This document defines and describes the major types of biopolymers - polysaccharides, polypeptides, and polynucleotides. It outlines their basic properties, including that they are biodegradable and made from repeating monomeric units like sugars, amino acids, and nucleotides. The document also discusses the structural organization of biopolymers from primary to quaternary structure. Each major type of biopolymer is then defined in more detail, including examples like starch, proteins composed of amino acids, and DNA/RNA composed of nucleotides. Biopolymers are described as naturally occurring and playing important roles in the body.

1. Biopolymers
Janani Palpandi
II BT
Department of Biotechnology
MEPCO Schlenk Engineering College

2. CONTENTS
Definition
Properties of biopolymers
Structural organisation in common
Major Biopolymers
Polysaccharides
Polypeptides
Nucleic acids (or) Polynucleotides
Conclusion

3. DEFINITION
Biopolymers are polymers synthesized by living organisms.
 Biopolymers can be
polynucleotides
polypeptides
polysaccharides
Consist of long chains made of
repeating
 covalently bonded units
such as nucleotides, amino acids or monosaccharides.

4. PROPERTIES
OF
BIOPOLYMER
Biodegradable.
Carbon neutral.
Also can be synthesized artificially.
Broken down intoCO2 and water by micro organisms.
Made of monomeric units of same type or of different types.

5. STRUCTURAL
ORGANISATION
 Levels of structural organisation
Primary structure
Secondary structure
Tertiary structure
Quaternary structure
Quinternary structure

6. Primary
Structure
Sequence of monomeric residues in the covalently linked
biopolymer.
Linear for nucleic acids and proteins.
May be branched n polysaccharides.

7. Secondary
Structure
 Local regular structure of a macromolecule or a specific region of
the molecule.
 Helical.
Pleated.
coil structures.

8. Tertiary
Structure
Describes the global three-dimensional fold.
Also the topology of the macromolecule
 relating the positions of each atom and residue in three dimensional
space.

9. Quaternary
Structure
Spatial arrangement of multiple distinct polymeric chains
(subunits) that form a functional complex.

10. Quinternary
Structure
 Refers to the association of one class of bio-macromolecules with
another class of bio-macro molecules to form complexes of
cellular components
 For example histone (DNA-protein), ribosome (RNA-protein) and
glycoprotein (oligo-saccharide-protein).

11. MAJOR
BIOPOLYMER
Polysaccharides
Polypeptides
Poly nucleotides or Nucleic Acids

12. POLY
SACCHARIDE
Polysaccharides are nothing but the carbohydrates.
Polysaccharides are composed of simple monomeric saccharide
units.
 For example starch - composed of glucose monomers.
They are also known as glycans.

13. Structure
Structure:
Sugar polymers can be linear or branched.
They are linked with glycosidic linakges.
Glycosidic linkages are covalent bond that is formed between
hemiketal or hemiacetal group of a saccharide and hydroxyl group
of some alcoholic compounds.

14. Classification
Classification:
They can be classified into two groups based on the subunits.
Homopolysaccharides
Heteropolysaccharides
Homopolysaccharides serve as structural elements in plant cell wall
and animal exoskeletons.
Heteropolysaccharides provide extracellular support for organisms
of all kingdoms.

15. POLY
PEPTIDES
 Abundant biopolymer occurring in all cells and all parts of cells.
 Occur in great variety.
 Molecular instruments through which the genetic information is
expressed.
 Constructed from some set of 20 amino acids.
 Biopolymers of amino acids with each amino acid residue joined
to its neighbouring amino acid by a peptide bond.
When hydrolysed they yield amino acids.
All the amino acids in proteins are L- Amino acids.

16. Structure
Structure:
Usually the proteins exhibit four types of conformations.They are:
Primary structure.
Secondary structure.
Tertiary structure.
Quaternary structure.

17. USES
Uses:
Hair and nail are made up of proteins.
 Important role in transport of substances across the membrane of
cell.
 Enzymes and hormones.
 Immune response.
 Cell repair.
 Signal sequences.
 Precursors to the nucleic acids and coenzymes in some metabolic
reactions.
The muscular proteins like myosin and actin play an important role
in muscle contraction and relaxation.

18. POLY
NUCLEOTIDE
Polynucleotides are nothing but our genetic material.
Organisation:
Three characteristic components.
Nitrogenous base
Pentose
Phosphate
The nitrogenous bases - purines and pyrimidines.
Purine- include Adenine and Guanine. Pyrimidines – Cytosine,Thymine,
Uracil

19. Contd.
 Complementary. Adenine andThymine ; Cytosine and Guanine.
Nitrogen base + pentose sugar = nucleoside.
Nucleoside + phosphate group =nucleotides.
Building blocks of our genetic material nucleicAcids.
Phospho diester bond.
 Complementary strand to the previous strand with complementary
base pairs- Hydrogen bonds

20. USES
Nucleic acids are the blueprints to our body.
They help to build our body by translating its information into
proteins which make up our body.
They together make genes which are the pieces of genetic
information that make us who we are.

21. Thus Biopolymers are not new to us but they remained
unexplored for years.
But they are now getting explored rapidly.
They are best conventional methods instead of using synthetic
polymers.

22. THANKYOU