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‫‪1‬‬
‫صدق ألله العظيم‬ ‫‪June 23, 2025‬‬
 Biological Molecule
“Biomolecule”
By

Dr. Inas Saad

University of Technology - Biomedical Engineering Department –

Biomechanics Branch

2 June 23, 2025

  Biomolecule, also called molecule: any of numerous substances that
are produced by cells and living organisms.
 Biomolecules have a wide range of sizes and structures and perform
a wide array of functions.
 The four major types of biomolecules are carbohydrates, lipids,
nucleic acids, and proteins.
 Biological molecule : The large molecules necessary for life that are
built from smaller organic molecules are called
biological macromolecules.
 Combined, these molecules make up the majority of a cell’s mass.
 Biological macromolecules are organic, meaning that they contain
carbon (with some exceptions, like carbon dioxide).
 In addition, they may contain hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen,
phosphorus, sulfur, and additional minor elements.
 All biomolecules share in common a fundamental relationship between
structure and function, which is influenced by factors such as: the
environment in which a given biomolecule occurs.
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 I. Example:
 Lipid are hydrophobic (water-fearing); in water, many spontaneously
arrange themselves in such a way that the hydrophobic ends of the
molecules are protected from the water, while the hydrophilic ends are
exposed to the water.
 This arrangement gives rise to lipid bilayers, or two layers of
phospholipid molecules, which form the membranes of cells and
organelles.

II. In another example:

• DNA, which is a very long molecule in humans, the combined length of
all the DNA molecules in a single cell stretched end to end would be
about 1.8 meters (6 feet).
• Whereas the cell nucleus is about (6 μm) in diameter has a highly
flexible helical structure that allows the molecule to become tightly
coiled and looped.
• This structural feature plays a key role in enabling DNA to fit in the cell
nucleus, where it carries out its function in coding genetic traits.
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 Q: What are biomolecules made of?
 All of the biomolecules that make up our cells are made up of strings of
monomers. For example: proteins are made up of strings of amino acids
and nucleic acids are strings of nucleotides. The term for a long string
of monomers is a polymer.
 The biomolecules, proteins, carbohydrates and nucleic acids are all
polymers.

Q: Are biomolecules organic or inorganic?

Most biomolecules are organic compounds, and just four elements:
oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, make up 96% of the human
body's mass.

Q: Is water a biomolecule?
 Water is not a passive solvent in biology, but plays an active role in
many biomolecule and cell processes.
 It can be regarded as a kind of biomolecule in its own right, adapting
its structure and dynamics to the biological macromolecules and other
cell solutes that it accommodates.
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
 Fundamental properties (Characteristic) of biological substances

a. Size.
b. Molecular weight.
c. Diffusivity.
d. Sedimentation coefficient.
e. Osmotic pressure.
f. Electrostatic charge.
g. Solubility.
h. Partition coefficient.

Biological molecules functions

The biomolecules may involve several processes such as: energy storage
(carbohydrates), catalyzing the biochemical reactions (hormones),
storing/transmitting the genetic codes (RNA/DNA), or altering biological
and neurological activities (neurotransmitter/hormones).

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 Importance of biomolecules:
 Biomolecules are vital for life as it aids organisms to grow, sustain, and
reproduce.
 They are involved in building organisms from single cells to complex
living beings like humans, by interacting with each other.
 The diversity in their shape and structure provides diversity in their
functions.

Is DNA a biomolecule?
A biomolecule refers to any molecule that is produced by living organisms.
As such, most of them are organic molecules. The four major groups of
biomolecules include: polysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids (DNA and
RNA), and lipids.

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 Biomolecule
1- Carbohydrates:
 Carbohydrates, which are made up primarily of molecules containing
atoms of: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
 Carbohydrates can be represented by the formula (CH 2O)n,, where n is

the number of carbon atoms in the molecule.

 Carbohydrates provide energy to the body, particularly through
glucose, a simple sugar (essential energy sources and structural
components of all life).
 Carbohydrates also have other important functions in humans, animals,
and plants.
 They are among the most abundant biomolecules on Earth.
 They are built from three types of sugar units: monosaccharides,
disaccharides, and polysaccharides.

