Midterm Flashcards
(123 cards)
What are 3 major points about Cell Chemistry?
- Life depends on chemical reactions
A. takes place in aqueous solution
B. Based overwhelmingly on carbon compounds - Most of the carbons present are incorporated in macromolecules
A. Allow cells to grow and function - Cell chemistry is very complex
A. Many interlink networks of chemical reactions
What are the two types of chemical interactions and their properties?
Covalent:
- 100x stronger than non-covalent bonds
- form macromolecules
- resist being pulled apart by thermal motions
- Only broken by biologically catalyzed chemical reactions
Non-covalent:
- Allow molecules to recognize each others reversible associate
What is a main characteristic of chemical interactions/chemical bonds?
Bond strength –> is the amount of energy needed to break it.
Describe the chemical components of the cell.
99% of the total number of atoms in the cell C, H, N, O.
0.9% total number of atoms in the cell P, S, Cl, Na, Mg, K, Ca.
There a certain combinations of atoms (chemical groups) that are abundant in cells:
Methyl (-CH3)
Hydroxyl (-OH)
Carboxyl (-COOH)
Carbonyl (-C=O)
Phosphate (-PO3^-2)
Sulfhydryl (-SH)
Amino (-NH2)
How are cell compounds formed?
- Carbon atoms can form four covalent bonds with other atoms –> they have a high ability to form macromolecules
- C-C stable bonds forms chains and rings -> generate large and complex molecules
- Carbon compounds made by cells -> organic compounds
- A few categories of molecules give rise to all extraordinary richness of form and function
Describe organic compounds.
- Carbon based (around 30 carbons)
- Found in free solution
- Common example: hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen
- Compounds in the cell are chemically related and classified in 4 major families of compounds
What are the uses of organic compounds?
1) Monomer subunits to construct Polymeric Macromolecules
2) Energy sources –> broken down and transformed into other small molecules (used in metabolic pathways)
3) Many have both functions (subunits and energy sources)
4) Organic molecules are synthesized of or broken down into the same set of simple compounds
Describe the transition of organic compounds to macromolecule.
Organic compounds - small organic building blocks of the cell
Macromolecule - large organic molecules of the cell
Sugar –> Polysaccharides, Glycogen, Starch (in plants)
Fatty Acids –> fats and membrane lipids
Amino Acids –> proteins
Nucleotides –> Nucleic Acids
What are macromolecules?
- Most abundant carbon containing molecules
- Principal building and functional blocks of cells
- Made by covalently linked organic molecules (monomers) into chains
- Proteins are an important macromolecule - versatile and perform thousands of functions, enzymes which catalyze formation and breaking of covalent bonds
- Nucleotide –> nucleic acid –> DNA and RNA
Describe the assembly of macromolecules.
- They assembly in a sequence, not randomly, subunits are added in a precise order
- Covalent bonds allow rotation and give flexibility, which allows for several conformations
- Non-covalent bonds allow assembly of macromolecules but constrain the shape to one conformation - but they still allow them to interact with one another
- What happens in the cell brings order
What are the two types of reactions in cells?
Anabolic:
Two monomers put together through covalent bonding - need to provide energy to make bonds.
Condensation - releases H20
Energetically unfavourable
Catabolic:
Break bonds and makes monomers - releases energy when bonds are broken.
Hydrolysis - takes in H20
Energy favourable
What does the second law of thermodynamics state? How is it possible?
- In any isolated system the degree of disorder always increases
- The most probable arrangement is the most disorder (if there is no energy in system)
- Quantified by ENTROPY (S) - the greater the disorder the greater the entropy is
- Systems will change spontaneously towards arrangements with higher S
- This is possible if you consider cells as non-isolated system. It has an environment. Interactions inside the cell have order and also release heat to its environment. Warms up the environment. It heats the liquid as it moves faster which creates disorder.
Where does cell heat come from?
- Cell heat comes from food
- It is release unless it needs to create more order in the cell
- The food molecules feed heat (catabolic pathway) and makes many building blocks for biosynthesis (and releases heat in the process) Then goes through anabolic pathways which makes molecules that form the cell.
What is the first law of thermodynamics?
The energy can be converted from one form to another but not created or destroyed.
In biological systems, how is energy stores and managed?
- It is stored and managed within chemical bonds
- Enthalpy (H) –> energy that can be released from chemical bonds
- A negative enthalpy change (Hf-Hi) spontaneously favourable reaction
What is Gibbs free energy?
Putting it all together
DeltaG = DeltaH -TDeltaS
When DeltaG is 0, it is energetically favourable.
What is the purpose of an Enzyme?
Enzymes catalyze the reaction by lowering the activation energy required for a reaction to take place. It then takes less time for the reactants to reach the required activation energy, thereby speeding up the reaction.
Enzymes speed reactions but cannot force energetically unfavourable reactions to occur. (cannot go uphill)
Explain what this statement means “reactions in cells are coupled.”
- The energy in one reaction is used in another reaction (they drive each other)
- Need carrier molecules to take energy and favour anabolic reactions - main energy carrier in our cell is ATP
- In order for the cell to work, DeltaG = (-)
- In order for work - it depends on the concentration of components that we have - this is the concept of equilibrium in the cell
Explain the concept of Equilibrium in the cell.
- Suppose there is a reaction which is Y–> X
- In this example, the formation of X is favourable. It is negative. And formation of Y is unfavourable, it is positive. There will always be some X converting to Y.
- Suppose we start with equal number of X and Y.
- For each individual molecule, conversion of X to Y will happen less often then Y to X. Therefore the ratio of X to Y molecules will increase.
- Eventually, there will be a large enough excess of X over Y to just compensate for the slow rate of X –> Y. Eventually equilibrium will be attained.
- At equilibrium, the number of Y molecules being converted to X molecules (vice versa) is the same. There is no net change in the ratio of Y to X.
- This is known as the Standard free energy and it depends on the components and delta G.
Describe an example of a reaction driven by ATP hydrolysis.
Reaction: A-O + B-H —> A-B
Step 1: In the ACTIVATION step, ATP transfers a phosphate, P, to A-OH, to produce a high energy intermediate.
Step 2: in the CONDENSATION step, the activated intermediate reacts with B-H to form the product A-B, a reaction accompanied by the release of inorganic phosphate.
Then there is the net result.
A-OH + B-H + ATP –> A-B+ ADP + P
What is Acetyl CoA?
- It is a molecule that provides energy
- See it a bit less often
- High energy Thioester bond - used to transfer energy through reactions
Describe oxidation and reduction involved in electron transfer.
- Oxidation in the cells -> it is a catalyzed reaction and refers to more than the addition of oxygen (addition of oxygen rarely happens), removal of electrons from the atoms. Partially + charge.
- Reduction -> Addition of electrons to an atom. Partially - charge. If a molecule picks an e- it usually also pics an H. This is called hydrogenation.
When reduces it is methane.
When it oxidizes it is carbon dioxide.
In a cell, reduction and hydrogenation is the same.
What is an example of hydrogenation? When does it equal reduction?
A + e- + H+ –> AH
Hydrogenation = Reduction if the number of C-H bonds increases, the molecule is then reduced.
What is NADH and NADPH?
They are both electron carriers
When two reactions take place, energy is taken by one reaction to another, you then have ATP carriers.
When there is oxidation in a reaction, molecules that carry electrons and hydrogen is NADH and NADPH.