Protein and Carbohydrates
In this article, we will continue our discussion with macronutrients, starting with protein and carbohydrates. Macronutrients are much larger molecules when compared to micronutrients, and they contain calories. Above is an x-ray crystallography image (what a protein really looks like at the molecular level) of pyruvate carboxylase, a key regulatory enzyme in the gluconeogenesis pathway (the mechanism our body creates sugar/glucose in the absence of dietary sugar), pretty cool looking.
Proteins are complex molecules that perform multiple important roles. They are made up of long amino acid polymers or polypeptides (many amino acid molecules that are chained together) which constitute the basic structural unit of proteins.
