Biological

Molecules
 Key Terms and Definition
❏ Molecule-a group of atoms bonded together, representing the smallest fundamental unit of a
chemical compound that can take part in a chemical reaction.

❏ Biomolecule-is a chemical compound found in living organisms. These include chemicals that
are composed of mainly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus.

A biomolecule or biological molecule is a loosely used term for molecules present in organisms
that are essential to one or more typically biological processes, such as cell division,
morphogenesis, or development.Biomolecules are the building blocks of life and perform
important functions in living organisms.
 Uses Of Biomolecules
Storage For Nucleic
1 4
Energy Acid

2 Source of
Energy

Carrier of biological
3 Instructions
 The Biomolecules

❏ Carbohydrates

❏ Lipids

❏ Proteins

❏ Nucleic Acids
 Discovery of Biomolecules
❏ William Prout-(born Jan. 15, 1785, Horton, Gloucestershire, Eng.—died April 9, 1850,
London), English chemist and biochemist noted for his discoveries concerning digestion,
metabolic chemistry, and atomic weights.

❏ Through his study of human digestion and urine. He classified food into 3 categories.

❏ Saccharinous - Carbohydrates

❏ Oleaginous - Fats

❏ Albuminous - Protein
 Discovery of Biomolecules
❏ Prout asserted that in order of people to be healthy they humans need to eat these 3 types of
food.

❏ Even though his research was highly influential in the study of biomolecules.He himself was
not aware of the existence of the biomolecules.

❏ Through his research we now understand that there are 3 types of food any living organisms
need to eat in order to survive.
 Carbohydrates
❏ Formally calles as saccharidees
❏ Source of all Energy available to us.

❏ Made up of Sugars

❏ Monosaccharides (mono means 1) + (saccharides root word for sugar).

❏ Glucose is a monosaccharides which comes from the sun
❏ All Biological energy originally comes from the sun. captured by plants through
photosynthesis.All cell that need energy uses glucose to get that energy through a process
called Respiration.
❏ Sucrose- A glucose and fructose molecules joined through covalent bond.
❏ Fructose is another type of monosaccharides
 Carbohydrates
❏ Monosaccharides are the simplest form of carbohydrates with only one simple sugar. They essentially contain
an aldehyde or ketone group in their structure.[11] The presence of an aldehyde group in a monosaccharide is
indicated by the prefix aldo-. Similarly, a ketone group is denoted by the prefix keto-.

❏ Disaccharides- Two monosaccharides put together and are formed when two monosaccharides, or two single
simple sugars, form a bond with removal of water. They can be hydrolyzed to yield their saccharin building
blocks by boiling with dilute acid or reacting them with appropriate enzymes.[6] Examples of disaccharides
include sucrose, maltose, and lactose.

❏ Polysaccharides are polymerized monosaccharides, or complex carbohydrates. They have multiple simple
sugars. Examples are starch, cellulose, and glycogen. They are generally large and often have a complex
branched connectivity. Because of their size, polysaccharides are not water-soluble, but their many hydroxy
groups become hydrated individually when exposed to water, and some polysaccharides form thick colloidal
dispersions when heated in water.[6] Shorter polysaccharides, with 3 - 10 monomers, are called oligosaccharide

Carbohydrates are little pieces of energy instantly available to us.But as these biomolecules form into bigger chains
their structure and purpose change as well. They become storehouses for energy
 Carbohydrates
❏ Polysaccharides- Can Contain Thousands of the smaller units of sugars

❏ Cellulose- Commonly found in plants. A collection of glucose. The most common organic
compound in the planet
❏ Plants store glucose in the form of starch or amylose. Materializing through fruits and seeds.

❏ Unlike plants human store our energy through glycogen. Which is located in our muscles waiting to
be used. Also stored in our livers

❏ Fat- a long term way of storing our energy. Which is another type of biomolecule called Lipids
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates
 Lipids
❏ In biology and biochemistry, a lipid is a micro biomolecule that is soluble in nonpolar solvents.[3] Non-polar
solvents are typically hydrocarbons used to dissolve other naturally occurring hydrocarbon lipid molecules that do
not (or do not easily) dissolve in water, including fatty acids, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins
A, D, E, and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, and phospholipids.

❏ The functions of lipids include storing energy, signaling, and acting as structural components of cell membranes.[4]
[5] Lipids have applications in the cosmetic and food industries as well as in nanotechnology.
 Lipids
❏ Are smaller and simpler than carbohydrates.
❏ Does not dissolve in water, lipids
and water do not mix.

