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The single-stranded nature of protein molecules, together with their composition of 20 or more different amino acid building blocks, allows them to fold in to a vast number of different three-dimensional shapes, while providing binding pockets through which they can specifically interact with all manner of molecules.
Lipids (oleaginous) are chiefly fatty acid esters, and are the basic building blocks of biological membranes. Another biological role is energy storage (e.g., triglycerides). Most lipids consist of a polar or hydrophilic head (typically glycerol) and one to three non polar or hydrophobic fatty acid tails, and therefore they are amphiphilic.
Self-assembly processes can also be observed in systems of macroscopic building blocks. These building blocks can be externally propelled [42] or self-propelled. [43] Since the 1950s, scientists have built self-assembly systems exhibiting centimeter-sized components ranging from passive mechanical parts to mobile robots. [44]
The three main purposes of metabolism are: the conversion of food to energy to run cellular processes; the conversion of food/fuel to monomer building blocks; and the elimination of metabolic wastes. These enzyme-catalyzed reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments.
Nucleotide bases [1] (also nucleobases, nitrogenous bases) are nitrogen-containing biological compounds that form nucleosides, which, in turn, are components of nucleotides, with all of these monomers constituting the basic building blocks of nucleic acids.
Building block is a term in chemistry which is used to describe a virtual molecular fragment or a real chemical compound the molecules of which possess reactive functional groups. [1] Building blocks are used for bottom-up modular assembly of molecular architectures: nano-particles , [ 2 ] [ 3 ] metal-organic frameworks , [ 4 ] organic ...
Carbon atoms bond readily to other carbon atoms; this allows the building of arbitrarily long macromolecules and polymers in a process known as catenation. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ] "What we normally think of as 'life' is based on chains of carbon atoms, with a few other atoms, such as nitrogen or phosphorus", per Stephen Hawking in a 2008 lecture ...
The idea that matter was built of discrete building blocks, the so-called particulate theory of matter, appeared in both ancient Greece and ancient India. [6] Early philosophers who proposed the particulate theory of matter include the ancient Indian philosopher Kanada (c. 6th–century BCE or after), [ 7 ] pre-Socratic Greek philosopher ...