BIOLOGY

A GUIDE TO THE NATURAL WORLD

FOURTH EDITION

DAVID KROGH

Lifes Components:
Biological Molecules
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3.1 Carbon is Central to the Living World

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Carbon is Central to the Living World

Carbonisacentralelementtolifebecause
mostbiologicalmoleculesarebuilt
onacarbonframework.

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Why is Carbon Central to Life?

Thecomplexityoflivingthingsisfacilitatedby
carbonslinkagecapacity.
Carbonhasgreatbondingcapacityduetoits
structure.

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Why is Carbon Central to Life?

Carbonsoutershellhasonlyfouroftheeight
electronsnecessaryformaximumstabilityin
mostelements.

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Why is Carbon Central to Life?

Carbonatomsarethusabletoformstable,
covalentbondswithawidevarietyofatoms,
includingothercarbonatoms.

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Why is Carbon Central to Life?

PLAY

Animation 3.1: The Chemistry of Carbon

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3.2 Functional Groups

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Functional Groups
Groupsofatomsknownasfunctionalgroups
canconferspecialpropertiesoncarbonbased
molecules.
Carbonisacentralelementtolifebecausemost
biologicalmoleculesarebuiltonacarbon
framework.

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Functional Groups
Forexample,theadditionofanOHgrouptoa
hydrocarbonmoleculealwaysresultsinthe
formationofanalcohol.

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Functional Groups

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Table 3.1

Functional Groups
Functionalgroupsoftenimpartanelectrical
chargeorpolarityontomolecules,thus
affectingtheirbondingcapacity.

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3.3 The Molecules of Life:

Carbohydrates

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Carbohydrates
Carbohydratesareformedfromthebuilding
blocksormonomersofsimplesugars,suchas
glucose.
Thesemonomerscanbelinkedtoformlarger
carbohydratepolymers,whichareknownas
polysaccharidesorcomplexcarbohydrates.

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Carbohydrates
PLAY

Animation 3.2: Monomers and Polymers

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Complex Carbohydrates
Fourpolysaccharidesarecriticalintheliving
world:

starch
glycogen
cellulose
chitin

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Four Complex Carbohydrates

(a) Potato

(b) Liver

(c) Algae

(d) Tick

Starch

Glycogen

Cellulose

Chitin

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Figure 3.6

Four Complex Carbohydrates

1. Starchisthenutrientstorageformof
carbohydratesinplants.

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Four Complex Carbohydrates

2. Glycogenisthenutrientstorageformof
carbohydratesinanimals.

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Four Complex Carbohydrates

3. Celluloseisarigid,structuralcarbohydrate
foundinthecellswallsofmanyorganisms.

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Four Complex Carbohydrates

4. Chitinisatoughcarbohydratethatformsthe
externalskeletonofarthropods.

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Four Complex Carbohydrates

PLAY

Animation 3.3: Carbohydrates

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3.4 Lipids

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Lipids
Thedefiningcharacteristicofalllipidsisthat
theydonotreadilydissolveinwater.

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Lipids
Lipidsdonotpossessthemonomersto
polymersstructureseeninotherbiological
molecules;noonestructuralelementis
commontoalllipids.

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Lipids
Amongthemostimportantlipidsarethe
triglycerides,composedofaglycerideand
threefattyacids.
Mostofthefatsthathumanbeingsconsumeare
triglycerides.

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The Triglyceride Tristearin

glycerol

fatty acids

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Figure 3.9

Steroids
Anotherimportantvarietyoflipidsisthe
steroids,allofwhichhaveacoreoffour
carbonrings.
Examplesincludecholesterolandsuch
hormonesastestosteroneandestrogen.

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Steroids
(a) Four-ring steroid structure

(b) Side chains make each steroid unique

testosterone

estrogen

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cholesterol

Figure 3.12

Phospholipids
Athirdclassoflipidsisthephospholipids,
eachofwhichiscomposedoftwofattyacids,
glycerol,andaphosphategroup.
Thematerialformingtheoutermembraneof
cellsislargelycomposedofphospholipids.

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Phospholipids
(a) Phospholipid structure

variable phosphate
group
group
polar head

nonpolar tails

(b) Phospholipid orientation

phospholipids

like attracts like

nonpolar hydrophobic
tails (fatty acids)
exposed to oil

oil (nonpolar)
water (polar)
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polar hydrophilic
heads exposed to
water
Figure 3.14

Waxes
Afourthclassoflipidsisthewaxes,eachof
whichiscomposedofasinglefattyacidlinked
toalongchainalcohol.
Waxeshaveanimportantsealingfunctionin
thelivingworld.
Almostallplantsurfacesexposedtoair,for
example,haveaprotectivecoveringmade
largelyofwax.

