GENERAL BIOLOGY 1

HAND OUT # 5

BIOMOLECULES
TOPICS OBJECTIVES
Structures and Functions of Biological Molecules Categorize the biological molecules (lipids,
Carbohydrates carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids)
Lipids according to their structure and function.
Proteins Explain the role of each biological molecule in
Nucleic Acids specific metabolic processes

IMPORTANT TERMS

What do humans get from food?

Heterotrophs, such as human beings, obtain energy and raw materials from food. These are important for cell
growth, cell division, metabolism, repair, and maintenance of the body. Nutrients can be classified as either organic
nutrients (i.e., those that contain carbon such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and nucleic acids) or inorganic
nutrients (i.e., those that do not contain carbon such as water and mineral salts).

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are organic compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. These compounds have a general
formula of CnH2mOm. This means that the hydrogen and oxygen atoms are present in a ratio of 2:1. For example, glucose
has a formula of C6H12O6 and sucrose has a formula of C12H22O11.

Carbohydrates are usually good sources of raw materials for other organic molecules and energy. One gram of
carbohydrates provides four food calories or 16 kJ of energy. In the human diet, carbohydrates mainly come from plants
although they are found in all organisms.

How are carbohydrates formed?

Carbohydrates are examples of macromolecules. These are chainlike molecules called polymers (mere means part) made
from repeating units like monomers. Polymers can be formed from covalently-bonded monomers much like a single
structure can be made out of repeated building blocks linked to each other.

These monomers, called monosaccharides, form covalent bonds when one monomer loses a hydroxyl group and the other
loses a hydrogen atom in dehydration or condensation reactions, forming disaccharides. This reaction requires energy to
occur. The bond formed is called a glycosidic linkage.

PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
 Longer polysaccharide chains are formed by monomer addition through succeeding dehydration reactions. These
reactions can occur in the human liver as carbohydrates are stored as polysaccharides called glycogen or in ground tissues
of plants where these are stored as starch.

Polysaccharides are broken down into simpler components through the use of water to break covalent bonds and
release energy. The process, known as hydrolysis (hydro means water and lysis means split), is the opposite of dehydration
reactions and often occurs in the digestive tract during chemical and mechanical digestion. Here, enzymes break bonds
within polysaccharides. With the aid of water, one – H group attaches to a monosaccharide while another –OH group
attaches to the other.

How are carbohydrates classified?

Carbohydrates can be classified into three main categories, according to increasing complexity:

 monosaccharides (monos means single and sacchar means sugar)

 disaccharides (di means two)
 polysaccharides (poly means many)

PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
What are lipids?
Lipids are a class of large biomolecules that are not formed through polymerization. They have diverse
structures but are all non-polar and mix poorly, if at all, with water. They may have some oxygen atoms in their
structure but the bulk is composed of abundant nonpolar C-H bonds.
They function for energy storage, providing nine food calories or 37 kJ of energy per gram. They also
function for the cushioning of vital organs and for insulation. Furthermore, they play important roles in plasma
membrane structure and serve as precursors for important reproductive hormones.

PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
`

PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
 Protein structure can be classified at several different levels:
primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.

PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018
 REFERENCES:

Reece, J.U. (2011).

Campbell Biology, 9th ed. San
Francisco, CA: Pearson
Benjamin Cummings
http://www.nature.com/pj/journal/v43/ n12/images/pj201196f3.jpg • http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/@api/deki/
files/522/260px-Cellulose_strand.jpg? size=bestfit&width=352&height=310&r evision=1

PREPARED BY: MARK KEVIN C. DIACOS, R.N, L.P.T. GEN-BIO 1 (HAND-OUT# 5) 2017-2018