The Structure and Function of Macromolecules

(Large Biological Molecules)

• Most macromolecules are polymers, built

from monomers
• Carbohydrates serve as fuel and building
material
• Lipids are a diverse group of hydrophobic
molecules
• Proteins have many structures, resulting in
a wide range of functions
• Nucleic acids store and transmit hereditary
information
Polymers are made from Monomers
Carbohydrates
The Ring form of Glucose
Disaccharide Carbohydrates
Polysaccharide Carbohydrates
Carb: Starch & Cellulose
Cellulose Carb
Chitin Carb
Fats or Lipids: Structure of Butter
Butter & Oil Structure
Phospholipids (Membrane Molecules)
Phospholipids (Membrane Molecules)
Fats or Lipids: Cholesterols
An Overview of Protein Functions
The catalytic cycle of an enzyme
Amino Acid Monomers
The 20 amino acids of proteins.
Making a polypeptide chain.
Conformation of a protein, the enzyme lysozyme.
Four Levels of Protein Structure
Four Levels of Protein Structure
A single amino acid substitution in a protein
causes sickle–cell disease.
Denaturation and renaturation of a protein.
A chaperonin in action
X–ray crystallography to determine a protein′s three–dimensional structure
- Nucleic acids are polymers called
polynucleotides made from monomers
called nucleotides.
- A nucleotide is a nucleoside
monophosphate.
- Adenine, guanine, and cytosine are
found in both types of nucleic acid.
- Thymine is found only in DNA.
- Uracil is found only in RNA.
- Ribose is connected to the nitrogenous
base in the nucleotides of RNA.
- Deoxyribose is connected to the
nitrogenous base in the nucleotides of
DNA
A diagrammatic overview of information flow in a cell
(DNA → RNA → protein)  
 How DNA in the nucleus programs
protein production in the cytoplasm?
- DNA in the nucleus dictates the synthesis
of messenger RNA (mRNA).
- mRNA travels to the cytoplasm and binds
to ribosomes.
- As a ribosome moves along the mRNA,
the genetic message is translated into a
polypeptide of specific amino acid
sequence.
The components of nucleic acids
 The components of nucleic acids
- A polynucleotide has a regular sugar–
phosphate backbone with variable
appendages, the four kinds of nitrogenous
bases.
- RNA usually exists in the form of a single
polynucleotide, like the one shown here.
- A nucleotide monomer is made up of three
components: a nitrogenous base, a sugar, and
a phosphate group, linked together as shown
here.
- Without the phosphate group, the resulting
structure is called a nucleoside.
- The components of the nucleoside include a
nitrogenous base (either a purine or a
pyrimidine) and a pentose sugar (either
deoxyribose or ribose).
The DNA double helix and its replication.
The DNA double helix and its replication.
- The DNA molecule is usually double–stranded,
with the sugar–phosphate backbone of the
antiparallel polynucleotide strands on the
outside of the helix.
- The two strands are held together by pairs of
nitrogenous bases attached to each other by
hydrogen bonds .
- Adenine (A) can pair only with thymine (T), and
guanine (G) can pair only with cytosine (C).
- When a cell prepares to divide, the two strands
of the double helix separate, and each serves
as a template for the precise ordering of
nucleotides into new complementary strands.