Final answer:
A monomer refers to a single building block that can bind to other monomers to form larger molecules, known as polymers. The four major biological macromolecules (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids) are formed from monomers through dehydration synthesis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term monomer relates to molecules that can bind with other identical or similar molecules to form a polymer. The prefix 'mono' in monomer indicates that it is a single building block. These basic units link together through covalent bonds in a process called dehydration synthesis, where a water molecule is released. The four major classes of biological macromolecules—carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids—are all formed from their respective monomers by this process.
For proteins, the monomers are amino acids. For carbohydrates, they are monosaccharides like glucose. Nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) are composed of nucleotide monomers, and lipids are a bit different because they are not formed by polymerization of monomers in a strict sense, but they are still built from smaller units often called fatty acids and glycerol.