Campbell Biology: Concepts &
Connections
Tenth Edition, Global Edition
Chapter 3
The Molecules of Cells
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Introduction to Organic
Compounds
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3.1 Life’s Molecular Diversity Is Based on the
Properties of Carbon
• Carbon’s ability to bond with four other atoms is the basis for building
large and diverse organic compounds.
• Carbon chains form the backbone of most organic molecules.
• Isomers have the same molecular formula but different structures.
• Hydrocarbons are composed of only carbon and hydrogen.
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Figure 3.1b Diversity of carbon backbones
in hydrocarbon molecules
Double bond
Ethane Propane 1-Butene 2-Butene
Length: Carbon skeletons Double bonds: Carbon skeletons may
vary in length. have double bonds, which can vary in
location.
Butane Isobutane Cyclohexane Benzene
Branching: Carbon skeletons Rings: Carbon skeletons may be arranged
may be unbranched or in rings. (In the abbreviated ring structures,
branched. each corner represents a carbon and its
attached hydrogens.)
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Animation: Isomers recap
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Animation: Carbon Skeletons recap
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Animation: Isomers recap
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3.2 A Few Chemical Groups are Key to the
Functioning of Biological Molecules
• An organic compound’s properties depend on the
– size and shape of its carbon backbone and
– atoms attached to that skeleton.
• Hydrophilic functional groups give organic molecules specific chemical
properties.
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Figure 3.2 Sex hormones testosterone and estradiol
- They differ only in the groups of atoms highlighted yet have significantly
different biological function
Testosterone
Estradiol
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3.3 Cells Make Large Molecules from a Limited
Set of Small Molecules
• The four classes of biological molecules contain very large molecules.
– They are often called macromolecules because of their large
size.
– They are also called polymers because they are made from
identical or similar building blocks strung together.
– The building blocks of polymers are called monomers.
• Monomers are linked together to form polymers through dehydration
reactions.
• Polymers are broken apart by hydrolysis.
• These reactions are mediated by enzymes, specialized
macromolecules that speed up reactions.
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Figure 3.3 Making and breaking larger molecules
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Animation: Making polymers recap
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Carbohydrates
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3.4 Monosaccharides are the Simplest Carbohydrates
• Carbohydrates range from small sugar molecules (monomers) to large
polysaccharides.
– Sugar monomers are monosaccharides.
– A monosaccharide generally has a formula that is a multiple of CH2O
and contains hydroxyl groups and a carbonyl group.
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Figure 3.4c Different ways to express glucose
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3.5 Two Monosaccharides Are Linked to Form a
Disaccharide
• Two monosaccharides (monomers) can bond to form a disaccharide
in a dehydration reaction.
Ex) Maltose
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Animation: Disaccharides recap
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3.6 Connection: Are We Eating Too Much Sugar?
• The FDA recommends that only 10% of daily calories come from added
sugar.
• Research supports the correlation between high sugar intake and
adverse health effects.
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3.7 Polysaccharides Are Long Chains of Sugar Units
• Starch and glycogen are storage polysaccharides.
• Cellulose is structural, found in plant cell walls.
• Chitin is a component of insect and crustacean and fungal cell walls.
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Animation: Polysaccharides recap
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Lipids
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3.8 Fats Are Lipids That Are Mostly Energy-
Storage Molecules
• Lipids are diverse hydrophobic (water-fearing) compounds
composed largely of carbon and hydrogen.
– Fats (triglycerides) consist of glycerol linked to three fatty acids.
– Some fatty acids contain one or more
double bonds, forming unsaturated fatty
acids. Unsaturated fatty acids are typical
of plant oils.
– Fats with the maximum number of
hydrogens are called saturated fatty
acids. Saturated fatty acids are found in
animal fats.
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Animation: Fats recap
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3.9 Scientific Thinking: Scientific Studies Document
the Health Risks of Trans Fats
• By the 1990s, partially hydrogenated oils = trans fats were common
in countless foods.
• Recent research has shown that trans fats pose an even greater
health risk than saturated fats.
• The scientific studies establishing the risks of trans fats were of two
types.
1. In experimental controlled feeding trials, diets contained different
proportions of saturated, unsaturated, and partially hydrogenated
fats.
2. Many other scientific studies on dietary health effects are
observational.
