Understandings:

• Molecular biology explains living processes in terms of the chemical substances involved.
• Carbon atoms can form four covalent bonds allowing a diversity of stable compounds to exist.
• Life is based on carbon compounds including carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids.
• Metabolism is the web of all the enzyme-catalysed reactions in a cell or organism.
• Anabolism is the synthesis of complex molecules from simpler molecules including the formation of macromolecules from monomers by condensation reactions.
• Catabolism is the breakdown of complex molecules into simpler molecules including the hydrolysis of macromolecules into monomers.