Biochemistry Lecture Notes PDF

# What is Biochemistry? - Biochemistry can be defined as the science concerned with the chemical basis of life - BIO = LIFE (Greek) - The cell is the structural unit of living systems. Thus, biochemistry can also be described as: The science concerned with the chemical constituents of living cells...

# What is Biochemistry? - Biochemistry can be defined as the science concerned with the chemical basis of life - BIO = LIFE (Greek) - The cell is the structural unit of living systems. Thus, biochemistry can also be described as: The science concerned with the chemical constituents of living cells and with the reactions they undergo. # What is Biochemistry? - Biochemistry is the application of chemistry to the study of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level. - It emerged as a distinct discipline around the beginning of the 20th century when scientists combined chemistry, physiology and biology to investigate the chemistry of living systems by: - Studying the structure and behavior of the complex molecules found in biological material. - The ways these molecules interact to form cells, tissues and whole organism. # Branches of Biochemistry - **Medical Biochemistry** - Deals with chemical basis of human body. - **Clinical Biochemistry** - Deals with clinical diseases / pathological conditions of human body. - Clinical Biochemistry supports: Diagnosis, Therapy and Research of Medical field. - **Bacterial Biochemistry** - Deals with Microbes. - **Plant Biochemistry** - Deals with Plants. - **Animal Biochemistry** - Deals with animals. - **Industrial Biochemistry** - Deals with industrial products involved with microorganisms. # Foundations of Biochemistry - **Universe** is 15-20 billion years old - **BIG BANG** - Initially **H₂** was made them condensed to **He**. - Stars formed - Stars died, Super novas exploded creating higher atomic number elements. Over the billions of years under the right conditions complex molecules formed. Complicated chemical reactions started occurring - intermolecular interactions and carbon based chemistry developed. # History and Development of Biochemistry - Biochemistry emerged in the late 18th and early 19th century. - The term Biochemistry was first introduced by the German Chemist Carl Neuberg in 1903. "Chemistry of Life". - In the 1940s Clinical Biochemistry evolved, as an autonomous field. # Two Notable Breakthroughs 1. Discovery of the role of enzymes as catalysts. 2. Identification of nucleic acids as information molecules. **Flow of information:** from nucleic acids to proteins - DNA -> RNA -> Protein # Some Historic Events - In 1937, Krebs for the discovery of the Citric Acid Cycle - won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953. - In 1953, Watson & Crick for the discovery of the "DNA Double Helix" - won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962. - In 1955, Sanger for the determination of insulin sequence - won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1956. - In 1980, Sanger & Gilbert for Sequencing of DNA-won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980. - In 1993, Kary B. Mullis for invention of PCR method - won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993. # Diagram - Cloning and Transgenic Animals - Diagram shows a cloning experiment with a **Scottish Blackface** ewe as the cytoplasmic donor, and a **Finn-Dorset** ewe as the nuclear donor. - The nucleus of the Finn-Dorset ewe is removed and transferred into an enuclearted egg cell of the Scottish Blackface ewe. This is a classic cloning experiment, which led to the birth of **Dolly**. - The diagram also shows a **transgenic animal** with a green color, illustrating a transgenic experiment where a **green fluorescence protein** has been inserted into the genome. # HGP from 1990, Completed in 2003 - Image shows a diagram illustrating the **Human Genome Project**. - The diagram includes 23 chromosomes, numbered from 1 to 22, and an X chromosome. - There's a mention of 3 billion basepairs. # Pioneer Workers in Biochemistry (Table) | S.No | Pioneer Workers | Discovery / Work | |---|---|---| | 1 | Berzilus | Enzymes Catalysis | | 2 | Edward Buchner | Enzyme Extraction | | 3 | Louis Pasteur | Fermentation Process | | 4 | Lohmann | Role of Creatine PO4 in muscles | | 5 | Hans Kreb | TCA Cycle | | 6 | Banting and Macleod | Insulin | | 7 | Fiske and Subbarow | Role of ATPS | | 8 | Watson and Crick | Double Stranded DNA | | 9 | Landsteiner | Protein Structure | | 10 | Peter Mitchell | Oxidative Phosphorylation | | 11 | Nirenberg | Genetic Code on mRNA | | 12 | Paul Berg | Recombinant DNA Technology | | 13 | Karry Mullis | Polymerase Chain Reaction | | 14 | Khorana | Synthesized Gene | # Chemical Elements of Life - Living creature on earth composed mainly of a very few elements, principally: Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen (C, H, O, N) - These make up 99+% of atoms in the human body - Image shows the elements, in order of percentage: - Oxygen (63%) - Hydrogen (25.2%) - Carbon (9.5%) - Nitrogen (1.4%) # What Property Unites H, O, C and N? - Their ability to form covalent bonds by electron-pair sharing. - A "second tier" of essential elements includes sulfur and phosphorus, which form covalent bonds, and the ions Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, and Cl-. - Sulfur is an important constituent of proteins. - Phosphorus plays essential roles in energy metabolism and the structure of nucleic acids. - Most of these third- and fourth-tier elements are metals, and some serve as aids to catalysis of biochemical reactions. # Principles of Biochemistry - Cells (basic structural units of living organisms) are highly organized and constant source of energy is required to maintain the ordered state. - Living processes contains thousands of chemical reactions. Precise regulation and integration of these reactions are are required to maintain life. - Certain important reactions E.g. Glycolysis found in almost all organisms. - All organisms use the same type of molecules: CHO, proteins, lipids \ nucleic acids. - Instructions for growth, reproduction and developments for each organism is encoded in their DNA. # Important Biomolecules - Living organism are composed of thousands of different kinds of inorganic and organic molecules. - Most biomolecules can be considered to be derived from the simplest type of organic molecules; hydrocarbons. # Diagram - Important Biomolecules - The diagram shows an image illustrating the different biomolecules and their relationships. - The diagram shows a **monomer**, a **polymer** and a **supramolecular structure**. - The biomolecules listed are: - lipids - proteins - carbohydrates - nucleic acids # Biomolecules - Just like cells are building blocks of tissues likewise molecules are building blocks of cells. - Animal and plant cells contain approximately 10,000 kinds of molecules (bio-molecules). - Water constitutes 50-95% of cells content by weight. - Ions like Na+, K+ and Ca+ may account for another 1%. - Almost all other kinds of bio-molecules are organic (C, H, N, O, P, S). - Infinite variety of molecules contain C. - Most bio-molecules considered to be derived from hydrocarbons. - The chemical properties of organic bio-molecules are determined by their functional groups. Most bio-molecules have more than one. # Polymers and Monomers - Each of these types of molecules are polymers that are assembled from single units called monomers. - Each type of macromolecule is an assemblage of a different type of monomer. # Major Classes of Small Biomolecules - **Amino acids:** - Building blocks of proteins. - 20 commonly occurring. - Contains amino group and carboxyl group function groups (behavioral properties). - R Group (side chains) determines the chemical properties of each amino acids. - Also determines how the protein folds and its biological function. - Individual amino acids in protein connected by peptide bond. - Functions as transport proteins, structural proteins, enzymes, antibodies, cell receptors.