LESSON 4: The Structure and Function of Large Biological Molecules

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LESSON 4: The Structure and Function of Large

Biological Molecules

Overview: The Molecules of Life

∙ Within all cells, small organic molecules are joined together to form larger
molecules.
∙ All living things are made up of four main classes of macromolecules/
biomolecules: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
∙ Biochemists have determined the detailed structures of many macromolecules,
which exhibit unique emergent properties arising from the orderly arrangement of
their atoms.
∙ The molecules that form the structure and carry out the activities of cells are huge,
highly organized molecules called macromolecules, which contain anywhere from
dozens to millions of carbon atoms.
∙ They are chemicals or molecules present in the living organisms. It determines
the cell’s function and how they participate in the processes necessary in
maintaining life.
∙ Living matter is composed mainly of six elements – Carbon, Hydrogen Oxygen,
Nitrogen, Sulfur and Phosphorus.
∙ Macromolecules can be divided into four major categories: proteins, nucleic
acids, polysaccharides, and certain lipids.
∙ Long chains of monomers (similar organic compounds) linked through
condensation reactions are called polymers. Large polymers such as
polysaccharides, proteins, and DNA are referred to as macromolecules. They can
be broken down by hydrolysis reactions. Example: Glucagon (polypeptide) is
composed of 29 amino acids (monomer).

4.1 The Synthesis and Breakdown of Polymers


∙ The chemical mechanisms which cells use to make and break polymers are
similar for all classes of macromolecules.
○ These processes are facilitated by enzymes, specialized macromolecules that
speed up chemical reactions in cells.
∙ Monomers are connected by covalent bonds that form through the loss of a
water molecule. This reaction is called a dehydration reaction.
○ When a bond forms between two monomers, each monomer contributes part
of the water molecule that is lost. One monomer provides a hydroxyl group
(—OH), while the other provides a hydrogen atom (—H).
○ Cells invest energy to carry out dehydration reactions.
∙ The covalent bonds that connect monomers in a polymer are disassembled by
hydrolysis, a reaction that is effectively the reverse of dehydration.
○ In hydrolysis, bonds are broken by the addition of water molecules. A
hydrogen atom attaches to one monomer, and a hydroxyl group attaches to
the adjacent monomer.
○ The process of digestion is an example of hydrolysis within the human body. ○
We take in food as organic polymers that are too large for our cells to absorb. In
the digestive tract, enzymes direct the hydrolysis of specific polymers. The
resulting monomers are absorbed by the cells lining the gut and transported to
the bloodstream for distribution to body cells.
○ The cells of our body then use dehydration reactions to assemble the
monomers into new and different polymers that carry out functions specific to
the particular cell type.

4.2 CARBOHYDRATES

∙ Carbohydrates include sugars and their polymers.


○ The simplest carbohydrates are monosaccharides, or simple sugars.
○ Disaccharides, or double sugars, consist of two monosaccharides joined by a
covalent bond.
○ Polysaccharides are polymers of many monosaccharides.

∙ Carbohydrates, a group of molecules that includes sugars and starches, represent


1-2% of cell mass. Carbohydrates contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a
ratio of approximately one carbon to two hydrogens to one oxygen. This ratio is
reflected in the word carbohydrate (―hydrated carbon‖). Carbohydrates are the
most abundant organic compound.
∙ Carbohydrates function primarily as stores of chemical energy and as durable
building materials for biological construction. Most sugars have the general
formula (CH2O)n, where n stands for the number of carbon. Because of their
large numbers of hydroxyl groups, sugars tend to be highly water soluble.
∙ The repeating units of polysaccharides are simple sugars called monosaccharides
that include glucose, fructose and sucrose. Each sugar molecule consists of a
backbone of carbon atoms linked together in a linear array by single bonds.
∙ Carbohydrates play a number of important roles in biochemistry. First, they are
major energy sources
∙ Second, oligosaccharides play a key role in processes that take place on the
surfaces of cells, particularly in cell–cell interactions and immune recognition. ∙ In
addition, polysaccharides are essential structural components of several classes
of organisms. Cellulose is a major component of grass and trees, and other
polysaccharides are major components of bacterial cell walls. ∙ Each of the carbon
atoms of the backbone is linked to a single hydroxyl group, except for one that
bears a carbonyl (C=O) group. If the carbonyl group is located at an internal
position (to form a ketone group), the sugar is a ketose, such as fructose. If the
carbonyl is located at one end of the sugar (terminal carbonyl group), it forms an
aldehyde group and the molecule is known as an aldose, as exemplified by
glucose.
∙ Within these categories, sugars are named generically according to the number
of carbon atoms they contain. Most sugars have between three and seven
carbon atoms and thus are classified as trioses (three carbons), tetroses (four
carbons), pentoses (five carbons), hexoses (six carbons), or heptoses (seven
carbons).