❏ Fats are made up of two chemical

ingredients
1.Glycerol a type of alcohol
2. Fatty Acids
3 Three fatty acids connected
to a glycerol is a
Triglyceride.Found in food like
butter, peanuts and oil.
 Lipids
❏ Triglycerides can either be saturated or unsaturated.
❏ Fatty acids can be saturated with hydrogen

1.This happens if all the carbon atoms in a fatty acid are

connected through single bonds. All of the carbon atoms
end up connected to a hydrogen atom making the fatty
acid saturated.

2. If the carbon atoms are connected through double bonds

they are not able to pick up hydrogen atoms. So the fatty
acid is unsaturated
Lipids

The liquid at the top are the unsaturated fat.

Unsaturated fats are oily.

The bottom one are mixed with saturated fats

Saturated fats have more solid structure.
 Lipids
❏ Phospolipid -made up of

1.Fatty acids
2.phosphate

❏ These make up cell membranes walls

❏ Steroid-made up of four interconnected carbon which

can be used to form hundreds of variations.

Example. Cholesterol
Lipids
 Proteins
❏ Proteins are essential nutrients for the human body.[1] They are one of the building blocks of body tissue and can
also serve as a fuel source. As a fuel, proteins provide as much energy density as carbohydrates: 4 kcal (17 kJ) per
gram; in contrast, lipids provide 9 kcal (37 kJ) per gram. The most important aspect and defining characteristic of
protein from a nutritional standpoint is its amino acid composition.[2]

❏ Proteins are polymer chains made of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds. During human digestion,
proteins are broken down in the stomach to smaller polypeptide chains via hydrochloric acid and protease actions.
This is crucial for the absorption of the essential amino acids that cannot be biosynthesized by the body
 Protein
❏ Most complicated chemical
❏ We have thousands of proteins in our body right now.
1.Enzymes helping in our digestion
2.Antibodies protecting us
3. Protein hormones in our brain

❏ Proteins have 20 ingredients in the form of amino acids

 Protein
❏ Like fatty acids Protein has a carboxyl group
1.Carboxyl group
2.Amino Group

❏ Protein has nitrogen in it

❏ In the middle is of the carboxyl and amino group is a carbon.
❏ And the variable R also known as sidechain
❏ There are 20 kinds of sidechain.
❏ And each of them define the shape and function of the protein.
Protein
 Protein
❏ Amino acids form long chains called Polypeptides

❏ Polypeptides allow the proteins to create elaborate and complex structures.

❏ These can only be done if we the necessary amino acids.

❏ Our body does not produce nine of them.

1.Threonine
2.Tryptophan
3.Valine
4.Lysine
5.Methionine
6.Phenylalanine
7.Histidine
8.Isoleucine
9.Leucine
Protein
 Nucleic Acids
❏ Nucleic acid, naturally occurring chemical compound that is capable of being broken down to yield
phosphoric acid, sugars, and a mixture of organic bases (purines and pyrimidines).

❏ Nucleic acids are the main information-carrying molecules of the cell, and, by directing the process of
protein synthesis, they determine the inherited characteristics of every living thing

❏ The two main classes of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).
 Nucleic Acids
❏ DNA is the master blueprint for life and constitutes the genetic material in all free-living organisms and most
viruses

❏ RNA is the genetic material of certain viruses, but it is also found in all living cells, where it plays an important
role in certain processes such as the making of proteins.
 Nucleic Acids
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms.
Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where
it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is
called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA). Mitochondria are structures within cells that convert the energy
from food into a form that cells can use.
 Nucleic Acids
❏ DNA was discovered in 1869
❏ By swiss biologist Friedrich Miescher
❏ He Studied white blood cells
❏ But he did not know what role DNA has

❏ The scientist who help figure out what the role of dna is
❏ Rosalind Franklin a biophysicist 100 years after Friedrich
 Nucleic Acids
❏ Polymers
❏ Made up of many small repeating molecular units.
❏ In DNA this small units are called Nucleotides
❏ Linked nucleotides are called polynucleotides
❏ Nucleotides are made up of
❏ 5-carbon sugar molecule
❏ A phosphate group
❏ 1 of 4 nitrogen bases
❏ DNA get its name from the 1st ingredient
❏ The sugar molecule called Deoxyribose
❏ The 4 nitrogenous bases are
❏ Adenine
❏ Thymine
❏ Cytosine
❏ guanine
Deoxyribose Nucleic Acids
4 nitrogenous bases

a pentose sugar (monosaccharide

containing five carbon atoms) that is
a key component of the nucleic acid
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). It is
derived from the pentose sugar
ribose. Deoxyribose has the chemical
formula C5H10O4.
 Nucleic Acids
❏ Important note
❏ In living organisms DNA Doesn’t exist as a single
Polynucleotide molecule but rather a pair of molecules
That are held tightly together. The double helix

