Chapter 03
The Molecules of Life
PowerPoint® Lectures created by Edward J. Zalisko, Eric J. Simon, Jean L. Dickey, and Jane B. Reece
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Why Macromolecules Matter
• Every Biological Systems, including your own body, can be
viewed as a large collection of chemicals. Although living
cells contain countless types of molecules, many of the most
important ones can be grouped into a few broad categories.
Understanding biological molecules sheds lights on many
important issues, such as the link between diet and health.
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Biology and Society: Got Lactose?
• Lactose is the main sugar found in milk.
• Lactose intolerance is the inability to properly digest lactose.
• Lactose intolerance can be addressed by
– avoiding lactose-containing foods or
– consuming lactase pills along with food.
Lactose-rich Ice Cream
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Organic Compounds
• A cell is mostly water.
• The rest of the cell consists mainly of carbon-based molecules.
• Carbon forms large, complex, and diverse molecules necessary for life’s functions.
• Organic compounds are carbon-based molecules.
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Energy Flow and Chemical Cycling in the Biosphere
• All life requires energy.
– In almost all ecosystems on Earth, this energy originates from the sun.
– During photosynthesis, plants convert the energy of sunlight to the
chemical energy of sugars and other organic molecules.
– All animals depend on this conversion for food and more.
• Plants and other autotrophs (“self-feeders” or producers) are organisms
that make all their own organic matter from nutrients that are entirely
inorganic:
– carbon dioxide (𝐶𝑂2) from the air and water (H2O) and
– minerals from the soil.
• Heterotrophs (other-feeders or consumers)
– include humans and other animals and
– cannot make organic molecules from inorganic ones.
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Giant Molecules from Smaller Building Blocks
• On a molecular scale, many of life’s molecules are gigantic, earning the name macromolecules.
• Macromolecules are polymers, large molecules made by stringing together many smaller molecules called monomers.
• A dehydration reaction
– links two monomers together and
– removes a molecule of water.
• The breakdown of polymers occurs by hydrolysis, by adding water to them, a process that is essentially the reverse of
a dehydration reaction.
Synthesis and Breakdown
of Polymers
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Large Biological Molecules
• Four categories of large biological molecules are found in all living creatures:
1. carbohydrates,
2. lipids,
3. proteins, and
4. nucleic acids.
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The Results of Cellular Respiration (2 of 2)
• Respiration is a versatile metabolic furnace Energy From Food
that can “burn” many other kinds of food
molecules.
• Figure 6.12 diagrams some metabolic routes
for the use of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
as fuel for cellular respiration.
• The interplay between these pathways
provides a clear example of the theme of
system interactions; in this case, all of these
interactions contribute to maintaining a
balanced metabolism.
From chapter 6
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Carbohydrates
• Carbohydrates include sugars and polymers of sugar.
• In animals, carbohydrates are
– a primary source of dietary energy and
– raw material for manufacturing other kinds of organic compounds.
• In plants, carbohydrates serve as a building material for much of the plant body.
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Monosaccharides (simple sugars) (1 of 2)
• Monosaccharides
– are the monomers of carbohydrates and
– cannot be broken down into smaller sugars.
• Common examples are glucose in sports drinks and fructose
found in fruit.
– Both of these simple sugars are also in honey.
– Glucose and fructose are isomers, molecules that have
the same molecular formula but different structures.
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Glucose
Monosaccharides (simple sugars) (2 of 2)
• Monosaccharides, particularly glucose, are the main fuels for cellular work.
• In water, many monosaccharides form rings.
The Ring Structure of Glucose
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Disaccharides (double sugar)
• A disaccharide is constructed from two monosaccharides by a
dehydration reaction. Disaccharides include
– lactose in milk,
– maltose in beer and malted milk shakes, and
– sucrose in table sugar. Sucrose is the main carbohydrate in plant
sap.
• High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is made by a commercial process that
converts natural glucose in corn syrup to much sweeter fructose.
Disaccharide Formation
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Polysaccharides
• Polysaccharides
– are complex carbohydrates and
– are made of long chains of sugars—polymers of
monosaccharides.
• Starch
– is a familiar example of a polysaccharide,
– consists of long strings of glucose monomers, and
– is used by plant cells to store energy.
