Biochemistry

ATP Living and nonliving things are composed of compounds, which are themselves made up of elements joined by energy-containing bonds, such as those found in ATP. ATP- contain high energy bonds that store and release energy within living things. In order to release energy from ATP (Adenosine Tri Phosphate), the bond is broken and the third phosphate is removed.

Common Elements Living systems (organic compounds) are made of complex molecules that consist mostly of a few elements, especially... carbon (C) hydrogen (H) oxygen (O) nitrogen (N) phosphorous (P)

Chemistry of Carbon Carbon is essential to human life. The study of carbon is so interesting, scientists have a separate field of study called organic chemistry. Carbon has four valence electrons (outermost) that can join with an electron from another element to form a strong covalent bond. Carbon can bond to many other elements including another carbon atom which gives it the ability to produce millions of different chains that are almost unlimited in length. Chains of carbon atoms can even close upon themselves creating rings.

Carbon

Water It can be argued that life exists on Earth because of the abundance of liquid water. Water is the single most abundant compound in most living things. Living things use water in order to go through most of the body's processes. Water makes up blood and other bodily fluids. On hot days, sweat helps to cool the body and water vapor is lost when you exhale and in urine. If enough water is not taken in to replace what is lost, dehydration can result. This leads to problems with the circulatory, respiratory and nervous systems.

Dehydration and Hydrolysis Dehydration links smaller subunits into larger units by removing water and forming covalent bonds. Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction in which a compound reacts with water. This type of reaction is used to break down larger organic molecules into smaller subunits. Dehydration and hydrolysis are essentially the reverse of each other. http://science.nhmccd.edu/biol/dehydrat/dehydrat.html

Acids, Bases, and pH An acid is a solution that contains higher concentrations of H+ ions and have pH values lower than 7. A base is a solution that has a lower concentration of H+ ions and have pH values above 7. The pH scale is used to indicate the concentration of H+ ions in a solution

Groups of Organic Molecules Living things are made up of complex molecules (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids) and their subunits. These subunits include simple sugars in carbohydrates, fatty acids in lipids, amino acids in proteins, and nucleotides in nucleic acids. Carbohydrates and lipids contain many carbon-hydrogen bonds that also store energy.

Carbohydrates Carbohydrates are made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. Living things use carbohydrates as their main source of energy for cell activities. Short term energy storage is in the form of simple sugars while intermediate storage is found in polysaccharides. Plants and some animals use carbohydrates for structural purposes (cell walls).

Carbohydrates, con’t. Examples of carbohydrates are sugars and starches. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides; large macromolecules are called polysaccharides.

Lipids/Fats Lipids are made mostly from carbon and hydrogen atoms and deal with long term energy storage. Macromolecules such as lipids contain high energy bonds. Most common lipids are oils, fats, and waxes. Lipids can be used to store energy. Some are an important part of biological membranes and waterproof coverings (phospholipid bilayer of cell membrane).

Proteins Proteins are very important in biological systems as control and structural elements. The control elements are carried out by enzymes and some hormones. Enzymes act as catalysts to speed up the rate of reactions . These proteins are folded in intricate ways that produce shapes that “fit” corresponding features of specific substrates.

Proteins, con’t. Amino acids make up proteins. Structural proteins are used in the cell as parts of the cell membrane, muscle tissue and connective tissue types. The function of each protein molecule depends on its specific sequence of amino acids and the shape of the molecule. The protein hemoglobin carries oxygen in some organisms.

Nucleic Acids Nucleic acids are macromolecules containing hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorous. They are assembled from individual monomers known as nucleotides, which are made of a sugar, phosphate and a nitrogenous base. Nucleic acids store and transmit hereditary or genetic information. There are two kinds of nucleic acids: DNA, and RNA. DNA contains all the hereditary information, while RNA sends instructions to make proteins.