Assignment task:
From the text below create and discuss in a paper the four macromolecules necessary for life: Hi It's Mr. Andersen and welcome to Biology Essentials Video 42. In this podcast we're going to spend a lot of time talking about the other three types of macromolecules and so biological molecules. There are four different types of biological molecules: nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates. Lipids are not made up of monomers, but rather one monomer, and they are a great source of energy. Nucleic acids are made up of sugar, phosphate group, and nitrogenous base. They carry genetic material from generation to generation. Proteins make up almost everything that you're looking at right now, and the building blocks of proteins are amino acids. The structure of a protein is what's important, and the structure of a protein is made up of monomers, and there are clear directionality in each of these molecules. Monomers are the building blocks of polymers and so the analogy is going to be that the letters are going to become polymers when you put them together. So to attach amino acids together we do what's called dehydration synthesis and it's going to be important that you understand it. When we attach two amino acids together, we are missing water. In dehydration synthesis, we lose a water and form a bond, which is a peptide bond, and we can attach another amino acid on this side, another one on this side, etc. We get the building blocks of proteins in our diet, which is broken down into amino acids and woven back together again through a polymer to make proteins. Nucleic acids are the genetic material, and there are two different types, RNA and Dna. A nucleotide is made of a phosphate group attached to a sugar attached to a base. The backbone of a nucleic acid is made of a phosphate group attached to a sugar attached to a phosphate attached to a sugar. The nitrogenous bases in Rna and Dna are Cytosine, Guanine, Adenine and Uracil, and Cytosine, Guanine, Adenine and Thymine, respectively. The directionality of nucleic acids is from 3 Prime to Phi Prime. If we look over here on this side, we see the 3 prime end of this strand, and here we see the 5 prime end of this strand. And so when we see 3 Prime and 5 Prime, we know which sugar it is. There are 20 amino acids and we have to get these 20 essential amino acids in our diet. An amino acid is made up of a carbon in the middle, a hydrogen off one side, a carboxyl group, a functional group, and an amino group. The side chains of amino acids are what make them different. These side chains are what give the structure to proteins, and they fold themselves inside the protein to give it the specific structure. When I eat a big steak, two enzymes break it down into amino acids, which we can use to make more proteins. Lipids give us energy, but they also make the membranes inside us. Lipids have a long jagged E line that comes out the end, and that E line is made up of carbon and hydrogen, and that hydrocarbon tail gives lipids their energy. A phospholipid is amphipathic, meaning it has a nonpolar portion back here and a polar portion up here. A lipid is either saturated or unsaturated depending on whether it has a double bond or not. A double bond causes a lipid to bend, while an unsaturated lipid is straight. Margarine is a saturated fat, which means it's going to be a liquid at room temperature. Trans fats are bad in our diet. It's better to have unsaturated fats. Carbohydrates give us energy, but they can also give us structure. Glucose is the quintessential sugar, but there are different types of glucose, such as alpha and beta, and it depends on where the hydroxyl group comes off of the sugar. The building blocks of life are glucose, sugars, and dehydration synthesis. You should know what they are, what they do, and what the monomers are.