Biological Molecules

By Brad Kremer

Water  (H2O)

•Universal  solvent

• Polar  

• Required

Carbon  Dioxide  (CO2)• C  and  O• respira6on  output  (heterotrophs)

• photosynthesis  input  (autotrophs)

• stored  in  biomass

Image credit: http://bioh.wikispaces.com

Trace how carbon moves through different trophic levels.

Image credit: http://www.dec.ny.gov

Carbohydrateschains  of  C,  H,  and  O

• supply  energy  in  cells  and  food  chains

• short-­‐term  energy  (glycogen)

• simple  sugars  (glucose)  make  complex  molecules

• long  chains,  such  as  cellulose,  are  used  for  cellular  structure

C6H12O6

Notice that glucose is a short chain...

Image credit: http://www.elmhurst.edu

Carbohydrates … and how these molecules are increasingly complex.

Image credit: http://industrialsfloor.com

Proteinsmost  important  biological  molecule

• func6ons:◦ enzymes◦ cell  building  blocks◦ hormones◦ an6bodies

• made  of  chains  of  amino  acids

• only  20  amino  acids  make  all  the  1000ʹ′s  of  proteins  in  the  world

Image credit: wikimedia.org

Lipids • Hydrophilic  polar  head

• Hydrophobic  non-­‐polar  tails

Image credit: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu

Nucleo>des• made  of  C,  H,  O,  P,  and  N

• 3  parts  of  each  nucleo6de:• nitrogen  base• sugar• phosphate

• 4  different  nitrogen  bases  to  know:

• adenine• cytosine• guanine• thymine

Image credit: http://science.howstuffworks.com

Image credit:

Nucleic  Acidstwo  kinds:

• DNA:  sequence  of  nucleo6des  makes  up  the  gene6c  code  

• RNA:  translates  the  code  into  specific  proteins