Bulkding Blocks Of Life

Question 1

What is a macromolecule?

Answer 1

This is a very large molecule that is necessary for life, they are made from smaller units that are called “building blocks”and there are 4 types of macromolecules!
Proteins
Carbohydrates
Nucleic acids ( DNA RNA )
Lipids

Question 2

List building blocks and the corresponding macromolecules they give rise to

Answer 2

The 4 building blocks are
- amino acids
- Nucleobases
- simple carbohydrates
- lipids

Amino acids - when you mix the 2 amino acids together they can form proteins
Nucleobases- these make up DNA and RNA
Simple carbohydrates- these make up complex carbohydrates
Lipids - these are just big chunks of biological material that are joined together

Question 3

What are the common building block (monomer) of carbohydrates.

Answer 3

The common building blocks of carbohydrates are
- monosaccharides - this is just a single building block on its own
- Disaccharide- this is 2 building blocks joined together
- ollgosacorides - this is 3 or 10 building blocks joined together
- polysaccharide- 10 or more

Question 4

What is polysaccharides in depth

Answer 4

This is 10 or more building blocks joined together. These are made out of Glucose polymers only, so the circle thing that make it up are called glucose polymers
These are complex carbohydrates and there are 3 types
1) starch - these are found in plants. And there are 2 types ( Amylose and amylopectin ) the amylose one is just a line of glucose polymers together and the amylopectin is a line with branches of glucose polymers together
2) glycogen - this is found in animals and humans, complex carbohydrates, it is kind of the same as the amylopectin but it’s more complicated, so has more branches
3) the third one is found in plants and this is glucose polymers that are stacked on top of each other.

Question 5

Explain Monosaccharides in depth

Answer 5

There are 2 types of monosaccharides, hexane and pentane, they refer to the number of carbon atoms that they have in the ring structure. How you count these is by starting at the first oxygen and count right, hexane monosaccharides are used and joined in a linear fashion to form complex carbohydrates and they have 6 carbons

Pentane monosaccharides, they form parts of DNA and RNA, and they have 5 carbons. In the pentane ring structure, for DNA the second carbon is a hydrogen and for RNA is it an OH bond.

Question 6

Explain Disaccharides

Answer 6

These are just 2 building blocks joined together and they are combined with an oxygen, so it’s 2 ring structures that are joined together

Question 7

What are the functions of Carbohydrates

Answer 7

• recognition
• Energy
• structure

Question 8

How does the function of carbohydrates recognition

Answer 8

Many carbohydrates found on a cell membrane and depending on the carbohydrates it will have diffent function, so some carbonate on the cell membrane recognise
- bacteria
- proteins
- anti body
- toxin
This is cell-to-cell recognition.

Question 9

How is energy a function of carbohydrates

Answer 9

The food that we eat contain carbohydrates, we eat and digest the carbohydrates and so when the body needs the carbohydrates to get energy it will chop up the glucose polymers and then the mitochondria will use it to generate energy

Question 10

How is structure a function of carbohydrates

Answer 10

The structure matters. For example celluous, ( the last glucose polymers that are stacked up on top of each other) , this is only for plants so use as humans are not able to use this as an energy source even though they only contain of glucose polymers. However for starch and glycogen we can use these as we have the enzymes to break the bonds, but for the celluous we don’t have the enzyme to break the bonds

Question 11

What are Nucleic acids

Answer 11

They are information molecules, the DNA and RNA

Question 12

What are the building blocks for the nucleic acids

Answer 12

Nucleotides, they are made up of 3 parts
Phosphate, they are both the same for DNA and RNA
sugars - we use the Pentane ring structure and the difference for DNA and RNA is the 2nd Carbon, H for the DNA and OH for RNA
BASE - DNA has bases of AGCT (AT) (GC) while RNA has a bases of AGUC (AU) (GC)

Question 13

What is the structure of DNA and RNA

Answer 13

They both have a sugar phosphate backbone
However RNA is just one long chain and DNA is 2 strands twisted together it can be called a DNA helix

Question 14

What is the function of a protein

Answer 14

The carry out functions, they are the action molecule of a cell

Question 15

What are amino acids

Answer 15

Amino acids are a building block, there are 20 different standard amino acids and all amino acids have the same structure apart from the “R” group. The R group is classified as a side chain

Question 16

What are Lipids

Answer 16

They are not Polymers, they are large chunky molecules containing, fats, steroids,
.
They are also Hydrophobic molecules, this means that they are Africa’s of water, so they repel water

Lipids are fatty compounds that perform a variety of functions in your body. They’re part of your cell membranes and help control what goes in and out of your cells. They help with moving and storing energy, absorbing vitamins and making hormones. Having too much of some lipids is harmful.

Question 17

What are the function of the lipids

Answer 17

Structural - majority lipids making up cell membrane are called PHOSPHOLIPIDS, these have a polar head region and has has 2 fatty acid chains attached

Lipids are fatty compounds that perform a variety of functions in your body. They’re part of your cell membranes and help control what goes in and out of your cells. They help with moving and storing energy, absorbing vitamins and making hormones. Having too much of some lipids is harmful. The fats help provide energy and fats have way more energy than carbohydrates

Question 18

What is cholesterol

Answer 18

They have a role in the cell membrane and it is good for the body. Its main function is to maintain the integrity and fluidity of cell membranes

This is a function of lipids

Question 19

What is the testosterone function

Answer 19

testosterone at the molecular level controls the expression of important regulatory proteins involved in glycolysis, glycogen synthesis and lipid and cholesterol metabolism. This is part of the regularity function of the lipid

Question 20

What is the estrogen function in the lipid

Answer 20

Estrogen regulates the growth, development, and physiology of the human reproductive system. Your body needs estrogen for your reproductive, cardiovascular and bone health. Too much estrogen, though, can cause irregular periods and may worsen conditions that affect your reproductive health. And it is part of the regularity function of the Lipid