The Structure and Function of

Biological Macromolecules:
Carbohydrates, Proteins, Lipids & Nucleic Acids
 The FOUR Classes of Large Biomolecules

• All living things are made up of four classes of

large biological molecules:
• Carbohydrates
• Lipids
• Protein
• Nucleic Acids

• Macromolecules are large organic molecules

composed of thousands of covalently bonded
atoms
• Molecules necessary for the sustaining of life
 The FOUR Classes of Large Biomolecules

• Macromolecules are polymers, built

from monomers
• A polymer is a long chain of repeating units of simple
molecules (monomers).
• These small building-block molecules are called
monomers
• Three of the four classes of life’s organic molecules are
polymers
– Carbohydrates
– Proteins
– Nucleic acids
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The synthesis and breakdown of polymers

• A dehydration reaction
occurs when two monomers
bond together through the
loss of a water molecule
• Polymers are disassembled
to monomers by hydrolysis,
a reaction that is essentially
the reverse of the
dehydration reaction

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Dehydration Synthesis

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Hydrolysis

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 The Diversity of Polymers

• Each cell has thousands of different

macromolecules

• Macromolecules vary among cells of an

organism, vary more within a species, and vary
even more between species

• An immense variety of polymers can be built

from a small set of monomers

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CARBOH
YDRATES
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 Carbohydrates Serve as Fuel
& Building Material

• Carbohydrates include sugars and the polymers

of sugars

• The building blocks of carbohydrates are

monosaccharides, or single sugar

• Carbohydrate macromolecules are

polysaccharides (polymers composed of many
sugar building blocks)

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 Types of Carbohydrate Molecules
• Monosaccharides are simple
sugars of 3-6 carbon atoms.
• Glucose (C6H12O6) is the most
common monosaccharide
• Ex.:Fructose and Galactose
• Monosaccharides are classified by
– The location of the carbonyl group
CH2O
– The number of carbons in the
carbon skeleton

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 Types of Carbohydrate Molecules
• A disaccharide is formed when a dehydration
reaction joins two monosaccharides
• This covalent bond is called a glycosidic linkage
• Example: Sucrose (table sugar), lactose, maltose

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Synthesizing Maltose & Sucrose

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 Polysaccharides
• Polysaccharides, consists of thousand
units of simple sugars joined into long
chains
• Example:
• Starch, stored energy reserve in plants
• Glycogen, stored energy reserve for
animals
• Chitin, a component of cuticle, found in
the exoskeleton of arthropods (crunch!)

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Who knew?

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 Types of Polysaccharides: Storage

• Starch, a storage
polysaccharide of
plants, consists
entirely of glucose
monomers
• Plants store surplus
starch as granules
within chloroplasts
and other plastids
• The simplest form of
starch is amylose

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 Types of Polysaccharides: Storage

• Glycogen is a
storage
polysaccharide in
animals
• Humans and other
vertebrates store
glycogen mainly in
liver and muscle cells

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 Types of Polysaccharides: Structural

• The polysaccharide cellulose is a major

component of the tough wall of plant cells

• Like starch, cellulose is a polymer of glucose,

but the glycosidic linkages differ

• The difference is based on two ring forms for

glucose: alpha () and beta ()

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Cellulose: A termite’s best friend!

Note the
H-bonds

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LIPIDS

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 Lipids Are Hydrophobic
Lipids are molecules that contain hydrocarbons
(carbon and hydrogen) and oxygen
• Lipids are compose of glycerol and fatty acids
• The unifying feature of lipids is having little or no
affinity for water (water fearing)
• Lipids are fat-soluble molecules, meaning they
cannot dissolved in water, and can be dissolved
only by another organic solvent
• The most biologically important lipids are fats,
phospholipids, and steroids

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 Triglycerides (Fats)
• The major function of
fats is energy
storage
• Body fat, tallow fat
and coconut oil
• Humans and other
mammals store their
fat in adipose cells
• Adipose tissue also
cushions vital organs
and insulates the
body
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 Phospholipids
• When phospholipids are
added to water, they self-
assemble into a bilayer,
with the hydrophobic tails
pointing toward the interior
• The structure of
phospholipids results in a
bilayer arrangement found
in cell membranes
• Phospholipids are the
major component of all cell
membranes
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 A Single Phospholipid Molecule
Choline
Hydrophilic head

Phosphate

Glycerol
Hydrophobic tails

Fatty acids

Hydrophilic
head

Hydrophobic
tails

(a) Structural formula (b) Space-filling model (c) Phospholipid symbol

 Steroids
• Steroids act as hormones which enter cells to
initiate chemical reactions.
• Part of cellular structure which adds fluidity to
cellular membranes.
• Cholesterol, an important steroid, is a component
in animal cell membranes
• Although cholesterol is essential in animals, high
levels in the blood may contribute to
cardiovascular disease

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PROTEIN
S
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 Proteins
•Are macromolecules composed of units of amino
acids.
•For humans, we need at least 20 types of amino
acids to stay healthy.
•Our bodies can synthesize many of them except
for nine which are called essential amino acids.
•Proteins that come from animals are called
complete proteins because they supply us with
essential amino acids.

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 Nine Essential Amino Acids
• Histidine • Tryptophan
• Lysine • Leucine
• Threonine • Phenylalanine
• Isoleucine • Valine
• Methionine

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NUCLEIC
ACIDS
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 Nucleic Acids
•Molecules that allow organisms to transfer
genetic information from one generation to
the next
•Nucleotides are the building blocks of
nucleic acids.
•They have three components:
–A nitrogenous base (Adenine, Thymine,
Cytosine, Guanine, and Uracil)
–A five-carbon sugar (Deoxyribose, Ribose)
–A phosphate group
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 Two types of Nucleic Acid
• DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid)
– Contains the genetic material of an
organism which is basically a set of
instructions about how DNA is to be
replicated, and how amino acids are to be
joined to form proteins.
• RNA (Ribonucleic Acid)
– Converts DNA to carry out cellular functions
and sends them to cells.
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31
 Another Important Nucleotide

• ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate)

– The energy released when ATP is broken
down in cells is used by all cells to
synthesize macromolecules like
carbohydrates and proteins.

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Sum
mary
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 BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
Molecule Building Blocks Function
Carbohydrates Monosaccharide Energy storage and
source, receptor,
plant cell wall
structure
Proteins Amino Acids Enzyme, structure,
transport,

Lipids Glycerol, fatty acid Membrane

Structure, energy
storage, insulation
Nucleic Acids Nucleotides Information storage
and transfer (DNA
and RNA)

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Key Elements of biological macromolecules

Carbohydrates CHO
Lipids CHO but with less O
Proteins CHON
Nucleic Acids CHONP

C- Carbon, H- Hydrogen, O- Oxygen, N- Nitrogen, P- Phosphorus

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 These are the repeating
building blocks of
biological macromolecules
Monomers

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 This is the chemical
reaction that combines
monomers to form
polymers
Condensation reaction/
Dehydration Synthesis reaction
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This is the chemical reaction
that breaks down the bonds
between monomers in
macromolecules

Hydrolysis

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These are the building
blocks of nucleic acids
Nucleotides

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Glycerol and this molecule
compose lipids
Fatty Acids

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This is a polysaccharide
from which cell walls of
plants are built
Cellulose

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It is the energy storage of
carbohydrates for plants
Starch

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It is a polysaccharide found
in the exoskeleton of
insects and some
arthropods
Chitin

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These are macromolecules
built from amino acids

Proteins

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