Journal of Biochemistry Research

Monomeric Protein

Monomers create structures for molecules, including proteins, starch, and many other polymers. Four major monomers are found: amino acids, nucleotides, monosaccharides, and fatty acids. The basic types of macromolecules are those monomers: proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids. A monomer is a molecule that forms the fundamental unit for polymers, which are the protein building blocks. Monomers bind to other monomers in order to form repeated molecules in the chain in a mechanism called polymerization. Monomers may originally be either natural or synthetic. Proteins consist of covalently bonded carbon,  hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, and the presence of sulfur is also observed in some proteins. The fundamental building blocks are the 20 amino acids that range in length with the backbones of their carbon chain and the atoms attached to the backbone. There are many ways monomers can be classified. They may be subdivided into two broad classes, depending on the type of polymer they make up. Monomers involved in condensation polymerization have a different stoichiometry than monomers which also participate in polymerization. Other classifications include natural vs synthetic monomers, polar vs. nonpolar monomers, and cyclic vs linear monomers. A homopolymer is provided by the polymerization of one form of monomer. Many polymers are copolymers which means they come from two different monomers. The ratio of comonomers is usually 1:1 in the case of condensation polymerizations. 

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