of the polypeptide

• Tertiary: The folding back of a molecule upon itself.

• Quaternary: Complex structure.

.•
 Nucleic Acids (NA): DNA & RNA .4

Nucleotides:

• Monomers that come together to form a

DNA.
 Nucleic Acids (NA): DNA & RNA .4

• They contain either a ribose (RNA) or deoxyribose (DNA) sugar,

phosphate, & nitrogenous base (Purine = guanine or adenine,
Pyrimidine = cytosine, thymine, or uracil).

• The nucleotides are joined together by phosphodiester bonds.

Nucleoside
Nitrogenous
base

O 5’C

O P O CH2
O

O
Phosphate
3’CPentose
group
sugar

Figure 5.26 (b) Nucleotide

 Nucleic Acids (NA): DNA & RNA .4

DNA:
• Double helix
• 2 polynucleotide chains wound
into the double helix
• Base pairing between chains
with H bonds
• A-T
• C-G
 Nucleic Acids (NA): DNA & RNA .4
• Two kinds:
DNA:
 double stranded
 self replicate
 makes up genes which code for proteins
 is passed from one generation to another
RNA:
 single stranded
 Functions synthesis of proteins coded for by DNA
 is made from the DNA template molecule
 Nucleic Acids (NA): DNA & RNA .4
Functions of Nucleotides
• Monomers for Nucleic Acids
• Transfer chemical energy from one molecule to another (e.g. ATP)
Summary of the Organic Molecules: