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A general name for this class of material is biological materials. Biomolecules are an important element of living organisms. Biomolecules are an important element of living organisms. They are often endogenous , [ 2 ] i.e. produced within the organism, [ 3 ] but organisms usually also need exogenous biomolecules, for example certain nutrients ...
Many macromolecules are polymers of smaller molecules called monomers. The most common macromolecules in biochemistry are biopolymers (nucleic acids, proteins, and carbohydrates) and large non-polymeric molecules such as lipids, nanogels and macrocycles. [1]
Fat has a food energy content of 38 kilojoules per gram (9 kilocalories per gram) proteins and carbohydrates 17 kJ/g (4 kcal/g). [ 2 ] Water makes up a large proportion of the total mass ingested as part of a normal diet but it does not provide any nutritional value.
[2] [3] The most familiar type of animal sterol is cholesterol, which is vital to the structure of the cell membrane, and functions as a precursor to fat-soluble vitamins and steroid hormones. While technically alcohols, sterols are classified by biochemists as lipids ( fats in the broader sense of the term).
Because the level of circulatory glucose is largely determined by the intake of dietary carbohydrates, diet controls major aspects of metabolism via insulin. [18] In humans, insulin is made by beta cells in the pancreas, fat is stored in adipose tissue cells, and glycogen is both stored and released as needed by liver cells. Regardless of ...
The amount of glycogen stored in the body—especially within the muscles, liver, and red blood cells [18] [19] [20] —varies with physical activity, basal metabolic rate, and eating habits such as intermittent fasting. Small amounts of glycogen are found in the kidneys and even smaller amounts in certain glial cells in the brain and white ...
All cells are coated in either glycoproteins or glycolipids, both of which help determine cell types. [7] Lectins , or proteins that bind carbohydrates, can recognize specific oligosaccharides and provide useful information for cell recognition based on oligosaccharide binding.
The various classifications above can be combined, resulting in names such as "aldohexose" and "ketotriose". A more general nomenclature for open-chain monosaccharides combines a Greek prefix to indicate the number of carbons (tri-, tetr-, pent-, hex-, etc.) with the suffixes "-ose" for aldoses and "-ulose" for ketoses. [ 3 ]