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How are the products of producers combined with other elements to form other biological molecules?

Carbon is the molecule of life

Carbon-based molecules are called organic compounds

Almost all the molecules cells make use carbon as the backbone

This is because carbon has four valence electrons, so it can covalently bond with up to four other atoms

This accounts for an enormous variety and possibility of structures

A full electron shell is 8, so atoms are trying to get 8 by adding or losing electrons

Carbon bonds to other carbon in single, double, or triple bonds

Organic compounds are made of carbon chains.

There is great diversity in the structures

These chains can be straight, branched, or ringed

They can vary greatly in length

Functional groups are important parts of a molecule’s function because it is the part of the molecule that participates in chemical reactions.

Sometimes we call them “R” groups for simplicity.

These five functional groups are polar, so they are hydrophilic and dissolve in water.

The methyl group (one carbon and 3 hydrogens, -CH3) is a sixth functional group and is nonpolar (hydrophobic) and isn’t reactive, but DOES affect the molecular shape, and therefore the molecules function.

Female and male hormones, both made from cholesterol, as are all steroids and hormones.

Biological Macromolecules-Carbohydrates, Lipids, Nucleic Acids, Proteins

The main fuel molecules for cellular work

Monomers are monosaccharides - simple sugars

CH2O

Sugars all have: a carbonyl group and hydroxyl groups.

Examples: the structural isomers glucose and fructose, both C6H12O6

Disaccharides

Two monosaccharide monomers joined via a dehydration reaction

Examples: sucrose and lactose

Polysaccharides

Macromolecules, or polymers

Function as storage molecules or structural compounds

Examples (all are polymers of glucose):

Starch - storage molecule in plants

Glycogen - storage molecule in animals

More highly branched than starch

Stored in liver and muscle cells

Cellulose - structural molecule in plants

The most abundant organic compound on Earth

Makes up the cell walls

Chitin - a structural molecule in animals

Composes the exoskeleton of arthropods and cell walls of fungi

Lipids are grouped together because they are hydrophobic,includes fats, oils, phospholipids, waxes, steroids

Fat-Main function is long-term energy storage

Contains twice as much energy as a carbohydrate

A large lipid is made up of a glycerol and three fatty acids (aka trigliceride)

What are the 5 nucleotides-The monomers of nucleic acids are nucleotides

There are five nucleotides

Adenine (the base that makes ATP)

Guanine

Cytosine

Thymine

Uracil

They make two kinds of nucleic acids: DNA and RNA

Each nucleotide has three parts:

A nitrogenous base

A 5-carbon sugar

A phosphate group

These parts form what is called a sugar-phosphate backbone, with the nitrogenous bases sticking out to the side.

ATP is an important energy molecule-It is made of adenine (one of the bases), ribose, and three phosphate groups. The energy released to do work in the cell is stored in the phosphate bonds.

DNA-Deoxyribonucleic acid

It has A, G, C, T

It’s 5-carbon sugar is deoxyribose

It forms a double helix called DNA

DNA carries all the genetic material in a cell

The sides of the helix are “complementary” to each other. More on that later.

The two sides are held together by...you guessed it...HYDROGEN BONDS!

RNA-Ribonucleic acid

It has A, G, C, U

It’s 5-carbon sugar is ribose

It is a single strand

There are three types of RNA in a cell:

Messenger RNA

Transfer RNA

Ribosomal RNA

Proteins-Proteins are the most diverse, both structurally and functionally of all the biological molecules

You are made up of proteins - muscles, ligaments, tendons, collagen, enzymes, antibodies in your immune system - so many more than we could ever hope to learn about!

Enzymes are of particular interest to us in Biology I.

Enzymes act as catalysts…

A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being consumed in the reaction itself.

Protein Structure is often a lock-and-key system, many proteins work because they fit exactly on to another protein, or steroid, or other biological molecule.