∞ generated and posted on 2022.02.04 ∞
Polypeptides, polynucleic acids, polysaccharides, and lipids as produced by biological systems.
| Macromolecules, as their name implies, are large, particularly biologically synthesized molecules that consist, categorically, of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. |
Macromolecules are any of a variety of large, polymeric, organic molecules that are synthesized by cells. The largest of the macromolecules are substantial indeed, with total atoms numbering into the thousands or even millions (i.e., as for DNA).
These molecules, with the exception of lipids, also are well hydrated, meaning that substantial numbers of water molecules are also associated with them, further expanding their relative "girth".
Note in the following video that most every time you hear "cell wall" you should be thinking instead "cell membrane":
Polypeptides make up proteins, including the apoenzyme portion of enzymes.
DNA is the hereditary material of cells. RNA plays numerous roles particularly involved in the production of polypeptides (i.e., translation).
Polysaccharides include starches and cellulose as well as the "saccharide" portion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and the "glyco" portion of glycoproteins.
Lipids are water-insoluble molecules of various structural forms. Lipids are included among macromolecules even though they can be less obviously polymeric in their structures.
Macromolecules are what makes cells cells and what makes living things living things. The complexity of organisms in fact is a function of their macromolecule content, and differences between different types of organisms are a function of macromolecular differences.
Differences among organisms typically are a function of differences in protein types as well as quantities of the different protein types that are present. These differences give rise to phenotypic differences. Underlying these protein differences typically are differences in RNA types present along with even more basal differences in genotypes, that is, differences in base sequences of nucleic acids.