Biochemistry Flashcards
What are the functions of enzymes, are they anabolic or catabolic? How do they lower activation energy?
Biological catalysts, diagnostic tests
Both
Bring molecules closer together, reduce repulsion
What do active sites do? What are multi-enzyme complexes?
Bind with substrate, make/break chemical bonds
Aggregation of several co/enzymes
What are isoteric enzymes?
Enzymes which rate of reaction increases with substrate concentration (until saturation)
What are allosteric enzymes?
Enzymes which bind with an allosteric site, induces a change in the enzyme and allows easier binding (sigmoidal shape curve)
What is cooperativity?
The binding of an enzyme which changes the structure of the active site, which triggers the same in other active sites
What are the 3 types of inhibitors? Where do they bind to?
Competitive - active site
Non-competitive/allosteric - binds to allosteric site
Uncompetitive - binds to ES complex
What factors affect enzyme activity?
Temperature, concentration, pH, post-translational modification, coenzymes, cofactors
What are post-translation modifications?
Changes in the structure of an enzyme
Can be proteolytic activation (activates other enzymes) or phosphorylation
What are proteinase?
Enzymes which cleave proteins, can cause proteolytic activations
What are isoenzymes?
Different forms of an enzyme which catalyse the same reaction
What are the 4 stages of the nitrogen cycle? What happens in each stage?
Nitrogen fixation - nitrogen fixing bacteria convert N gas
Ammonification - conversion to ammonia by saprobionts
Nitrification - conversion to nitrates by nitrifying bacteria
Denitrification - conversion to gas in anaerobic conditions by bacteria
How many amino acids are there?
21
1 is rare
How do animals obtain essential and non-essential amino acids?
Essential - diet
Non-essential - biosynthesis
What are the functions of amino acids?
Build protein
Energy
Neurotransmitters
Amino acids can be ketogenic or glucogenic. What do these 2 terms mean? What happens after this?
Converted to ketones or glucose
Broken down to intermediates of acetyl CoA
Enter Krebs cycle
What are ureotelic animals?
Animals which produce urea
Where is urea excreted?
Kidneys, saliva, sweat
GI in ruminants - used to synthesise AAs as no protein in diet
What are urioctelic animals? Give examples?
Animals which excrete uric acid
Birds/reptiles
What are ammonotelic animals? Give examples
Animals which can directly excrete ammonia Aquatic animals (cartilaginous fish are both ammonetlic and ureotelic)
What are the stages of protein synthesis?
DNA transcribed to mRNA, then translated to a protein