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Waxes

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Figure 3.15

Lipids
PLAY

Animation 3.4: Lipids

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3.5 Proteins

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Proteins
Proteinsareanextremelydiversegroupof
biologicalmoleculescomposedofthe
monomerscalledaminoacids.

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Proteins
Sequencesofaminoacidsarestrungtogetherto
producepolypeptidechains,whichthenfold
upintoworkingproteins.
Importantgroupsofproteinsincludeenzymes,
whichhastenchemicalreactions,and
structuralproteins,whichmakeupsuch
structuresashair.

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Types of Protein

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Table 3.3

Levels of Protein Structure

Theprimarystructureofaproteinisitsamino
acidsequence;thissequencedeterminesa
proteinssecondarystructuretheforma
proteinassumesafterhavingfoldedup.

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Beginnings of a Protein
The linkage of several amino acids . . .

ala

gln

ala

gln

ile

ile

. . . produces a polypeptide chain like this:

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A typical protein would

consist of hundreds of
amino acids

Figure 3.18

Levels of Protein Structure

Thelargerscalethreedimensionalshapethata
proteinassumesisitstertiarystructure,andthe
waytwoormorepolypeptidechainscome
togethertoformaproteinresultsinthat
proteinsquaternarystructure.
Theactivitiesofproteinsaredeterminedby
theirfinalfoldedshapes.

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Levels of Protein Structure

Four Levels of Structure In Proteins
(a) Primary structure
The primary structure of any
protein is simply its sequence
of amino acids. This sequence
determines everything else
about the proteins final shape.
(b) Secondary structure
Structural motifs, such as
the corkscrew-like alpha
helix, beta pleated sheets,
and the less organized
random coils are parts
beta pleated sheet
of many polypeptide
chains, forming their
secondary structure.
(c) Tertiary structure
These motifs may persist
through a set of larger-scale
turns that make up the
tertiary structure of the
molecule

(d) Quaternary structure

Several polypeptide chains
may be linked together in a
given protein, in this case
hemoglobin, with their
configuration forming its
quaternary structure.

amino acid sequence

alpha helix
random coil

folded polypeptide
chain

two or more
polypeptide chains

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Figure 3.20

Lipoproteins
Lipoproteinsarebiologicalmoleculesthatare
combinationsoflipidsandproteins.
Highdensityandlowdensitylipoproteins
(HDLsandLDLs,respectively),which
transportcholesterolinhumanbeings,are
importantdeterminantsofhumanheartdisease.

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Glycoproteins
Glycoproteinsarecombinationsof
carbohydratesandproteins.
Thesignalreceivingreceptorsfoundoncell
surfacesoftenareglycoproteins.

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Proteins
PLAY

Animation 3.5: Proteins

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3.6 Nucleic Acids

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Nucleic Acids
Nucleicacidsarepolymers
composedofnucleotides.

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Nucleotides
ThenucleicacidDNA(deoxyribonucleicacid)
iscomposedofnucleotidesthatcontainasugar
(deoxyribose),aphosphategroup,andoneof
fournitrogencontainingbases.

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Nucleotides
(a) Nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA.
Nucleotide
DNA consists of two
strands of nucleotides
linked by hydrogen
bonds

nitrogenous
base
sugar
(deoxyribose)

phosphate
group

(b) A computer-generated
model of DNA

The outer
rails of the
double helix
are composed
of sugar and
phosphate
components of
the molecule

The rungs
consist of
bases
hydrogenbonded
together

DNA
double helix
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Figure 3.21

Nucleic Acids
DNAisarepositoryofgeneticinformation.
Thesequenceofitsbasesencodesthe
informationfortheproductionofthehuge
arrayofproteinsproducedbylivingthings.

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Nucleic Acids
AsecondnucleicacidisRNA(ribonucleic
acid),whichtransportstheinformationencoded
inDNAtothesitesofproteinsynthesis
structurescalledribosomesandwhichhelps
makeupthestructureofribosomes.

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Nucleic Acids
PLAY

Animation 3.6: Nucleic Acids

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Biological Molecules

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Table 3.4