MONOSACCHARIDES
∙ Monosaccharides generally have molecular formulas that are some multiple of
the unit CH2O.
○ For example, glucose has the formula C6H12O6.
∙ Monosaccharides have a carbonyl group (>C=O) and multiple hydroxyl groups
(—OH).
○ Depending on the location of
the
carbonyl group, the sugar is
an
aldose (aldehyde sugar) or a
ketose (ketone sugar).
○ Most names for sugars end in
-
ose.
∙ Monosaccharides are also classified
by
the size of the carbon skeleton.
○ The carbon skeleton of a
sugar
ranges from three to seven
carbons long.
○ Glucose and other six-carbon
sugars are hexoses.
○ Five-carbon sugars are
pentoses;
three-carbon sugars are
trioses.

∙ Another source of diversity for


simple
sugars is the spatial
arrangement of
their parts around asymmetric
carbon
atoms.
○ For example, glucose and
galactose, both six-carbon aldoses,
differ only in the spatial
arrangement of their parts around
asymmetric carbons.
∙ Although glucose is often drawn with
a linear carbon skeleton, most sugars
(including glucose) form rings in
aqueous solution.
∙ Monosaccharides, particularly glucose,
are major nutrients for cellular work.
○ Cells extract energy from glucose molecules in the process of cellular
respiration.
∙ Simple sugars also function as the raw material for the synthesis of other
monomers, such as amino acids and fatty acids.
∙ Two isomeric forms, differing in orientation of the hydroxyl (OH) group attached
to carbon 1, are important when glucose rings join to form polymers o In beta
glucose (β-glucose), the hydroxyl group is on the same side of the plane of the
ring as the CH2OH side group.
o In alpha glucose (α-glucose), it is on the side opposite the CH2OH
side group.

DISACCHARIDES
∙ A disaccharide (two sugars) contains two monosaccharide rings joined by a
glycosidic linkage, consisting of a central oxygen covalently bonded to two
carbons, one in each ring. Disaccharides serve primarily as readily available
energy stores. Common disaccharides include:
Maltose (malt sugar): 2 covalently linked α-glucose units
Sucrose (table sugar): 1 glucose + 1 fructose
Lactose (milk sugar): 1 glucose + 1 galactose
∙ Maltose (or malt sugar) is found in germinating grains (and other plants and
vegetables) and is generated during brewing of beer and related beverages. ∙
Sucrose, or table sugar, is a major component of plant sap, which carries
chemical energy from one part of the plant to another. Lactose, present in the
milk of most mammals, supplies newborn mammals with fuel for early growth
and development.
∙ Lactose in the diet is hydrolyzed by the enzyme lactase, which is present in the
plasma membranes of the cells that line the intestine. Many people lose this
enzyme after childhood and find that eating dairy products causes digestive
discomfort.
POLYSACCHARIDES

∙ A polysaccharide is a macromolecule (a single long chain or a branched chain)


consisting of repeating units of simple sugars, usually glucose. Common
polysaccharides include:
o Starches - energy storage in plants
o Glycogen - energy storage in animals
o Cellulose - Structural polysaccharide in plants
∙ Starch is a form of carbohydrate used for energy storage in plants. It is a
polymer consisting of α-glucose subunits.

Glycogen is a polymer containing α-glucose subunits like starch but more


extensively branched and more water soluble. Glycogen serves as a storehouse of
surplus chemical energy in most animals.
∙ Cellulose is an insoluble polysaccharide composed of β-glucose subunits and
serves as the structural component of plants (fibers).

References:
Campbell, M., & Farrell, S., (2009). Chapter 16 – Carbohydrates – Biochemistry, Sixth
Edition

Reece, J. B., Urry, L.A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S.A., Jackson, R. B., Minorsky, P.V., &
Campbell, N. A., (2014). Chapter 5 – The Structure and Function of Large Biological
Molecules – Biology, Tenth Edition

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