Proteins: Terry & Paul G v.1 Flashcards
Define: Gibbs free energy (ΔG)
Free energy change for a reaction:
ΔG = Gproducts - Greactants
What is the equation to find the activation energy for a reaction?
ΔG‡ = Gtransition state - Greactant
Gibbs Free Energy, Enthalpy and Entropy equation
ΔG = ΔH - TΔS
ΔG: change in Gibbs free energy
ΔH: change in enthalpy (heat)
T: absolute temperature (K)
ΔS: change in entropy (disorder)
How do spontaneous reactions occur?
Negative ΔG, which can be given by:
- Big negative ΔH (exothermic)
- OR Big positive ΔS (increase in entropy)
What is the first law of thermodynamics?
Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another.
ΔE=q+w
- ΔE: change in internal energy
- q: heat
- w: work
What is the second law of thermodynamics?
The entropy of an isolated system always increases
What is the third law of thermodynamics?
The entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the temperature approaches absolute zero.
Define: exergonic
- ΔG is negative
- Free energy released
- Favourable: Spontaneous
Define: endergonic
- ΔG is positive
- Free energy absorbed
- Unfavourable: not spontaneous
Define: exothermic
- ΔH is negative
- Heat absorbed
Define: endothermic
- ΔH is positive
- Heat absorbed
How do you calculate the thermodynamic equilibrium constant from aA + bB ⇌ cC + dD?
[X]eq=concentration of substrate X at equilibrium
Calculating ΔG from ΔG°:
ΔG = ΔG° + RT ln Qi
Qi: where Q is calculated with initial concentrations of the reactants and products
Relating free energy with the equilibrium constant:
ΔG° = -RT ln K
What are the CHEMISTRY and PHYSICS standard conditions? ΔG°
- 298K
- Gases at partial pressure of 101.3 kPa (1 atm)
- Reactants & products at 1M
- [H+] = 1 M ⇒ pH=0
What are the BIOCHEMISTRY standard conditions? ΔG’°
- 298K
- Gases at partial pressure of 101.3 kPa (1 atm)
- Reactions occur at well-buffered aqueous solution at pH 7 e.g. [H+] & Mg2+
- [H+] = 10-7
- Mg2+ = 1 mM
Why are we interested in free energy?
It has predictive power. If we know standard free energy, we know:
- Under what initial conditions can the reaction occur spontaneously?
- Does reaction require coupling with a favoured reaction?
- What is the position of reaction at equilibrium?
- Theoretically, how much work can it do?
Making “unfavourable” reactions go: relating to Q/K
*the measure of whether a reaction will proceed spontaneously is ΔG, not ΔG’°
- If ΔG’° is positive, ΔG can be negative by altering initial conditions.
- For RT ln Q to be negative: Q < 1, therefore ln Q would be negative
- The concentration of products must be kept much lower than reactants:
- Removing products faster than it’s produced
- Replenishing/adding reactants faster than it’s being used up
Making “unfavourable” reactions go: coupling
- (Think story about Terry and his wife)
- Couple unfavourable with highly favourable reaction (in the active site of an enzyme)
- Must have a shared components (reactions and products)
Give 3 examples of how ‘unfavourable’ reactions are made ‘favourable’
- Reaction couplings
- Constant replenishing of reactants at a faster rate than they are being used
- Constant removal of products at a faster rate than they are being produced
Define: nucleotide
base + sugar + phosphate
Define: nucleoside
base + sugar
Explain why ATP is an energy-rich molecule
- Energy is released upon hydrolysis of phosphoanhydride bonds (uses energy)
- breakdown of ATP to:
- ADP + Pi (inorganic phosphate)
- AMP + PPi (pyrophosphate)
- breakdown of ATP to:
- Molecules at the start are less stable than the molecules that are formed
- Strong bonds are formed: creates a lot of energy
- Less negative charge (and repulsion) in ADP (or AMP) than ATP ⇒ more stable
- Pi ⇒ bonds in the inorganic phosphate are a lot stronger than the phosphoanhydride bonds (resonance forms)
- Substantially more energy is created from the formation of strong bonds than the breaking of weak bonds
Breaking a bond…
A. Releases energy
B. Absorbs energy
B
Bonds are happy places for atoms, as in it’s more stable, therefore energy must be put into the system to break bonds
Forming a bond…
A. Releases energy
B. Absorbs energy
A
Forming a bond releases energy
Why does the hydrolysis of ATP yield energy?
