Week 2 - Biochemistry Flashcards
What is biochemistry?
Application of chemistry (atoms) to living (biological) systems (cells)
What are inorganic compounds?
- Lack carbon
- E.g. water, minerals
What are organic compounds?
- Contain carbon
- E.g. glucose
How important is H2O in our bodies?
- H2O is the bodies solvent
- Primary substance in the human body capable of doing many things
- E.g. transports substances, regulate temperature.
What is hyrdophilic?
- Water-soluble = Substances dissolve in H2O
- Molecules must be (1) charged (e.g., Na+
, Cl-) or (2) polar (e.g., glucose) - Hydration spheres form around them
What is hydrophobic?
- Substances that cannot dissolve in H2O
- Non-polar or neutral (no charge) molecules have no attraction to H2O
What are the 4 categories of organic compounds?
- Carbohydrates
- Lipids
- Proteins
- Nucleotides (DNA, RNA)
What are organic compounds composed of?
- Composed of complex macromolecules, called polymers.
- It is built from basic units known as monomer.
What are carbohydrates?
- Hydrophilic macromolecules
- Monomer is C6H12O6
- Carbon that is hydrated with water (H2O)
- Quick source of energy
What is monosaccharides?
- Composed of a monomer
- E.g. glucose, fructose, galactose
What is disaccharides
- Composed of 2 monomers
- E.g. sucrose which is glucose + fructose
What is polysaccharides?
- Composed of many monomers
- Polymers of glucose
- E.g. glycogen (energy storage, 10h), cellulose, starch.
What are lipids?
- Hydrophobic
- Chains of C and H (dense fuel source)
What are the 4 types of lipids?
1) Fatty acids (saturated and unsaturated)
2) Triglycerides (fats and oils)
3) Phospholipids
4) Steroids (cholesterol)
What are triglycerides?
- It is a monomer which is composed of 3 fatty acids bonded to glycerol.
What are phospholipids?
- It is one fatty acid replaced by a phosphate group
- Phospholipids assemble into membrane-bound spheres
Explain the structure of phospholipids
- Phosphate head is polar (hydrophilic)
- Fatty acid tail is non-polar (hydrophobic)
What is the primary structure of proteins?
- Sequence (chain) of amino acids encoded by DNA, produced by cellular ribosomes
What is the secondary structure of proteins?
- Coiling (α) or folding (β) of the amino acid chain
- Held by hydrogen and ionic bonds, hydrophobic and hydrophilic attractions
- Tertiary (3-D) and Quaternary (multiple chains) structure
What are enzymes (ase)?
- Proteins that enhance speed or likelihood of a chemical reaction occurring (catalyst)
- Act upon a Substrate
- May require a mineral and or vitamin to function
What happens to denaturation of proteins>
Extreme heat and pH changes break chemical bonds etc. and cause conformational
(shape) changes that destroy enzyme function
What are nucleic acids?
- Polymers of nucleotides
- Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
- < 20 000 human genes (codes for proteins)
- DNA is assembled into forty-six human chromosomes
What are nucleotide consists of?
1) deoxyribose (sugar)
2) phosphate group
3) nitrogenous base (carbon ring(s): Adenine (A), Guanine (G), Cytosine (C), Thymine (T)
What is DNA?
- Double-stranded
- Two sugar-phosphate backbones (2 polymers)
- Nitrogenous bases (AGCT) linked by hydrogen bonds
- Generates a spiral staircase
