1. What are the essential elements of life?
96% of living matter

2. What are the essential elements of life?
Carbon - “Backbone of Life”
Can form bonds with 4 other atoms, including other carbon atoms
Bond can be single, double, triple

3. What are the essential elements of life?
Carbon - “Backbone of Life”
Can form bonds with 4 other atoms, including other carbon atoms
Bond can be single, double, triple
forms long chains and branching chains
Aspartic Acid

4. What are the essential elements of life?
Hydrocarbons - molecules with only carbon and hydrogen
Complex organic molecules are formed by the addition of functional groups (sections of the molecule that generally participate together as a unit in chemical reactions) – denoted with an “R” in some diagrams
Hydrocarbon
Functional group

5. What are the essential elements of life?
Small organic molecules (monomers) can be linked into long chains (polymers) called organic macromolecules because of carbon’s ability to form multiple bonds and bond with other carbon atoms.
Basic structure of amino acids
Polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates) are chains of monosaccharides (sugars)
Lipids are chains of fatty acids
Nucleic Acids (DNA and RNA) are chains of nucleotides
Polypeptides (proteins) are chains of amino acids
Link together to form proteins

6. The four primary organic macromolecules
Recall:
Organisms perform catabolism to break down these macromolecules into their individual components (nutrients)
Organisms perform anabolism to build their own macromolecules from nutrients, which they use, in turn, to build all of their cellular components
Digestion
Starts in the mouth, continues in the stomach, concludes in the small intestine
Energy plus components of fatty acids, amino acids, and nucleotides
Catabolism
Anabolism
Polysaccharides
Lipids
Nucleic acids
Proteins