Essays, Notes, School Work

Discuss the biological importance of each of the following organic compounds in relation to cellular structure and function in plants and animals.

1. Carbohydrates
2. Lipids
3. Proteins
4. Nucleic Acids

Carbohydrates contain carbon atoms so they are considered organic. Carbohydrate examples would be sugars, cellulose, starches, and gums. Animals use carbohydrates as there main energy source for survival. Most foods that animals use contain carbohydrates. Animals don't just eat raw carbohydrates! Carbohydrates are created by photosynthetic plants. Carbohydrates contain only the molecules: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a specific ratio, usually 1:2:1.

Proteins are everywhere in your body: cell membrane, fingernails, blood, toenails, stomach. Proteins are molecules made by the ribosomes. Ribosomes can make enzymes that are also proteins. Enzymes break down things. Any word that has the -yme prefix is an enzyme. Enzymes can be used to break down particles engulfed by phagocytosis. A disease called tae-sacs is when there is a mutation in the DNA that prevents the body from producing an enzyme to break down the fat that surrounds the brain. Since the fat is never broken down the brain is squeezed to death.

Nucleic Acids are DNA and RNA tRNA, mRNA, and I think there is one more. These are used to code for the information to make a protein. For an example HTML is used to code for a webpage just like DNA is used to code for a protein. Every three letters or base pairs in your DNA code for an amino acid. The 20 different amino acids combine in different combinations to form proteins.

To make a protein, first the DNA has to be at the ribosome in order for it to work. But the DNA cannot leave the nucleus. So a polymerase enzyme enters the nucleus and separates the helix structure of the DNA. RNA base pairs bind to the DNA that needs to be copied. RNA is disposable this way it is allowed to leave the nucleus. The copy is taken to the ribosome where the protein is made. Amino acids are attached to tRNA. This tRNA contains base pairs that want to bind to the base pairs of the RNA. When they join together, then the amino acids on the tRNA come loose and they join together to form a protein.

Lipids are fats, phospholipids and steroids. A fat is consisted of Glycerols and fatty acids. Glycerol is a type of alcohol and contains three carbons. Fats are used to insulate the human body from terrible environments. Bears eat lots of food before the winter, they store it as fat and hibernate during the winter. All of this fat can serve as an energy source or it can be used as an insulation to keep them warm during cold weather. Phospholipids are almost the exact same thing as fats except they contain two fatty acids rather than three.