Macromolecules of Life!

Use the videos and your textbook to answer the following questions and the playdoh and
toothpicks to build models of glucose, a small piece of a lipid (fat), and an amino acid. You will
use the Nucleic acid building blocks to build a short piece of DNA 6 nucleotides long.
1. Carbohydrates
A. What is a monomer? Give two examples for carbohydrates.
A molecule that can be bonded to other identical molecules to form a polymer. A carbohydrate example, is
a potato and cellulose
B. Build a glucose ring structure monomer with playdough and toothpicks. Use a different color
of playdoh for carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms. The toothpicks serve as the bonds
between the atoms. Take a picture of your molecule and insert it into your lab here.

C. What is a polymer? Fill in the table below.

Type of Polymer

Function (s)

What types of organisms

have it

Starch

converts into glucose for

energy

plants

Glycogen

hydrolyze the glycogen to

release glucose when
needed

animals

Cellulose

fibers that keep tough walls

together and encloses plants

plants

Chitin

aids in the production of

exoskeletons

insects, fungi, crustaceans

D. Why cant we as well as dogs and cats digest cellulose very well?
We don't have the enzymes to draw nutrients from it. cellulose is a base adhesive
2. Lipids
A. What two molecules make up a Lipid?
Glycerol and fatty acid chains

B. Why is a lipid not a monomer?

There are two things that make up a lipid and a monomer means one molecule

C. Build a glycerol and part of a fatty acid chain with playdoh and toothpicks. Take a
picture of the parts and upload them to your lab here.

D. Fill in the table below:

Type of Lipid

Function

Triglyceride (or
triacylglyceride)

Transfers fat and blood

glucose from the liver

Phospholipid

Major Compound of cell

membrane

Picture (upload from

google images)

Steroid

Reproduction, Absorption,
metabolism regulation, and
brain activity

Saturated fat

give us a concentrated form

of energy, carry the fat
soluble vitamins such as,
A,D, K, and E, the cushion
and protect our essential
organs

Unsaturated fat

Primarily in plant foods like

nuts and seeds, do not raise
blood cholesterol, can be
monounsaturated or
Polyunsaturated. M reduces
cholestrol and P is said to
increase good cholesterol

Trans fat

isomers created in food

processes

E. What are other functions of fats?

3. Proteins
A. How many amino acids are there? 20 How many are important to your diet? 9
B. List the three types of amino acids. isoleucine, lysine, and methionine
C. Build Glycine, an amino acid, with playdoh and upload the picture of it here.

D. List 5 categories or functions of proteins with examples.

E. Fill out the table below:
Level of Protein Folding

Description

Primary

Its unique sequence of aminos acids

Secondary

parts of the polypeptide cold or fold into local

patterns

Tertiary

three dimensional shape of a polypeptide

Quaternary

consists of two or more polypeptide chains

4. Nucleic Acids
1. What does DNA and RNA stand for?
Deoxyribonucleic Acid and Ribonucleic acid
2. What is the basic monomer of DNA? What three things make it up? Nucleotides,
Deoxyribose, glucose, and phosphate
3. What bases pair in DNA?Adenine and Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine
4. Fill the table in below:

Base

Pyrimidine or Purine

Adenine

Purine

Guanine

Pyrimidine

Cytosine

Pyrimidine

Picture (upload from

Google images)

Uracil

Purine

Thymine

Purine

5. Build a 6 nucleotide
long molecule of
DNA with the kits provided by Mrs. D. Take a picture and upload it here.
6. List four ways that DNA and RNA are different from each other. RNA contains
Sugar ribose. Dna contains sugar deoxyribose. RNA is single stranded. In DNA adenine
links to thymine unlike RNA which has adenine link to uracil.
7. Fill in the table below:
Type of RNA

Function

mRNA

specify the amino acid sequence of the

protein products of the gene expression

tRNA

RNa molecule that helps decode mRNA,

synthesizes a protein from mRNA molecule

rRNA

Bind tRNA and other accessory molecules for

protein synthesis

snRNA (part of a SNRP)

involved in splicing or other RNA processing

reactions

RNAi

biological process in which RNA molecules

inhibit gene expression

8. Why is it important to understand the biochemistry of macromolecules? How does it relate to

the process of digestion? It is important so you know how to be healthy and what to eat. It
relates to digestion because you will know what food you need to digest to live.