Chapter 6.4, Problem 3MI

Summary Introduction

To determine:

Definition of term macromolecule, polymer, carbohydrate, lipid, protein, amino acid, nucleic acid, nucleotide.

Explanation of Solution

Macromolecule: A macromolecule is referred to a single type of molecule that consists of many atoms. For example, carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, etc.

Polymer: A polymer is a large change of a single unit of smaller molecules. These smaller unit, generally referred to as monomer is joined to one another chemically in a chain.

Carbohydrate: Carbohydrate is an organic compound, which is generally considered to be hydrates of carbon. Along with carbon, they have hydrogen and oxygen in the ratio of 2:1. Examples of carbohydrates are starch, cellulose, glucose, fructose, maltose, etc.

Lipid: It is a type of organic molecule which are made up of fatty acids or their derivatives and are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents. Example of the lipids are oil, wax, and steroids.

Protein: A protein is defined as a macromolecule which consists of a chain of amino acid residues, which are joined by the peptide bonds. The proteins are complex macromolecules, which have a definite structure and it is present in all living organisms in the form of enzymes, hormones, antibodies, etc.

Amino acid: An amino acid is an organic molecule which are the building blocks of the proteins. Chemically, it is made up of a carboxylic acid, amine group, hydrogen and a R-group (variable group) attached to a central carbon, which is known as the alpha (a) - carbon.

Nucleic acid: A nucleic acid is a chemical compound that represents macromolecules made up of nucleotides and contains the genetic information of a cell. It is used to code the proteins in the biological system. It is mainly of two types, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid).

Nucleotide: The nucleotides are the building blocks of the nucleic acids, such as DNA or RNA. It is made up of a sugar (either ribose in RNA or deoxyribose in DNA), nitrogenous base (adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine or uracil) and phosphate group.