Biochemistry and Molecular Biology - Coursework Example

Water has been obtained as the primary constituent of all living organisms. Be it plants or animals, the water has its role in the process of metabolism. It is required in the process of photosynthesis where light energy is utilized splitting the water molecule such that the hydrogen gets separated and the oxygen is released in the air. Many substances in the body are hydrolyzed by water as well. For example, it is capable of breaking amino acids bonds in proteins and peptide linkages of monosaccharide in polysaccharides.

Diffusion of several materials is also obtained through the component of water (Saint, 2004). Water helps in the transport of different substances within the body since it easily dissolves other materials and thus acts as a good solvent. This function of the water also enables the removal of waste products like ammonia and urea from the body. Water being capable of diluting such waste products enables their recycling process in the Nitrogen cycle. Since water is viscous in nature it also acts a good lubricant and form different lubricating fluids in the body that include mucus, synovial fluid, pleural fluid and pericardial fluid having different functions in the body.

Apart from all these functions, water also acts as a supporting medium for several organisms since it is not easily condensed. Overall in the biological systems, water has miscellaneous functions that include maintaining body temperature, as well as dispersal in the process of reproduction (Saint, 2004). 2. Structure of Carbohydrates: Monosaccharide, Disaccharide, and Polysaccharide: Carbohydrates are formed as a result of the combinations of carbon and water molecules. In general the carbohydrates may be represented through the formula (CH2O)n.

Here C represents the carbon molecules and H2O represents the water molecules, n being the number of atoms of this combination of molecules. However, in some cases carbohydrates might also contain greater numbers of sulphur or nitrogen molecules. If the molecular structure of the carbohydrates is studied, carbons are found to form chains or rings with hydroxyl groups two or more in number along with an aldehyde or a ketone group. There is a carbonyl group at the terminal end of an aldehyde that gets bonded to hydrogen molecule or carbon.

A ketone is different from an aldehyde and represents a carbonyl group bonded in between two carbon molecules (Talaro & Park, 2007, p.42). Different configurations are obtained of the carbohydrates. Monosaccharide refers to one of the forms of carbohydrates that represent a simple polyhydroxy aldehyde or molecule of ketone that contain 3 to 7 molecules of carbon. The structure of a disaccharide varies from a monosaccharide in that a disaccharide is formed from two monosaccharides in combination.

When five or more monosaccharides combine to form a carbohydrate, then that structure represents a polysaccharide. The monosaccharides and disaccharides are represented by prefix- ose at the end of the name. The name however depends on the number of carbons in the structure. For example, pentose has 5 carbons in it, hexose is composed of 6 carbons, and so on (Talaro &