Introduction to Biochemistry

Hellen Kinyi
 What is Biochemistry?
• Describes chemical
processes that occur in
living organisms
• Provides a molecular
explanation of disease
processes
• Aims to understand how
lifeless molecules
combine to form life
Why study Biochemistry
• Foundation for Understanding Human Physiology:
• Biochemistry provides essential knowledge of how the human body functions in
health and disease.
• Insight into Drug-Cell Interactions:
• It helps in understanding how medications interact with cells, aiding in
predicting and managing side effects.
• Understanding Disease Mechanisms
• Biochemistry explains the physiological changes in conditions like diabetes and
hypertension.
• Basis for Clinical Diagnostic Tests
• It underpins the clinical chemistry tests used for diagnosing and monitoring
various diseases.
• Adaptation to Advances in Molecular Medicine
• Staying informed about the evolving landscape of medicine, particularly in
molecular medicine, enhances clinical practice.
What are the characteristics of living things?
 Aims of Biochemistry
To understand the chemical complexity of the cell

To understand how cells are able to extract and transform energy from
their surroundings
To understand how cells are able to self replicate

To understand how cells sense and respond to changes in their

environment
To understand the structural logic behind the selection of specific
molecules for specific tasks
 COURSE CONTENT

Foundations of Biomolecule Gene

Water, pH and
Biochemistry & structure and expression and
Buffers
Cell Biology function Regulation

Vitamin and
Introduction to
Mineral Enzymology
Metabolism
Biochemistry
FOUNDATIONS OF
BIOCHEMISTRY
 Chemical foundations
Physical Foundations
Genetic Foundations
Evolutionary Foundations
Cellular Foundations
CHEMICAL FOUNDATIONS
MATTER

Anything that
occupies space
and has mass.
 ATOMS
• Building blocks of matter
• Made up of neutrons, electrons
and protons
 ELEMENTS
• Have the same atoms
• Every element has a specific
atomic number and mass
number

PERIODIC TABLE
• Tabular array of the chemical elements organized by
atomic number
• Elements in a group have similar chemical properties
due to number of electrons in outer most shells
 OCTET RULE
• Atoms are not stable by
themselves
• No. of electrons in an
atoms outermost valence
shell must be eight to
attain stability.
• Atoms can gain, lose or
share electrons to
become stable
 MOLECULES AND COMPOUNDS
• A molecule forms when an atom
bonds with other atoms; this may
be the same or different atoms.
• A compound involves an atom
bonding with atoms of two or more
different elements.
• Cpds always contains more than
one type of element; its constituent
parts combine in a fixed ratio
 Elements present in biological organisms
• Only about 30 elements
are essential to organism
• Hydrogen, Oxygen,
Nitrogen and Carbon make
up 99% of the mass of cells
• Trace elements required in
small amounts, but all are
essential to life
 CARBON
• The chemistry of living organisms is
organized around carbon, which
accounts for more than half the dry
weight of cells
• It forms the “backbone” of many
organic molecules.
• Can form up to 3 bonds with other
elements
• Can also form very stable C-C single
bonds
• Covalently linked carbon atoms in
biomolecules can form linear chains,
branched chains, and cyclic
structures.
 Cell metabolites
• The cytosol of the cell contains
many small organic molecules
know as metabolites.
• The metabolites are involved in
chemical reactions that occur
in cells.
• They include amino acids,
nucleotides, sugars,
phosphorylated derivatives
and carboxylic acids.
 Macromolecules
• Major constituents of cells.
• Macromolecules are polymers
of relatively simple precursors.
• They include proteins, nucleic
acids, and polysaccharides
• Shorter chains are called as
oligomers.
• Synthesis of macromolecules
is a major energy-consuming
activity of cells.
 Is it True/False?
1. Living things require energy for growth and maintenance.
2. Biochemistry is solely concerned with the chemical processes of non-living
matter.
3. Gases have a definite shape and volume.
4. Atoms are the smallest units of matter that retain the properties of an element.
5. The octet rule states that atoms are most stable when they have eight electrons
in their outermost shell.
6. Proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids are the four main types of
macromolecules found in cells.
7. Biochemistry includes the study of how organisms synthesize and utilize
energy-rich molecules like ATP.
8. Solids have a fixed volume but take the shape of their container.
9. Molecules are formed by the bonding of two or more atoms.
10. Lipids are water-soluble macromolecules that provide structural integrity to cell
membranes.
PHYSICAL FOUNDATIONS
Living cells exist in a steady state
• Cells must perform work to stay alive and reproduce themselves.
• Some processes that require energy are synthesis, movement,
storage and expression of information
• Although the composition of an organism changes little over time,
the molecules change e.g RBCs are degraded every 3 months, blood
sugar
• The constancy of concentration is the result of a dynamic steady
state and not equilibrium
• When the cell stops producing energy, it dies and begins to decay
towards equilibrium with its surroundings
 Cells are open reaction systems
A system refers to all the A living cell is an open system as it
reactants, products, solvent and exchanges both matter and energy
immediate atmosphere in which
with its surroundings.
a chemical reaction occurs.
 First law of Thermodynamics
• Principle of the conservation of
energy

Energy cannot be created

or destroyed
It can be converted from
one form to another
The total amount of energy
remains the same
 Second Law of Thermodynamics
• Entropy (S) is the degree of
disorder in the universe
• Tendency in nature is towards
greater disorder in the universe
• Total entropy is continuously
increasing
• To bring about the synthesis of
macromolecules free energy must
be used in the cell
 Cell use chemical energy
Further reading
• Cells get their energy from food
molecules or sunlight https://www.nature.com/scitabl
e/topicpage/cell-energy-and-
• Energy in food molecules is stored cell-functions-14024533/
within the chemical bonds that
hold them together.
• Cells break these bonds and
release electrons which are
transferred to oxygen to generate
carbon dioxide and water.
• Energy reactions in cells involved
release and addition of elections
in REDOX reactions.
GENETIC FOUNDATIONS
 Genetic foundations
• Cells have ability to reproduce themselves
with nearly perfect fidelity which implies
constancy in the structure of the molecules
that contain the genetic information
• DNA encodes the instructions for forming
all cellular components and provides a
template to produce identical DNA
molecules to be distributed to progeny
when a cell divides.
• A human sperm or egg, carries the
hereditary information and transmits this
inheritance in the form of DNA molecules.
 Genetic foundations
• Linear sequences of DNA known as
genes can be transcribed into RNA
molecules.
• The RNA molecules can be
translated into linear protein chains
which fold into their native 3D
shapes.
EVOLUTIONARY FOUNDATIONS
 Evolutionary foundations
• There is similarity of metabolic
pathways and gene sequences
across organisms
• This suggests that organisms
are derived from a common
evolutionary progenitor.
• This is through a series of
small changes (mutations),
each of which conferred a
selective advantage to some
organism in some ecological
niche.
 Evolutionary foundations
• Unrepaired mistakes in the DNA
replication process lead to
changes in the nucleotide
sequence of DNA, producing a
genetic mutation.
• Mutations in the DNA handed
down to offspring may be harmful
or even lethal to the new
organism or cell.
• However, a mutation better
equips an organism or cell to
survive in its environment