× Didn't find what you were looking for? Ask a question
Top Posters
Since Sunday
a
5
k
5
c
5
B
5
l
5
C
4
s
4
a
4
t
4
i
4
r
4
r
4
New Topic  
julies julies
wrote...
Posts: 51
Rep: 0 0
11 years ago
What are the molecules (monomers) that build polysaccharides,proteins and lipids? Thank you so much for all of your help!!
Read 1001 times
3 Replies

Related Topics

Replies
wrote...
11 years ago
monosaccharides
amino acid
triglycerol and fatty acid chains
wrote...
11 years ago
polysaccharides,- monosaccharides
proteins - Amino acids
 lipids don't have a monomer. They are polymers of fatty acids and glycerol in ration of 3 : 1.
wrote...
11 years ago
Polysaccharides are another fancy word for complex carbohydrates. So a molecule such as glycogen, cellulose, and maltose would be polysaccharides. Technically, multiples of monasaccharides build up polysaccharides. So if we have a long chain of glucose molecules, they form a chain covalently bonded by glycosidic linkages.

The monomers of a protein would be amino acids. There are 20 known amino acids, each forming a different combinations of protein chain. Just for your information, a long chain of amino acid is called a polypeptide chain, each covalently bonded by peptide bonds.

Now lipids can get confusing. The most commonly known complex lipid is called a triglyceride, which is composed of a glycerol head and three fatty acid tails. Depending on the type of lipid you are looking at, there can be a variety of fatty acid tails. For example, phospolipid (the ones that make up the cell membrance) has one glycerol, one phosphate head, and two fattly acid tails.

Now just for your own information, there is a fourth macromolecule called nucleic acid. The monomer for nucleic acid would be nucleotides. The two common types of nucleic acids are DNA and RNA. Both of these can branch out into different types, depending on where they function. For example, mRNA is a type of RNA that carries DNA messages towards the protein site.
New Topic      
Explore
Post your homework questions and get free online help from our incredible volunteers
  672 People Browsing
Related Images
  
 290
  
 207
  
 190
Your Opinion
Who's your favorite biologist?
Votes: 586

Previous poll results: What's your favorite coffee beverage?