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Biochemistry & Molecular Biology > 1. Biochemistry is the Science of Us > Flashcards

1. Biochemistry is the Science of Us Flashcards

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1
Q

Friedrich Wohler

A
  1. Father of Biochemistry (1800’s)
  2. Accidentally created Urea, which was identical to a crystal found when he dried urine.
  3. This made it clear that ordinary chemistry was possible within cells
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2
Q

Two Significant Discoveries in Biochemistry in the 1860’s

A
  1. Inheritance
  2. DNA
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3
Q

Erwin Shrodinger

A
  1. Wrote book “What is Life” for lay people
  2. Set the framework that everything in life is made of molecules
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4
Q

Watson & Crick

A
  1. Pointed to Shrodinger’s book as their inspiration to find the structure of DNA
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5
Q

What enables cells to reproduce?

A
  1. Their ability to store, read, and reproduce information
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6
Q

6 Primary Bonding Elements of Biochemistry

A
  1. Carbon
  2. Oxygen
  3. Nitrogen
  4. Hydrogen
  5. Sulfur
  6. Phosphorous
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7
Q

The Smallest Part of an Atom

A
  1. Electron
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8
Q

What is the charge of an electron?

A
  1. Negative
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9
Q

Where are Electrons located?

A
  1. Outside the nucleus of an atom
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10
Q

What determines the number and kind of bonds an atom can make?

A
  1. The number of electrons it can share, release, or steal
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11
Q

Most important bonds in Biochemistry

A
  1. Covalent bonds
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12
Q

What are cells mostly comprised of?

A
  1. Water
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13
Q

What is water composed of?

A
  1. 2 Hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to an Oxygen atom (Hydrogen dioxide)
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14
Q

Arguably the most important element for life

A
  1. Carbon
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15
Q

Why is carbon so important to life?

A
  1. It has 4 electrons involved in reactions
  2. It never gives up its electrons entirely or takes those of another atom
  3. Its ability to make 4 covalent bonds makes it central to the construction of large and complex molecules
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16
Q

How many bonds can Nitrogen make?

A
  1. 3
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17
Q

How many amino acids contain sulfur?

A
  1. 2
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18
Q

How many bonds can sulfur make?

A
  1. 2
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19
Q

What 2 elements make up an Amine?

A
  1. Hydrogen
  2. Nitrogen
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20
Q

When is Phosphorus found in cells?

A
  1. Almost exclusively when bound to 4 oxygen atoms to create Phosphate.
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21
Q

In what 2 ways are phosphates important?

A
  1. For storing energy
  2. For being on-off switches for proteins
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22
Q

How are Phosphates involved in DNA?

A
  1. They are part of the backbone of the DNA structure
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23
Q

8 Most Abundant Minerals in Biochemistry

A
  1. Sodium
  2. Potassium
  3. Magnesium
  4. Calcium
  5. Iron
  6. Zinc
  7. Copper
  8. Chloride
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24
Q

Why are minerals different than the other elements common in Biochemistry?

A
  1. They generally do not form covalent bonds
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25
Q

Which mineral steals electrons from the others?

A
  1. Chloride
26
Q

What happens to molecules of minerals when the enter the watery environment of the body?

A
  1. They break apart, forming charged atoms called ions.
27
Q

Are our bodies made of ions?

A
  1. No, but we make use of them.
28
Q

How does an atom gain a negative charge?

A
  1. By stealing an electron
29
Q

How does an atom gain a positive charge?

A
  1. By releasing an electron
30
Q

How can we know the number of electrons an atom has released or stolen?

A
  1. By its charge
31
Q

What happens to Sodium Chloride (Table Salt) in the body?

A
  1. It breaks apart, forming an Sodium ion and a Chlorine ion
32
Q

What are the 2 additional abilities of Iron and Copper ions in the body?

A
  1. Iron can exists with both a +2 and +3 charge
  2. Copper can exists with both a +1 and +2 charge
33
Q

What are the 2 important roles of copper in the body?

A
  1. It aids in respiration by transferring electrons to oxygen to create water, which is why we breath.
  2. It helps protect cells from damage caused by the oxygen we breathe
34
Q

What is Ionization?

A
  1. The process of making an ion
35
Q

Why are ions important to cells?

A
  1. They perform critical tasks in and around cells
  2. They are tiny compared to proteins and other giant cell molecules, allowing cells to regulate their movement using nanoscopic protein channels specific for each one and to move very rapidly
  3. Their electrical charge gives them important roles in the electrical circuits of our nerve cells
36
Q

What percentage of cell weight is comprised of water?

A
  1. 70%
37
Q

What is a Polymer?

A
  1. A long string of molecules joined end-to-end
38
Q

What relationship do proteins have with cells?

A
  1. They are the workhorses of the cell
39
Q

What type of structure to proteins have?

A
  1. Polymer
40
Q

What is an example of a nonliving polymer?

A
  1. Plastic
41
Q

What 2 ways are nonliving polymers different from living polymers?

A
  1. They tend to repeat a single building block over and over, creating uniformity from the repetition.
  2. They will look the same no matter what part of them you examine.
42
Q

In what 2 ways do proteins differ from nonliving polymers?

A
  1. They have much more individuality
  2. They have at their disposal 20 different building blocks, or amino acids.
43
Q

What determines the shape and function of a protein?

A
  1. The unique order of its amino acids
44
Q

What is an enzyme?

A
  1. A large family of proteins that speed up chemical reactions
45
Q

What is a catalyst?

A
  1. A non-protein molecule that speeds up chemical reactions
46
Q

What makes enzymes so incredible?

A
  1. Their unusual speed
47
Q

What would happen if enzymes were not present?

A
  1. Some chemical reactions in the body would take millions of years to complete
48
Q

What is High Specificity?

A
  1. The specificity of enzymes in choosing their partners
49
Q

How is Enzyme Specificity determined?

A
  1. By the specific arrangements of its amino acids
50
Q

What happens when you change the order of amino acids in an enzyme?

A
  1. You change the shape of the enzyme
51
Q

“The _____ of molecules is one of the most important consideration in biochemistry.”

A
  1. Shape
52
Q

“Structure determines _____.”

A
  1. Function
53
Q

What determines whether or not a molecule can fit into an enzyme?

A
  1. The corresponding shapes of the enzyme and molecule
54
Q

What would happen if molecules could not fit into enzymes?

A
  1. The reaction would simply grind along at the speed of nonlife.
55
Q

Where do the vast majority of biomolecules found in cells get made?

A
  1. In reactions catalyzed by enzymes in that cell
56
Q

What does a cell need thousands of different enzymes?

A
  1. Because each enzyme catalyzes reactions so specifically, usually only allowing one or a handful of molecules to react with it
  2. Because there are thousands of different molecules made in each cell
57
Q

What are the fundamental units of life?

A
  1. Cells
58
Q

How are cells like houses for molecular reactions

A
  1. The have walls in the form of a membrane
  2. Some are large and complex, and some are small and simple
  3. The organelles are like the rooms in the house
59
Q

What is a Prokaryote?

A
  1. A single celled organism, like bacteria
60
Q

What is a Eukaryote?

A
  1. A multicellular organism
61
Q

How are the cells in all living things similar?

A
  1. The reactions their molecules undergo are virtually the same
  2. The way they store information is similar
  3. The molecules they contain are virtually the same

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (4 decks)

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