❏ Like any structure we need to have a strong support

❏ In DNA sugars and phosphates bond together to form twin backbones
❏ These sugar phosphates bond run down each side of the double helix
but chemically opposite of each other.
 Nucleic Acids
❏ One strand begins at the top with the 1st phosphate connected to the
sugar molecules 5th carbon. Ending where the next phosphate would
go with a free end at the sugars 3rd carbon
❏ Creating the pattern called 5’(5 prime ) and 3’(3 prime)

❏ The other strand is opposite beginning It begins up top with a free end at
the sugars 3rd carbon and the phosphates connect to the sugars 5th carbon
all the way down.
❏ Creating the pattern called 3’ (3 prime) and 5’ (prime)
Nucleic Acids
The twin
backbones
 Nucleic Acids
❏ The two chains are linked together by the nitrogenous bases via relatively weak hydrogen bonds
❏ They can’t be any pair of nitrogenous bases
❏ If one nucleotide has adenine base
only thymine can be its counterpart. A-T
❏ Guanine can only bond with cytosine G-C
 Nucleic Acids
❏ Thes bonded nitrogenous base pairs are called base pairs
❏ G-C pairing has 3 hydrogen bonds
❏ A-t Pairing has 2 hydrogen bonds
❏ it’s the order of these nucleobases or the base sequence that allows your DNA to create you
❏ Human chromosome. The largest of all our chromosomes contains a single molecule of DNA with 247 million base
pairs.
❏ Humans have 6 billion pairs in every cell
 Nucleic Acids
❏ How DNA Replicates itself
❏ Every cell in our body has a copy of the same DNA. it started from an original copy and it will
copy itself trillion of times over the course of a lifetime

❏ Helicase is marvelous as it unwinds the double helix at fast speed.

❏ The point where the replications starts is called the replication fork
❏ The replication fork has a top strand called the leading strand
❏ And another at the bottom called lagging strand

❏ These unwind sections can now be used as a template to create two complementary strands
 Nucleic Acids
❏ For the top leading strand an enzyme called DNA Polymerase just adds matching nucleotides

❏ For the bottom lagging strand an enzyme called RNA Primase adds a few nucleotides and then DNA polymerase
adds more in segments. And then finally the DNA ligase joins the nucleotide

❏ The few primer nucleotides is called okazaki fragments.

❏ The Reason the top and bottom strands have different replication process is because dna can only replicate on the
5’(5 prime ) and 3’(3 prime) direction
Nucleic Acids
 Nucleic Acids
❏ RNA is similar to DNA but with 3 differences
❏ RNA has only 1 strand
❏ The sugar in RNA is ribose which has 1 more oxygen than deoxyribose
❏ RNA does not contain thiamine its 4th nucleotide is th base uracil
Nucleic Acids
 Nucleic Acids
RNA is typically single-stranded and comes in various forms. The single-stranded structure of RNA allows this molecule
to fold back on itself and form various stable secondary structures as necessary.
 Summary
● Biomolecules are essential molecules for life.
● There are 4 types of biomolecules
○ Carbohydrates or Sachharides
○ Lipids
○ Proteins
○ Nucleic acids
● These four form the building blocks of life
● Carbohyrdates are made up of sugar either simple or complex ie. Monosaccharides or polysaccharides
● Lipids are made up glycerol and fatty acids. Example of lipid is fat which allows for long term energy storage
○ Phospolipid which makes the cell membrane
● Proteins made of carboxyl group and amino acids with sidechains allowing for 20 different amino acids.
○ 9 of these amino acids are not produced by our body
● Nucleic acid made up of polymers or repeating biological unit which makes a strand There are two nucleic
acids
○ DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid
○ RNA Ribonucleic acid
 Summary
● Dna allows genetic information to be passed
● Dna is single strand

● Rna does not allow genetic information to pass but is helpful in creating proteins
● Rna is double helix

Together these biological molecules allows life to thrive pass genetic information. And reproduce