General Biology 2:

Macromolecules

- Known for their huge size

- Large carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids

Polymers

- Chain-like molecule
- Polys (many) and meros (part)
- A long molecule consisting of many similar or identical building blocks linked by covalent bonds.

Monomers

- Repeating units that serve as the building blocks of a polymer

- Smaller molecules

The synthesis and breakdown of polymers

Polymerization

- The chemical mechanisms by which cells make polymers

Enzymes

- Specialized macromolecules ( especially protein) that speed up a chemical reaction.

Condensation Reaction

- Reaction that connects a monomer to another monomer or a polymer

- Two molecules are covalently bonded to each other with a loss of a molecule

Dehydration Reaction

- If a water molecule is lost

Contribution of the part where a water molecule is released during the reaction:

- One provides a hydroxyl group

- One provides hydrogen

Hydrolysis

- Polymers are disassembled into monomers

- The reverse dehydration reaction
- Means water breakage
- The bond between monomers is broken by the addition of a water molecule, with hydrogen
from water attaching to one monomer and the hydroxyl group attaching to the other.
- Example is digestion

The diversity of Polymers

The difference between a dehydration reaction and hydrolysis is in a dehydration reaction, the water is
removed then it forms another bond. However, in hydrolysis water is added and it breaks the bond.

Polymers

- Constructed from only 40 to 50 common monomers.

- Building a variety of polymers from such a limited number of monomers is the same as
constructing a hundred thousand words from only 26 letters of the alphabet.
- Arrangement is the key – the particular linear sequence that the units follow.

Four major classes of large biological molecules.

Nucleic Acids store, transmit and help express hereditary information.

Primary structure of polypeptides

- It determines a protein’s shape.

Gene

- The amino acid sequence of the polypeptide is programmed by a discrete unit of inheritance.
- Consists of DNA, which belongs to the class of compounds called nucleic acids.

Nucleic Acids

- Are polymers made up of monomers

Nucleotides

- Monomers that made up the polymers of nucleic acids.

The roles of Nucleic acids:

Two types of Nucleic Acids: Deoxyribonucleic acid and Ribonucleic acid.

They enable living organisms to reproduce their complex components from one generation to another.

DNA

- Provides direction for its application

- It directs RNA synthesis.

RNA:

- Controls protein synthesis, the process is called gene expression.

Chromosome

- Contains one long DNA, usually carrying several hundred or more genes.

 When a cell reproduces itself by dividing, its DNA molecules are copied and passed down.

How does RNA fit into gene expression?

 - A given gene along a DNA molecule can direct the synthesis of a type of RNA called messenger
RNA (mRNA).

mRNA

- It interacts with the cell’s protein-synthesizing machinery to direct the production of a

polypeptide, which folds into all or part of the protein.

The flow of genetic information:

DNA – RNA – PROTEIN

Ribosomes – the sites of protein synthesis are cellular structures

Eukaryotic cell

- Ribosomes are in the cytoplasm

Cytoplasm – the region between the nucleus and the cell’s outer boundary ( middle)

Plasma membrane – the cell’s outer boundary

Prokaryotic cells

- Lacks nuclei

In eukaryotic cells, DNA in the nucleus programs protein production in the cytoplasm by dictating
the synthesis of messenger RNA (mRNA).

The components of Nucleic Acids

Nucleic acids

- As polymers called polynucleotides

Each polynucleotide consists of monomers called nucleotides.

Nucleotide

- Composed of three parts: a five-carbon sugar (a pentose), a nitrogenous base, and one to three
phosphate groups.

The monomers usually build polynucleotides has three phosphate groups, but during polymerization,
the two are lost. The portion of the nucleotide that has no phosphate group is called nucleoside.

Nitrogenous bases:

- It has 1 or 2 rings that include nitrogen atoms.

- It is called nitrogenous bases because the nitrogen atoms tend to take up h+ from the solution,
thus acting as bases.

2 FAMILIES OF NITROGENOUS BASES:

Pyrimidines and purines

 Pyrimidines

- Has one six-membered ring of carbon and nitrogen atoms. The members of the pyrimidine
family are cytosine thymine and uracil.

Purines

- Are larger, with a six-membered ring fused to a membered ring. The purines are adenine and
guanine.

Adenine, guanine, and cytosine can be found in DNA AND RNA.

In DNA, it has adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine (that only can be found in DNA).

In RNA, it has adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil (which can be found only in RNA).

Sugar is attached to the nitrogenous base. In DNA, deoxyribose is the sugar while in RNA, the sugar is
ribose.

Difference: Deoxyribose lacks an oxygen atom on the second carbon ring.

The construction of nucleotide

- It attaches one to three phosphate groups to 5 carbon of the sugar.

Nucleotide – with one phosphate

Nucleotide polymers
- The linkage of nucleotides into polynucleotides involves a condensation reaction.

In the polynucleotide, adjacent nucleotides are joined by a phosphodiester linkage, which consists of
a phosphate group that covalently links the sugars of two nucleotides. This boding results in a
repeating patter of sugar-phosphate units called the sugar-phosphate group.

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