• Glycogen
– is used by animal cells to store energy and Three Common Polysaccharides
– is broken down to release glucose when you need
energy.
• Cellulose
– is the most abundant organic compound on Earth,
– forms cable-like fibrils in the tough walls that enclose
plant cells, and
– cannot be broken by any enzyme produced by animals.
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Lipids
The Separation of
Hydrophobic (oil) and
• Almost all carbohydrates are hydrophilic (“water-loving”) molecules
that dissolve readily in water. Hydrophilic (vinegar)
Components in Salad
• Lipids are hydrophobic, unable to mix with water. Dressing
• Lipids also differ from carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids in
that neither are they huge macromolecules nor are they necessarily
polymers built from repeating monomers.
• Lipids are a diverse group of molecules made from different
molecular building blocks.
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Fats (1 of 3)
• A typical fat, or triglyceride, consists of
a glycerol molecule joined with three
fatty acid molecules via a dehydration
reaction.
• Fats perform essential functions in the
human body, including
– energy storage,
– cushioning, and
– insulation.
The Synthesis and Structure of a Triglyceride Molecule
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Fats (2 of 3)
• If the carbon skeleton of a fatty acid has fewer than the maximum number of hydrogens
at the double bond, it is unsaturated.
• If it has the maximum number of hydrogens, it is saturated.
• A saturated fat has all three of its fatty acids saturated.
[Link]
the-difference-between-a-saturated-
and-unsaturated-fat
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Fats (3 of 3)
• Most animal fats
– have a relatively high proportion of saturated fatty acids, • Hydrogenation
– can easily stack, tending to be solid at room – adds hydrogen,
temperature, and – converts unsaturated fats to saturated fats,
– contribute to atherosclerosis (동맥경화증; 動脈硬化症). – makes liquid fats solid at room temperature, and
• Most plant and fish fats tend to be – creates trans fats, a type of unsaturated fat that is
– high in unsaturated fatty acids and particularly bad for your health.
– liquid at room temperature.
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Steroids (1 of 2)
• Steroids are very different from fats in structure and function.
– The carbon skeleton has four fused rings.
– Steroids vary in the functional groups attached to this set of rings, and these
chemical variations affect their function.
• Cholesterol is
– a key component of cell membranes and
– the “base steroid” from which your body produces other steroids, such as
estrogen and testosterone.
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Steroids (2 of 2)
• Synthetic anabolic steroids
– are variants of testosterone,
– mimic some of its effects,
– may be prescribed to treat diseases such as cancer and AIDS,
– are abused by athletes to build up their muscles quickly, and
– can cause serious physical and mental problems.
• Most athletic organizations ban the use of anabolic steroids.
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Proteins
• Proteins
– are polymers of amino acid monomers,
– account for more than 50% of the dry weight of most cells, and
– are instrumental in almost everything cells do.
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The Monomers of Proteins: Amino Acids
• All proteins are made by stringing together a common set of 20 kinds of amino
acids.
• Every amino acid consists of a central carbon atom bonded to four covalent
partners.
• Three of those attachment groups are common to all amino acids:
1. a carboxyl group (−𝐶𝑂𝑂𝐻),
2. an amino group (−𝑁𝐻2), and
3. a hydrogen atom.
• Each type of amino acid has a unique side chain, which gives that amino
acid its special chemical properties.
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Structure/Function: Protein Shape (1 of 5) Joining Amino Acids
• Cells link amino acids together by dehydration reactions,
– forming peptide bonds, and
– creating long chains of amino acids called polypeptides.
• A functional protein is one or more polypeptide chains precisely twisted, folded,
and coiled into a molecule of unique shape.
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Structure/Function: Protein Shape (2 of 5)
• Proteins use 20 different “letters” (amino acids) to create polypeptides
hundreds or thousands of amino acids in length.
– The amino acid sequence of each polypeptide determines the
three-dimensional structure.
– A protein’s three-dimensional structure enables the molecule to
carry out its specific function.
– Nearly all proteins work by recognizing and binding to some other
molecule.
The Structure of a Protein
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Structure/Function: Protein Shape (3 of 5)
• A slight change in the amino acid sequence can affect a
protein’s ability to function.
