BIOELEMENTOS Y BIOMOLÉCULAS

Summary

The video script discusses the 92 natural chemical elements, highlighting the 30 bioelements essential for cellular life, which account for 99.38% of a cell's atoms. Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen are the most abundant, forming 98.7% of the total. It explains the roles of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids in cells, detailing their structures and functions. Carbohydrates serve as energy and structural material, lipids include fats, phospholipids, sterols, and pigments, proteins have diverse roles including enzymatic and structural, and nucleic acids, DNA and RNA, are crucial for genetic information and protein synthesis.

Takeaways

• 🌐 There are 92 naturally occurring chemical elements, with about 30 being regular constituents of cells, known as bioelements.
• 📊 The relative abundance of chemical elements in a cell is such that the top four elements—hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen—account for 98.7% of all atoms in a cell.
• 🔬 Carbon atoms have the unique ability to bond with each other, forming diverse organic molecules that are essential for life's complex structures.
• 🍬 Carbohydrates are organic molecules composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, serving as both an energy source and structural material in cells.
• 🔗 Monosaccharides are the simplest form of carbohydrates with a general formula of C(H2O)n, where n is 3 or greater, with glucose being the most abundant.
• 🤝 Disaccharides are formed by two monosaccharide units linked by a glycosidic bond, common examples include sucrose, lactose, and maltose.
• 🍃 Oligosaccharides contain between 3 to 10 monosaccharide units and are often named based on the number of monosaccharide units they contain.
• 🌾 Polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates with many monosaccharide units, including common types like cellulose, starch, and glycogen.
• 💧 Lipids are water-insoluble biomolecules with at least one hydrocarbon chain, playing various roles such as energy storage and being components of biological membranes.
• 🧬 Proteins are chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds, with their structure and function determined by the sequence and folding of amino acids.
• 🌀 Nucleic acids, DNA and RNA, are responsible for storing and transmitting genetic information, with DNA having a double helix structure and RNA being a single strand with uracil instead of thymine.

Q & A

How many natural chemical elements exist, and how many of them are normal constituents of a cell?

There are 92 natural chemical elements, and around 30 of them are normal constituents of a cell.

What percentage of atoms in a cell are made up by the four most abundant elements?

The four most abundant elements in a cell, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, make up 98.7% of the total.

What is the mnemotechnic to remember the most abundant elements in a cell?

The mnemotechnic to remember the most abundant elements in a cell is CHN, which stands for Carbon, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen.

What are the two main types of molecules found in a cell, and how are they differentiated?

The two main types of molecules found in a cell are organic molecules, which contain carbon, and inorganic molecules, which do not contain carbon.

What is the role of carbon atoms in forming diverse organic structures?

Carbon atoms have the ability to link with each other, forming diverse linear, branched, or cyclic structures known as organic molecules.

What are the two essential functions of carbohydrates in a cell?

Carbohydrates serve as a source of chemical energy and as a structural material in a cell.

What is the general formula for monosaccharides, and which is the most abundant monosaccharide?

The general formula for monosaccharides is C(H2O)n where n is equal to or greater than 3. The most abundant monosaccharide is glucose.

What are the main types of lipids and their functions in a cell?

Lipids are classified into fatty acids, glycerolipids, sterols, and prenol lipids. They are used for synthesizing more complex lipids, are components of biological membranes, and serve as precursors for bile acids and hormones.

How are proteins structured and what are the types of protein structures?

Proteins are chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Their structures are classified as primary (the sequence of amino acids), secondary (alpha-helix or beta-sheet), tertiary (3D folding), and quaternary (assembly of multiple polypeptide chains).

What are the main functions of proteins in a cell?

Proteins can have enzymatic, structural, storage, transport, communication, and immunological functions in a cell.

What are the components and structure of DNA and RNA, and how do they differ?

DNA is a double helix made of two complementary strands of nucleotides with nitrogenous bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. RNA is a single-stranded molecule with bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil instead of thymine. RNA also uses ribose sugar instead of deoxyribose.

What are the three main types of RNA and their functions?

The three main types of RNA are messenger RNA (mRNA) which carries genetic information from DNA to protein synthesis sites, transfer RNA (tRNA) which transfers specific amino acids to the growing polypeptide chain, and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) which, along with proteins, forms ribosomes involved in protein synthesis.