This chapter describes the four major classes of biological molecules: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. You will learn about the molecular structures of these biological molecules, their similarities and differences, and the roles they play. The chapter begins with a discussion of photosynthesis and oxidation of glucose as processes that are responsible for the major transformations and movements of carbon. It concludes with a discussion of metabolic reactions that provide and use energy.

In this chapter, you will learn: to describe the structure of a typical eukaryotic cell to describe the structural characteristics of monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides to write a general formula for amino acids to describe the functions of phospholipids and proteins to describe the components of nucleotides and nucleic acids to describe the role of ATP in energy production