• The substitution of one amino acid for another at a
particular position in hemoglobin, the blood protein that
carries oxygen, causes sickle-cell disease, an inherited
blood disorder.
A Single Amino Acid Substitution in
a Protein Causes Sickle-Cell Disease
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Structure/Function: Protein Shape (4 of 5)
• One difference in structure is enough to cause the protein to fold into a different shape,
which alters its function, which in turn causes disease.
• Misfolded proteins are associated with many diseases, including some severe nervous
system disorders.
• The diseases shown in Figure 3.21 are all caused by prions, misfolded versions of
normal brain proteins.
How an Improperly Folded Protein can Lead to Brain Disease
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Structure/Function: Protein Shape (5 of 5)
• A protein’s shape is sensitive to the environment.
• An unfavorable change in temperature, pH, or some other factor can cause a protein to unravel.
Images of all eggs are from google
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Building a Protein
Nucleic Acids (1 of 6)
• Nucleic acids are macromolecules that
– store information and
– provide the instructions for building proteins.
• They consist of two types:
1. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid and
2. RNA (ribonucleic acid).
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Nucleic Acids (2 of 6)
• The genetic material that humans and all other organisms inherit from their parents
consists of giant molecules of DNA.
• The DNA resides in the cell as one or more very long fibers called chromosomes.
• A gene is a unit of inheritance encoded in a specific stretch of DNA that programs the
amino acid sequence of a polypeptide.
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Nucleic Acids (3 of 6)
• Nucleic acids are polymers made from monomers called nucleotides.
• Each nucleotide has three parts:
A DNA Nucleotide
1. a five-carbon sugar,
2. a phosphate group, and
3. a nitrogen-containing base.
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Nucleic Acids (4 of 6)
• Each DNA nucleotide has one of four possible nitrogenous bases:
1. adenine (A),
A DNA Nucleotide
2. guanine (G),
3. thymine (T), or
4. cytosine (C).
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Nucleic Acids (5 of 6)
• Dehydration reactions
– link nucleotide monomers into long chains called polynucleotides,
– form covalent bonds between the sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of
the next, and
– form a sugar-phosphate backbone.
• Bases (A, T, C, or G) hang off the backbone like appendages.
– A molecule of cellular DNA is double-stranded, with two polynucleotide strands
coiled around each other to form a double helix.
– Bases along one DNA strand hydrogen-bond to bases along the other strand.
– The functional groups hanging off the base determine which bases pair up:
▪ A only pairs with T and
▪ G can only pair with C.
The Structure of DNA
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Nucleic Acids (6 of 6)
An RNA Nucleotide
• Both DNA and RNA are polymers of nucleotides and both are
made of nucleotides consisting of a sugar, a phosphate, and a
base.
• But there are differences between DNA and RNA.
1. As its name ribonucleic acid denotes, the RNA sugar is
ribose rather than deoxyribose in DNA.
2. Instead of the base thymine, RNA has a similar but
distinct base called uracil (U).
3. RNA is usually found in single-stranded form, whereas
DNA usually exists as a double helix.
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The Process of Science: Does Lactose Intolerance Have a Genetic Basis?
• Background: Most lactose-intolerant people have a normal version of the lactase gene. What is the genetic basis for lactose
intolerance?
• Method: Lactose intolerance can be correlated with a single nucleotide at a particular site within one chromosome. To test this
hypothesis, researchers examined the chromosomes of 196 lactose-intolerant people from nine families.
• Results: Their results showed a 100% correlation between lactose
intolerance and having cytosine (C) rather than thymine (T) at the site.
– This study shows how a small change in a DNA nucleotide sequence
outside of a gene itself can affect production of a protein and the well-
being of an organism.
A Genetic Cause of Lactose Intolerance
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Evolution Connection: The Evolution of
Lactose Intolerance in Humans
• Most people are lactose intolerant as adults.
• Lactose intolerance is found in
– 80% of African Americans and Native Americans,
– 90% of Asian Americans, but
– only 10% of Americans of northern European descent.
• In cultures where dairy products were a staple in the diet, natural selection would have
favored anyone with a mutation that kept the lactase gene switched on beyond
infanthood.
• Ethnic groups in East Africa that rely upon dairy products are also lactose tolerant but
due to three other genetic changes that keep the lactase gene permanently active.
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