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The structure and Function of Large Biological Molecules, Macromolecules…
The structure and Function of Large Biological Molecules
A polymer is a long molecule consisting of many similar or identical building blocks linked by covalent bonds, musch as a train consists of a chain of cars.
The repeating units that serve as the building blocks of a polymer are
smaller molecules called monomers
Although each class of polymer is made up of a different type of monomer, the chemical mechanisms by which cells make and break down polymers are basically the same in all cases.
Polymers are disassembled to monomers by hydrolysis, a process that is essentially the reverse of the dehydration reaction
The inherited differences between close relatives, such as human siblings, reflect small variations in polymers, particularly DNA and proteins.
A cell has thousands of different macromolecules; the collection varies from one type of cell to another.
Carbohydrates include sugars and polymers of sugars.
Monosaccharides generally have molecular formulas that are some multiple of the unit CH2O. Glucose (C6H12O6), the most common monosaccharide, is of central importance in the chemistry of life.
A disaccharide consists of two monosaccharides joined by a glycosidic linkage, a covalent formed between two monosaccharides by a dehydration reaction (glyco refers to crabohydrate).
Polysaccharides are macromolecules, polymers with a
few hundred to a few thousand monosaccharides joined by glycosidic linkages
Plants store starch, a polymer of glucose monomers, as granules within cellular structures known as plastids.
Animals store a polysaccharide called glycogen, a polymer of glucose that is like amylopectin but more extensively
branched
Organisms build strong materials from structural polysaccharides.
the polysaccharide called cellulose is a mojor component of the tough walls that enclose plant cells.
Another important structural polysaccharide is chitin, the carbohydrate used by arthropods (insects, spiders, crustaceans, and related animals) to build their exoskeletons
Macromolecules are polymers,
built from monomers
The Synthesis and Breakdown of Polymers
The Diversity of Polymers
Carbohydrates serve as fuel
and building material
Sugars
Storage Polysaccharides
Structural Polysaccharides