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INTRODUCTION to BIOCHEMISTRY

LIVING THINGS
- composed of lifeless molecules
- these molecules conform to all the physical and chemical laws that describe the behaviour of the
inanimate matter

The IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS of LIVING MATTER

1. Living organisms
- complicated and highly organized
- cells possess intricate internal structure containing many kinds of complex molecules
2. Each component part of a living organism have specific purpose or function
- macroscopic structures
- chemical compounds in the cell
3. Living organisms
- capacity to extract and transform energy from the environment build and maintain intricate structure
from simple raw materials
- carry out other forms of purposeful work (ex: locomotion)
4. Capacity for precise self-replication

BIOCHEMISTRY and the LIVING STATE

A. Question
- why does living matter radically differ from non-living matter since both of them consists of inanimate
molecules
B. Goal of the Science of Biochemistry
- determine how the collections of inanimate molecules found in living organisms interact with each
other to constitute, maintain, and perpetuate the living state

BIOMOLECULES st
A. Chemical Components of Living Organisms
- organic compounds of carbon which is reduced or hydrogenated
- many organic
nd molecules also contain nitrogen

B. E. coli
- contains 5000 different kinds of compounds
 - 3000 different kinds of proteins
- 1000 different kinds of nucleic acids
C. Macromolecules
- comprise most of the organic matter in living cells
- very large molecular weights
- proteins, nucleic acids, polymer substances (starch, cellulose)
D. Humans
- > 100,000 different kinds of proteins
- none of the E. coli protein molecules is identical with any of the human molecules
E. Cell Macromolecules
- composed of simple, small building-block molecules strung together in long chains
- thousands of different macromolecules are constructed from few simple building-block molecules

 1 Axiom: There is an underlying simplicity in the molecular organization of the cell

- building-block biomolecules are identical in all species

 2 Axiom: All living organisms have a common ancestor

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- each organism has its own sets of nucleic acids and proteins
rd

3 Axiom: The identity of each species of organisms is preserved by its possession of
characteristic sets of nucleic acids and proteins
th

- from the functional versatility of the building-block biomolecules

4 Axiom: Principle of molecular economy in living organisms

nd
- living cells contain the simplest possible molecules in the least
number of different types, just sufficient to endow them the
attribute of life and with specie identity, under environmental
st
conditions in which they exist

ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS in LIVING CELLS

A. 2 Law of Thermodynamics (branch of physics dealing with energy and its transformations)
- all physical and chemical processes always proceed with an increase in the disorder or randomness in
th
the environment (entropy)
B. 1 Law of Thermodynamics
- energy can neither be created nor destroyed
- living organisms cannot consume or use-up energy only transform one form of energy to another
1. Ex: heat
2. Environment
- source of free energy
- source of raw materials

5 Axiom: Living organisms create and maintain their essential orderliness at the expense
of their environment, which they cause to become more disordered and random

C. In Thermodynamic Language
1. Living Organisms are Open Systems
- exchange
th both energy and matter with their environment and transform it not in
equilibrium with the environment
2. Living Organisms are in Steady State (the Condition of an Open System)

transfer rate of matter and energy transfer rate of matter and energy
from the environment into the = out of the system
system

the cell is a non-equilibrium open system

3. Living Cell
- isothermal
- no significant difference in pressure between parts of the cell
- unable to use heat as a source of energy (heat can do work at constant pressure only if it passes
from a zone of high temperature to zone of low temperature)

6 Axiom: Living cells function as isothermal chemical engines

- energy absorbed from the environment is transformed into chemical
energy to carry out chemical works at essentially constant
temperature
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CHEMICAL REACTIONS in LIVING CELLS

A. Enzyme Catalyzed Reactions

- 100% yield
- no by products
1. Specificity
- one enzyme for one specific reaction
st nd
- no effect on other chemical reactions
carry out many different chemical reactions simultaneously
2. Chemical Reactions
th
- sequences of consecutive reactions
- the product of the 1 reaction becomes the substrate of the 2 reaction
- connected into networks of converging or diverging pathways (linked by common
intermediates)
- sequential reactions makes the transfer of chemical energy possible

7 Axiom: The specificity of molecular interactions in cells results from the
structural complimentarity of the interacting molecules
- “lock and key” complimentarity between enzymes and substrates

B. Divisions of Living Cells According to Type of Energy They Derive from the Environment
1. Photosynthetic Cell
- sunlight as main source of energy
- radiant energy absorbed by chlorophyll chemical energy
2. Heterotrophic Cells
- energy from highly reduced, energy-rich organic molecules
- ex: glucose CO2 + 2O
H
C. ATP - major carrier of chemical energy
- as it transfers energy to other molecule, it losses its terminal PO4 group ADP
D. ADP - discharged or energy poor
4 group
- accept chemical energy by regaining
PO

ATP biosynthesis of cell components



ADP energy from environment