Lipids

in this video, we're going to begin our lesson on lipids. And so, of course, you guys have learned about lipids before in your previous biology courses, and so you probably already know that lipids are just one of the four major macro molecules that are found in all living organisms. And really, when it comes down to it, lipids are defined as hydro carbon based molecules that air, water insoluble or hydrophobic, for that matter and recall that hydrophobic just means that they are water, fearing meaning that they do not mix well with water. Now, although all lipids have some region or group that is water and soluble or hydrophobic, there are also some lipids that can also be an fee path IQ, which, you might recall, just means that they contain both hydrophobic and hydro filic groups. And another thing to note about lipids is that unlike the other three major categories of macro molecules, proteins, carbohydrates and nucleic acids, lipids actually do not form polymers or long chains of repeating monomer sub units. And that is one reason for why lipids are some of the most structurally and functionally diverse class of macro molecules, or biomolecules. and so if we take a look at our image down below, which will notice is at the top, we have the other three major macro molecules, proteins, carbohydrates and nucleic acids and notice that all of these form polymers and so they are long chains of repeating sub units. And this is going to again be very different from the lipids that we see down below. And it's very important to note that lipids do not form polymers, and which will notice is that we've got all of these different structures here, and all of these are lipids, and they are very diverse in their structure. So this over here it looks very different than this structure over here, which looks very different than this structure over here. But one thing that they have in common is that they all contain hydrocarbons and you can see the hydrocarbons here in these molecules, and they're all going to have some kind of water and soluble or hydrophobic group. Now again, they can also be an type a thick because notice that these hydrocarbon chains here are hydrophobic or water, fearing, just like this little kid here's afraid of the water uh, but the's hydrophobic regions can also be linked to hydro filic or polar groups that air, water loving. And so that is what can make some lipids and keep a thick and moving forward. In our course, we're gonna be talking about lots of different types of lipids and different groups, and we'll be able to see that these indeed are the most structurally and functionally diverse class of biomolecules. And so this here concludes our introduction toe lipids and will continue to learn more about them as we move forward in our course. So I'll see you guys in our next video.

all right. So now that we briefly introduced lipids in this video, we're going to talk about the functional diversity of lipids. And so we already know from our last lesson video that lipids are actually the most structurally and functionally diverse class of biomolecules, which means that lipids must display an enormous variety of biological functions. And really, they display such a large amount of biological functions that it's not possible toe list all of the biological functions on this page. And so instead, we're going to talk about some of the primary functions that lipids have, and we'll talk more about these primary functions as we move along through our course. And so the first primary function of lipids is a function that you guys probably already knew about from your previous biology courses. And that's the function that some lipids connect as long term energy storage molecules. And so, just like batteries, are capable of storing energy over long periods of time. Some lipids are capable of storing energy over long periods of time in their hydrocarbon chains, and again, we'll talk more about this function as we move forward. In our course now, lipids are also going to be the major structural component of membranes, and again we'll talk more about membranes later. In our course now, lipids are also very important for the regulation of temperature, and so they can regulate the temperature of an entire organism. And they can also be important for regulating the temperature of individual cells. And they're also important for regulating biological activity under different types of temperature. And again, we'll talk more about this as we move forward through our course and then last but not least, lipids. Some lipids are very important for bio signaling, which allows cells to communicate with each other and so you can see down below two separate cells that are capable of communicating with each other. And again, we'll talk Maura about this function later in our course. But for now, you guys have a general idea of what lipids are capable of doing for us so and we'll be able to talk more about lipids as we move along. So I'll see you guys in our next video

all right. So now that we've introduced lipids and some of their biological functions in this video, we're going to introduce a critical lipid map that's going to be super helpful for you guys as you move forward throughout our entire lesson on lipids. And so it's important to note, is that there are actually thousands of different molecules that are classified as lipids. And there are so many different molecules that it makes it really challenging to categorize lipids in a simple way. And on top of that, these thousands of different molecules they can actually be categorized based on similarities in their biological functions. Or these thousands of different molecules could be categorized based on similarities in their chemical structures. And so you might find that your textbooks or your professors might be categorizing lipids in a slightly different way. However, here at Clutch Prep, we've specifically chosen to categorize these thousands of different molecules based on similarities in their chemical structures, and the map that you see down below again is based on similarities in their chemical structures, and the reason that we've decided to do this is because we believe this is going to be the easiest way for you guys toe learn lipids and how they relate to each other structurally. And we'll also talk about the biological functions of these lipids as we move along through our course. And so what you'll notice is down below here. What you'll see is we've got this flow chart, which is really just a map, and it's a map of our entire lesson on lipids. And so you really you can use this flow chart or this map here continuously throughout our entire lesson on lipids. And this is going to be a super helpful guide for you guys again to make sure that you don't get lost as we maneuver our way through our lesson on lipids. And so if we take a closer look at our lipid map down below, which you'll notice is that the very top? We have lipids, and immediately the lipids can be branched into two different groups. We have this left branch over here, which are the fatty acids and the fatty acid based lipids. And then we have this right branch over here, which are the ice, a preens and the ice, a preen based lipids and so moving forward in our course, we're first going to explore all of the fatty acid based lipids, and after that we'll zoom back out and explore the isil, preen based lipids. And so we're going to cover the Ice Supremes last and moving forward and our course. We'll see different versions of our map, and we're going to abbreviate the ice Supremes using this molecule right here, which is an ice supreme molecule. And again, we're going to explore all of the fatty acid based lipids first. And so another really cool feature of this map is that it's actually a reflection of the order that we're going to cover these topics and so you can actually use this lipid map to make predictions about what we're going to cover next. And so, for example, we know that we're going to explore the fatty acid based lipids first. And so in our next lesson video, you should expect to see fatty acids. And then, after we finished talking about fatty acids, the next thing that you should expect to see our glycerol lipids. So we're gonna be covering the furthest branches to the left in their entirety and then zoom out and start to cover all of these other branches in this fashion like this. And then, of course, once we make our way through all of the fatty acid based lipids again, we're going to finally zoom out and take the right branch and explore the ice a prince. And so because this lipid map here is a reflection of our entire lesson on lipids, you should be continuously coming back to this map and using it to help guide you. And I'll be continuously referring to this map as we move along through our course. And so this year concludes our introduction to this lipid map, and we'll be able to get a little bit of practice before we actually move forward and start exploring the fatty acid based lipid so I'll see you guys in our next video.