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All polymers are made of repetitive units called monomers. Biopolymers often have a well-defined structure, though this is not a defining characteristic (example: lignocellulose ): The exact chemical composition and the sequence in which these units are arranged is called the primary structure , in the case of proteins.
A living fossil is a deprecated term for an extant taxon that phenotypically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of origin of the extant clade. Living fossils commonly are of species-poor lineages, but they need not be.
Carbon's widespread abundance, its ability to form stable bonds with numerous other elements, and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth enables it to serve as a common element of all known living organisms. In a 2018 study, carbon was found to compose approximately 550 billion tons of all life on ...
1970s: Fossil peptides are studied by amino acid analysis. [14] Start to use whole peptides and immunological methods. [15] Late 1970s: Palaeobotanists (can also be spelled as Paleobotanists) studied molecules from well-preserved fossil plants. [16] 1984: The first successful DNA sequencing of an extinct species, the quagga, a zebra-like ...
Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function. Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via polymerization of many small molecules, known as monomers.
Chitin is used in many industrial processes. Examples of the potential uses of chemically modified chitin in food processing include the formation of edible films and as an additive to thicken and stabilize foods and food emulsions. [28] [29] Processes to size and strengthen paper employ chitin and chitosan. [30] [31]
A bio-based material is a material intentionally made, either wholly or partially, from substances derived from living (or once-living) organisms, [1] such as plants, animals, enzymes, and microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi and yeast. [2] [3]
When the source of the recently living material has little importance to the product produced, such as in the production of biofuels, biotic material is simply called biomass. Many fuel sources may have biological sources and may be divided roughly into fossil fuels and biofuel. In soil science, biotic material is often referred to as organic ...