Ex) Retrospective vs prospective studies
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Figure 3.9 Relative risk of heart disease associated
with increased intake of specific types of fats
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3.10 Phospholipids and Steroids Are Important Lipids with a
Variety of Functions
• Phospholipids are components of cell membranes.
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3.10 Phospholipids and Steroids Are Important Lipids with a
Variety of Functions
• Steroids include cholesterol and some hormones.
• Cholesterol is a common component in animal cell membranes and is
also the precursor for making other steroids, including sex hormones.
Cholesterol
Testosterone Estradiol
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(type of estrogen)
3.11 Anabolic steroids pose health risks
• Anabolic steroids are synthetic variants of testosterone
• Prescribed for anemia and muscle loss disroders
• But are also abused by athletes to build up their muscles quickly, and can
cause serious physical and mental problems.
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Proteins
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3.12 Proteins Have a Wide Range of Functions
and Structures
• Proteins are involved in nearly every dynamic function in your body
and are very diverse.
• Proteins function as
– enzymes,
– transport proteins embedded in cell membranes,
– defensive proteins, such as antibodies,
– signal proteins such as many hormones,
– receptor proteins,
– contractile proteins found within muscle cells,
– structural proteins such as collagen, and
– storage proteins.
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3.12 Proteins Have a Wide Range of Functions
and Structures
• Proteins are composed of differing arrangements of a common set
of just 20 amino acid monomers.
• The functions of different types of proteins depend on their
individual shapes.
• In the process of denaturation, a protein unravels, loses its
specific shape, and loses its function.
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3.13 Proteins Are Made from Amino Acids Linked
by Peptide Bonds
• Protein diversity is based on different sequences of amino acids,
monomers that contain
– an amino group,
– a carboxyl group,
– an H atom, and
– an R group,
• The R groups distinguish 20 amino acids, each with specific properties.
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3.13 Proteins Are Made from Amino Acids Linked
by Peptide Bonds
• Amino acid monomers are linked together in a dehydration reaction,
– joining the carboxyl group of one amino acid to the amino group of
the next amino acid, and
– creating a peptide bond.
• Additional amino acids can be added by the same process to create a
chain of amino acids called a polypeptide.
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3.14 Visualizing the Concept: A Protein’s Functional
Shape Results from Four Levels of Structure
• A protein can have four levels of structure:
1. A protein’s primary structure is the sequence of amino acids in
its polypeptide chain.
2. Its secondary structure is the coiling or folding of the chain,
stabilized by hydrogen bonds.
3. The tertiary structure is the overall three-dimensional shape of a
polypeptide, resulting from interactions among R groups.
4. Proteins made of more than one polypeptide have quaternary
structure.
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PRIMARY STRUCTURE
+H
3N
Amino end
Peptide bonds
connect the amino acids.
+
Two types of
Secondary structures
SECONDARY STRUCTURES Beta pleated sheet
are maintained by
Alpha helix hydrogen bonds
between atoms of
the backbone.
TERTIARY STRUCTURE
Tertiary structure is
stabilized by interactions
between R groups.
QUATERNARY STRUCTURE
Polypeptides are associated
into a functional protein.
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Animation: Protein Structure recap
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Animation: Primary Protein Structure recap
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Animation: Secondary Protein Structure recap
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Animation: Tertiary Protein Structure recap
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Animation: Quaternary Protein Structure
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Nucleic Acids
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3.15 The Nucleic Acids DNA and RNA Are
Information-Rich Polymers of Nucleotides
• The monomers that make up nucleic
acids are nucleotides.
• Nucleotides are composed of a
sugar, a phosphate group, and a
nitrogenous base.
DNA is a double helix.
RNA is a single polynucleotide chain.
DNA and RNA serve as the blueprints for
proteins and thus control the life of a cell.
DNA is the molecule of inheritance.
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3.15 Information Flow to Build a Protein
The “Central Dogma” of Molecular Biology
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3.16 Evolution Connection: Lactose Tolerance Is
a Recent Event in Human Evolution
• Different mutations in DNA have led to lactose tolerance in several
human groups whose ancestors raised dairy cattle.
• Researchers identified three new mutations in 43 ethnic groups in East
Africa that keep the lactase gene permanently turned on.
Milk as a staple food in Northern Europe and Africa
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