In: Biology
In studying a particular bio-molecule (a protein, nucleic acid, carbohydrate, or lipid) in the laboratory, the biochemist first needs to separate it from other biomolecules in the sample—that is, to purify it. Specific puri-fication techniques are described later in the book. However, by looking at the monomeric subunits of a biomolecule, you should have some ideas about the characteristics of the mole-cule that would allow you to separate it from other molecules. For example, how would you separate (a) amino acids from fatty acids and (b) nucleotides from glucose?