AS Level Biology

Biological Molecules- Lecture 1

By Muhammad Ishaq Khan
Molecular Biology(1/2)
• It is the study of biological molecules, from which living
organisms are made.
• Biochemistry: Molecular Biology is linked with Biochemistry,
as chemical reactions of biological molecules or biochemicals
are studied in this branch of Biology.
• Metabolism: It is total sum of all the biochemical reactions in
living organisms.
Molecular Biology(2/2)
• There are two types of metabolic reactions:
i. Catabolism: in which larger molecules or complex ones are
degraded or broken down into their components, e.g. Proteins
are made up of 20 types of amino acids, so when proteins
undergo catabolic reactions, then amino acids are produced.
ii. Anabolism: in which simpler or small component molecules
make up large or complex molecules, e.g., carbohydrates like
polysaccharides are made from smaller components which are
monosaccharides. In the same way proteins are made from
amino acids.
Elements in living organisms (1/2)
• There are four common elements composing molecules of
organisms, which are Hydrogen(H),Carbon(C), Oxygen(O) and
Nitrogen(N) in order of abundance. These four elements
account for more than 99% of the atoms found in organisms.
Other elements are trace elements or less than 1%.
• Carbon is specially important as atoms of carbon join to form
long chains or ring structures of molecules, so they built up
basic skeleton of organic molecules. Groups of other atoms
are attached to carbon chains or skeleton.
Elements in living organisms(2/4)
• Organic molecules always contain carbon and hydrogen.
Many also contain nitrogen, oxygen while some have
phosphorous and Sulphur as well.
• Period of chemical evolution: Before evolution of life, an
organic soup was made in oceans comprising of thousands of
carbon-based molecules. These carbon-based molecules
evolved from the more simple molecules existing on young
planet Earth.
Elements in living organisms(3/4)
• Organic soup evolved from methane (CH4), Carbon
dioxide(CO2), Hydrogen(H2), water(H2O), nitrogen(N2),
ammonia(NH3) and Hydrogen sulfide(H2S). An electrical
discharge in that age caused different combinations of these
molecules and simple biological molecules were formed.
Then it gave rise to complex molecules.
Elements in living organisms(4/4)
• Figure shows which basic building
blocks or molecules gave rise to
large or complex macromolecules.
Macromolecules-(1/3)
• Macromolecules:
➢ Polysaccharides
➢ Proteins/Polypeptides
➢ Nucleic acids/Poly nucleotides like DNA,RNA
These molecules are polymers(Poly: many, mer: unit) made up
of many repeating units called monomers(mono: single, mer:
unit)
• Monomer amino acid, Polymer: protein
• Monomer monosaccharide, Polymer: polysaccharide
• Monomer nucleotide, Polymer: nucleic acids, DNA/RNA
Macromolecules-(2/3)
• Lipids are not polymer but made up of simpler biochemicals
like glycerol and fatty acids
• Nucleotides are also not polymers but made up of organic
bases(adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine, uracil), pentose
sugar and phosphate groups.
• Natural examples of polymers are cellulose and rubber. Some
examples of industrially produced polymers are polyester,
polythene, PVC(poly vinyl chloride) and nylon etc. All these are
made from carbon-based monomers containing thousands of
carbon atoms joined end to end.
Macromolecules-(3/3)
• Starch is example of a naturally occurring Polymer. It is also
called amylose. Glycogen is also such a polymer found in
animals. Starch and cellulose are found in plants.