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 2- Lipids:
 Lipids are hydrophobic (water-fearing), or insoluble in water, because
they are nonpolar molecules. This is because they are hydrocarbons that
include only nonpolar carbon-carbon or carbon-hydrogen bonds.
 Another key biomolecule of living organisms.
 Lipids perform many different functions in a cell, including: serving as a
source of stored energy and acting as chemical messengers called fats.
They also form membranes, which separate cells from their
environments and compartmentalize the cell interior, giving rise to
organelles, such as: the nucleus and the mitochondrion, in higher (more
complex) organisms.
 Lipids also provide insulation from the environment for plants and
animals. For example, they help keep aquatic birds and mammals dry
because of their water-repelling nature.
 Lipids are also the building blocks of many hormones and are an
important constituent of the plasma membrane.
 Lipids include: fats, oils, waxes, phospholipids, and steroids.
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 3- Proteins:
 Proteins are one of the most abundant organic molecules in living
systems and have the most diverse range of functions of all
macromolecules.
 Changes in temperature, pH, and exposure to chemicals may lead to
permanent changes in the shape of the protein, leading to a loss of
function or denaturation.
 Proteins may be structural, regulatory, contractile, or protective; they
may serve in transport, storage, or membranes; or they may be toxins or
enzymes.
 Each cell in a living system may contain thousands of different proteins,
each with a unique function.
 Their structures, like their functions, vary greatly. They are all, however,
polymers of amino acids, arranged in a linear sequence.
 The functions of proteins are very diverse because there are 20 different
chemically distinct amino acids that form long chains, and the amino
acids can be in any order. For example, proteins can function as enzymes

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or hormones. June 23, 2025
 A- Enzymes:
 which are produced by living cells, are catalysts in biochemical
reactions (like digestion) and are usually proteins.
 Each enzyme is specific for the substrate (a reactant that binds to an
enzyme) upon which it acts.
 Enzymes can function to break molecular bonds, to rearrange bonds, or
to form new bonds.
 An example of an enzyme is salivary amylase, which breaks down
amylose, a component of starch.

B- Hormones:
 Which are chemical signaling molecules, usually proteins or steroids.
 Secreted by an endocrine gland or group of endocrine cells that act to
control or regulate specific physiological processes, including growth,
development, metabolism, and reproduction.
 For example: insulin is a protein hormone that maintains blood glucose
levels.
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June 23, 2025
 Note: Amino acids are the monomers that make up proteins. Each amino
acid has the same fundamental structure, which consists of a central
carbon atom bonded to an amino group (–NH2), a carboxyl group (–COOH),
and a hydrogen atom.
4- Nucleic Acids
 Nucleic acids are key macromolecules in the continuity of life.
 They carry the genetic blueprint of a cell and carry instructions for the
functioning of the cell.
 The two main types of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).
 DNA is the genetic material found in all living organisms, ranging from
single-celled bacteria to multicellular mammals.
 The other type of nucleic acid: RNA, is mostly involved in protein
synthesis.
 The DNA molecules never leave the nucleus, but instead use an RNA
intermediary to communicate with the rest of the cell. Other types of
RNA are also involved in protein synthesis and its regulation.
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  The nucleotides combine with each other to form a polynucleotide, DNA
or RNA.
 Each nucleotide is made up of three components:
i. a nitrogenous base.
ii. a pentose (five-carbon) sugar.
iii. a phosphate group.

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 DNA Double-Helical Structure:
 DNA has a double-helical structure.
 It is composed of two strands, or polymers of nucleotides.
 The strands are formed with bonds between phosphate and
sugar groups of adjacent nucleotides.
 The strands are bonded to each other at their bases with
hydrogen bonds, and the strands coil about each other along
their length, hence the “double helix”.
 The alternating sugar and phosphate groups lie on the outside
of each strand, forming the backbone of the DNA.
 The nitrogenous bases are stacked in the interior, like the steps
of a staircase, and these bases pair; the pairs are bound to
each other by hydrogen bonds.

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 Figure: The double-helix model shows DNA as two parallel strands of
intertwining molecules.
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