- ATP phosphoanhydride bonds are relatively weak and strong bonds are formed (net energy released)
- ATP has a higher negative charge density than ADP (ATP less stable)
- Pi (inorganic phosphate) is very stable; multiple resonance states exist
- The reaction is highly exergonic
- Products are much more stable than reactants
Define: hydrolysis
The addition of H2O into a molecule
Define: erythrocytes
blood cells
Does a positive charge or a negative charge in free energy indicate a favourable (spontaneous) chemical event?
A negative change in free energy (ΔG) indicates a favourable (spontaneous) chemical event
How is the free energy of the reverse reaction related to that of the forward reaction?
Sign changes from + to - and vice versa
If some spontaneous event is endothermic, what must have been the “driving force” behind that event, enthalpy or entropy?
Highly positive entropy value (ΔS), because endothermic reactions have ΔH > 0 and only exothermic (ΔH < 0) values contribute to spontaneous reactions
Given the free energy changes for coupled reactions that result in the conversion of glucose to glucose 6-phosphate:
- Is the K’eq for reaction (1) bigger or smaller than K’eq for equation (2)?
- Which reaction has the largest K’eq, reaction (1), (2) or (3)?
- Which reaction has the smallest K’eq reaction (1), (2) or (3)?
- K’eq for reaction (1) is smaller than the K’eq for reaction (2)
- reaction (2)
- reaction (1)
Define: the basic unit for DNA and RNA
nucleic acid (bases)
Define: The basic unit for proteins
amino acid (residues)
How can protein be post-translationally modified?
- Phosphorylation (signalling)
- Glycosylation (extracellular protection, signalling) - change of nature
- Proteolytically cleaved (trafficking, inhibition) - decides the location of a protein in the body
- Acylation (fatty acids, localisation e.g. to a membrane, regulation) - turns on/off proteins, and also the location of where in the body the protein goes
Define: proteomics
Analysis of the complete complement of expressed proteins and their interactions
Protein shape/structure: is it rigid or flexible?
- flexible
- can change conformations
- considered as soft matter
- the motion of a protein is based on its function (flexibility/dynamics is on a timescale of function)
- but still HIGHLY STRUCTURED
Define: somatic cells
All cells in an organism, except the sex cells
All somatic cells types (except germs) from one organism:
- Might not have the same DNA and protein content
- Have the same DNA content, but not necessarily the same protein content
- Might not have the same DNA, but have the same protein content
- Have the same DNA and protein content
B
All somatic cell types (not germ cells) from an organism have the same DNA, but not necessarily the same protein content
Proteins can be post-translationally modified, which can change their… (3 things)
- chemical properties
- conformation
- function
Define: N-terminal
amino-terminal of a protein
Define: C-terminus
the carboxyl terminus of a protein
Define: primaryprotein structure
the amino acid sequence in order from N-terminus to C-terminus
Define: secondary protein structure
local areas of regular ordered structure
Define: tertiary protein structure
The 3D fold of a protein subunit
Define: quaternary protein structure
The organisation of subunits (controls protein function)
Amino acids are chiral. TRUE or FALSE?
TRUE
(except for glycine)
Define: L-configurations (in relation to amino acids)
Define: D-configurations (in terms of amino acids)
All proteins (or an overwhelmingly large majority) are in:
- D-configuration
- L-configuration
B
D-configurations usually appear in toxins and the like
What is the number of common amino acids?
20
What does it mean to say that amino acids are zwitterionic?
both the carboxylate and amine ends of an amino acid can be ionized, which means it is neutral and has no net charge at neutral (≈7) pH
Define: amino acid residue
amino acids in the context of peptides and proteins
What is the Henderson-Hasslebalch equation?
pKa = pH, when [A-] = [HA]
Off all the following molecules, which one can’t exist:
- +H3N—CHR—COOH
- +H3N—CHR—COO-
- H2N—CHR—COO-
- H2N—CHR—COOH
D
NH2—(CHR)—COOH
Define: glycosylation
Addition of a carbohydrate (enzymatic addition of group) to a serine, threonine or asparagine residue
Define: phosphorylation
the addition of a phosphate group (involving enzymatic activity) to a serine, threonine or tyrosine residue
What is the mean molecular weight of an amino acid residue? Do we use this value to make approximations on the molecular weights of proteins?
The mean MW of an amino acid residue is 118 Da, however, we use 110 Da per residue to calculate molecular weight approximations for proteins as this value takes into account the different frequencies of the amino acids
Define: condensation reactions
a chemical reaction where 2 molecules are joined together by a covalent bond to make a larger, more complex, molecule, with the loss of a small molecule
Define: peptide bond
a bond created through a condensation reaction between two amino acids, occurring with the loss of a water molecule
Where is the peptide bond formed naturally?
The peptide bond is naturally made in the ribosomes (during translation), it can however, be synthesised in the lab