Section 3: The Building Blocks of Life
Organisms are made up of carbon-based molecules.
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What I Know
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What I Want to Find Out
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What I Learned
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9(A) Compare the structures and functions of different types of
biomolecules, including carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic
acids.
4(B) Investigate and explain cellular processes, including homeostasis,
energy conversions, transport of molecules, and synthesis of new molecules.
6(A) Identify components of DNA, and describe how information for
specifying the traits of an organism is carried in the DNA.
9(D) Analyze and evaluate the evidence regarding formation of simple
organic molecules and their organization into long complex molecules having
information such as the DNA molecule for self-replicating life.
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The Building Blocks of Life
Essential Questions
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What is the role of carbon in living organisms?
What are the four major families of biological macromolecules?
What are the functions of each group of biological macromolecules?
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The Building Blocks of Life
Vocabulary
Review
New
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organic compound
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macromolecule
polymer
carbohydrate
lipid
protein
amino acid
nucleic acid
nucleotide
The Building Blocks of Life
Organic Chemistry
• Organic chemistry is the study of organic compounds – compounds
that contain carbon.
• Carbon is a component of almost all biological molecules.
• Carbon atoms bond together to form a variety of important organic
compounds.
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The Building Blocks of Life
Macromolecules
• Macromolecules are large molecules that are formed by joining smaller
organic molecules together.
• Polymers are molecules made from repeating units of identical or
nearly identical compounds called monomers.
• Macromolecules are organized into four major categories:
• Carbohydrates
• Lipids
• Proteins
• Nucleic acids
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The Building Blocks of Life
Macromolecules
Carbohydrates
• Compounds composed of a ratio of 1 carbon :2 hydrogen :1 oxgyen
are called carbohydrates.
• In general, carbohydrates have a general formula of (CH2O)n where n
indicates the number of CH2O units in the chain.
• Carbohydrates are a central energy source in organisms, as well as
functioning as cellular support in plants, fungi, and animals.
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The Building Blocks of Life
Macromolecules
Lipids
• Lipids are molecules made mostly of carbon and hydrogen that make
up the fats, oils, and waxes.
• A lipid’s primary function is to store energy, but they are also used to
prevent water loss in plants and form the honeycomb in beehives.
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The Building Blocks of Life
Macromolecules
Proteins
• Proteins are compounds made of smaller carbon compounds called amino
acids.
• All amino acids are made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and
sometimes sulfur and share the same general structure.
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The Building Blocks of Life
Macromolecules
Proteins
• There are 20 different amino acids, and proteins are composed of various
combinations
• Proteins are responsible for structural support in cells, transporting
substances within and between cells, signaling within and between cells,
speeding up chemical reactions, and controlling cell growth.
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The Building Blocks of Life
Amino Acid and Protein Structure
Animation
FPO
Add link to interactive table from page 170 (Figure 29) here.
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Water and Solutions
Macromolecules
Nucleic acids
• Nucleic acids are complex macromolecules that transmit and store genetic
information.
• Nucleic acids are composed of smaller repeating subunits composed of
carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and hydrogen called nucleotides.
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The Building Blocks of Life
Macromolecules
Nucleic acids
• There are two types of nucleic acids in living organisms:
• Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
• Ribonucleic acid (RNA)
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education
The Building Blocks of Life
Review
Essential Questions
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What is the role of carbon in living organisms?
What are the four major families of biological macromolecules?
What are the functions of each group of biological macromolecules?
Vocabulary
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macromolecule
polymer
carbohydrate
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education
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lipid
protein
amino acid
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nucleic acid
nucleotide
The Building Blocks of Life