Natural polymers are built the same way

1. A natural polymer is made by a living organism rather than in a factory.
2. It is still a long chain built from many small monomers.
3. The chains are still long enough to give a high relative molecular mass.
4. Three natural polymers matter here: DNA, starch and proteins.
5. Each is named by the kind of monomer it is built from.

DNA is made from nucleotides

1. DNA is the polymer that carries genetic information.
2. Its monomers are called nucleotides.
3. There are four different nucleotides in DNA.
4. The order in which they are joined is what stores the information.
5. The names of the individual nucleotides are not needed here.

Starch is a polymer of sugars

1. Starch is made by plants as a store of energy.
2. Its monomers are sugars.
3. Many sugar molecules join into long chains to make the starch.
4. Breaking starch back down releases the sugar for the organism to use.
5. Starch is a natural polymer, so it is biodegradable, unlike most synthetic ones.

Proteins are polymers of amino acids

1. A protein is built from monomers called amino acids.
2. Many amino acids join into a chain to make the protein.
3. Different proteins contain different amino acids in a different order.
4. That order is what gives each protein its own job in the organism.
5. Enzymes are proteins, which is how a catalyst can be built this way.