Explain the types and importance of biomolecules

Answer 1

So there are four types of biomolecules. Proteins, Carbohydrates, Nucleic Acids, and lipids.

Lipids can come from De Novo synthesis (which is where your body can make them) or from exogenous diet (aka the food you eat, an example would be Omega's 3-6-9 and cannot be produced via De Novo Synthesis). The main role of lipids is for hormone production, phospholipid membranes around different structures within the cell for instance the mitochondria, lysosomes, etc., immune system, inflammation, blood pressure, and many other things throughout the body. They're typically amphipathic, which means part of the molecule avoids water and part of it interacts with water and this allows the cell and specific compartments within the cell to allow certain nutrients in and out of the cell, which also helps in regulating certain biological functions. Keep in mind that although the lipids may not interact with water this is not due to water not liking fat its just that water likes it's self more since its ability to hydrogen bond makes it much more stable.

Proteins are made up of roughly 20 different amino acids in the L configuration (typically R is not biologically viable due to pure luck of evolution, we don't fully understand the reasoning why evolution chose this yet) you have some essential and non-essential amino acids, essential have to come from the diet and non-essential can be synthesized in the body. Your body uses proteins mainly as enzymes to catalyze molecular reactions via an enzyme and it's substrate. Your body can also use proteins for structural support and stability. Proteins are held together via Carbon and Nitrogen bonds known as peptide bonds (peptide = chain of multiple amino acids = protein), which is formed via a condensation reaction meaning it releases water (H2O) when it undergoes these types of reactions.

Nucleic Acids are made up of pyrimidines and purines, which are Guanine, Thymine, Adenine, Cytosine, and Uracil. Nucleic Acids make up your DNA and RNA. DNA is what the body uses to form proteins and only 1-2% of your entire genome (all of your DNA) encodes proteins from exon regions ( coding regions) you also have intron regions (non-coding regions), which are present in a vast majority as a defense mechanism your body uses to protect the important information (DNA) from becoming mutated and implicating vast biological harm upon the system. All together the main difference between DNA and RNA is that DNA uses G-C-A-T and RNA uses G-C-A-U and DNA holds the genetic information then a form of RNA know as messenger RNA (mRNA) reads it and takes the information to transfer RNA (tRNA), which then brings it out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm into the ribosomes to generate a protein so it can then carry out it's function. Overall it goes DNA-->RNA-->Protein.

Carbohydrates are used in the body as a main form of energy. Some of the major ones are Glucose, Fructose, Galactose, Lactose, etc. and many of these get broken down via Glycolysis,which generates pyruvate to enter the citric acid cycle also known as the krebbs cycle then further into the electron transport chain. The overall goal is to generate ATP, which is the body's energy currency and the body uses ATP to make biological reactions occur more rapidly in the body. When carbohydrates are consumed in excess they can be stored as Glycogen, which the body stores in case you're every in need of energy when the lack of carbohydrates from the diet is present aka low blood sugar.

Answer 2

There are four major biomolecules. These include polypeptides, nucleotides, lipids, and polysaccharides. Polypeptides are used to synthesize proteins which includes important enzymes. Nucleotides make up nucleic acids with the most notable being DNA and RNA. Lipids are used in the production of fatty acids which we find in our cell membranes. Finally, polysaccharides form carbohydrates in the form of starch and sugars with glucose being a major energy source for life processes.