Final answer:
The student's question concerns the four categories of biological macromolecules: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, with a focus on carbon's role, functional groups, protein breakdown, types of nucleic acids, and carbohydrates. These macromolecules consist of elements such as carbon and are essential for life, undergoing processes like dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of the Unit 7 Macromolecule Web Quest for Biology pertains to the four categories of macromolecules that make up cells, the unique attributes of carbon, functional groups, protein breakdown, nucleic acids, and types of carbohydrates. Biological macromolecules are organic compounds essential to life, comprising mainly of six elements including sulfur, phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen. The four major classes of these macromolecules are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Dehydration synthesis refers to the process of joining two monomers by removing a molecule of water, whereas hydrolysis is the process of breaking down polymers by adding water, both catalyzed by enzymes.
Carbon is valuable to organisms because it can form four covalent bonds with other atoms, allowing for the creation of complex and diverse organic molecules that are the basis of life. Functional groups attached to carbon skeletons are responsible for the unique properties of organic molecules and play a pivotal role in chemical reactions essential to organism functions. Proteins can be broken down into smaller units called amino acids, and the two types of nucleic acids used by organisms are DNA and RNA. Three different types of carbohydrates include monosaccharides (simple sugars), disaccharides (two monosaccharides joined together), and polysaccharides (long chains of monosaccharides).