Biological Molecules

Question 1

What are the most important biological molecules?

Answer 1

1. Water
2. Ions & organic molecules (Na+, Cl-, HPO4-2 etc..)
3. Sugars
4. Fatty acids
5. Individual nucleotides
6. Individual amino acids
7. Proteins & Polypeptides
8. RNA
9. DNA
10. Lipids
11. Polysaccharides

Question 2

What percent of the total cell weight do small molecules constitute for?

Answer 2

74%

Question 3

What percent of the total cell weight do medium & big molecules constitute for?

Answer 3

26%

Question 4

What is the percentage of each small molecule that make up the 74%?

Answer 4

Water= 70%

Ions & organic molecules= 1.2%

Sugars= 1%

Fatty acids= 1%

Individual nucleotides= 0.4%

Individual amino acids= 0.4%

Question 5

What is the percentage of each medium & big molecule that make up the 26%?

Answer 5

Proteins & polypeptides= 15%

RNA= 6%

DNA= 12%

Lipids= 2%

Polysaccharides= 2%

Question 6

What are proteins and polypeptides?

Answer 6

Polymers of amino acids.

eg. Insulin
Hemoglobin
Enzymes

Question 7

What are Nucleic acids?

Answer 7

Polymers of nucleotides (base-sugar-phosphate)

eg. DNA & RNA

Question 8

What are Polysaccharides?

Answer 8

Polymers of sugars.

eg. Glycogen
Starch

Question 9

How many building block amino acids are there?

Answer 9

20