Why Biomolecules are important for the life?
Why Biomolecules are important for life?
Answer:
Biomolecules
are basically organic molecules that include carbohydrates, proteins, lipids,
and nucleic acids. They are important for the survival of living cells.
Moreover, among biomolecules, nucleic acids, namely DNA and RNA, have
the unique function of storing an organism's genetic code - the sequence of
nucleotides that determines the amino acid sequence of proteins, which are of
critical importance to life on Earth. The diversity in their shape and structure provides diversity in
their functions.
Proteins
Proteins
are the primary building materials of the body. Your hair, skin, muscles, and
organs are composed mostly of proteins. Proteins are strong yet flexible, and
they have a complex 3-D structure. Amino acids are the basic building blocks of
proteins. There are 20 amino acids that are important to humans, and all
proteins are made from combinations of these subunits. Chains of amino acids
are called peptides. When food is consumed, the proteins are broken down into
their constituent amino acids and rebuilt into the proteins of the body.
However, excess amino acids are not stored for future use, and the body only
starts to break down its own proteins during starvation, when ordinary
sources of fuel are not available.
Fats (lipids)
Fats are
the primary long-term energy storage molecules of the body. Fats are very
compact and lightweight, so they are an efficient way to store excess energy.
Fat is made up of glycerol. Most of the energy from fats comes from the many
carbon bonds in these long, fatty acid chains. Fatty acids connect to glycerol
in the region where each molecule has an -O-H group. Two hydrogens and one
oxygen are split off, forming H-O-H (water) and the long carbon chain is
attached to the glycerol. Each glycerol can carry up to three fatty acid
chains,. When each
fatty acid is attached to glycerol, a water molecule is produced. To reverse
the reaction and split the fatty acid from the glycerol, just add water and
energy.
Carbohydrates
Glucose,
a 6-carbon sugar, is a simple carbohydrate or "mono-saccharide." Sugar is a source of quick
energy for the body because it is easily metabolized (broken down). Larger,
more "complex carbohydrates" are made by stringing together chains of
glucose subunits into di-saccharides, tri-saccharides, and poly-saccharides. Starch
is a complex carbohydrate that plants create for energy storage, and is the
most common carbohydrate in the human diet. Foods like potatoes, corn, rice,
and wheat are rich in starch. Animals break the starches back down into glucose
subunits and convert the glucose into glycogen for storage. Glycogen is a complex storage molecule made
from glucose using insulin. Diabetics, who lack insulin, cannot make glycogen
so they excrete excess sugar in their urine. Glucose is broken down through a
process called glycolysis (lysis means splitting) in order
to release energy stored in the carbon-carbon bonds.
Nucleic Acids
These
molecules contain the genetic code, which has all the information necessary to
build the body. The basic unit is called a nucleotide, which is composed of a
sugar-phosphate backbone attached to one of four nitrogenous bases; cytosine,
guanine, adenine, or thymine. C joins to G, and G to C by three hydrogen bonds,
indicated by the dotted lines. A joins T and T to A by two hydrogen bonds.
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