Biochemistry Notes
Metabolism involved biological reactions and non-biological reactions which need organisms to lives life. Metabolism includes the conjugation, reduction, dehydroxylation, cyclization, methylation, phosphorylation, and oxidation of substrates (beta-oxidation of fatty acid, glucose, etc.) and the liberation of energy, heat, and carbon dioxide. Metabolism is considered as: Primary metabolism: Primary metabolism is … Read more
Ammonia is a toxic product to the body of animals, thus ammonia is continuously excreted from the body of the animals, in various from depending upon the external environment and physiology of animals. Types of animal-based on excretion of nitrogenous waste There are different types of nitrogenous waste products in … Read more
Benedict’s test for reducing sugars Definition Benedict’s test is a biochemical test performed to distinguish reducing sugars (monosaccharides and some disaccharides) from non-reducing sugars. Objectives To detect the presence of simple carbohydrates in a solution. To distinguish between reducing and non-reducing sugars. Principle The carbohydrates having a free or potentially … Read more
Water Definition Water is an inorganic liquid chemical that is colorless, odorless, tasteless that makes up most of the Earth’s hydrosphere and the fluids in the body of all living beings. Water is an extremely important component for the existence of life as it is vital for all biological processes. … Read more
Carbohydrates Definition Carbohydrates are a large group of organic compounds consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen which can be typically broken down into monomers to release energy in living beings. These are the most abundant biomolecules in the living body in terms of mass. Carbohydrates are also known as saccharides … Read more
Amino acids and their structure Proteins are macromolecules made up of monomers called amino acids. Amino acids are the building block of all proteins. An amino acid is a simple organic compound consisting of a basic group (-NH2), an acidic group (-COOH), and an organic R group that is unique … Read more
What are Lipids? Lipids are a group of diverse macromolecules consisting of fatty acids and their derivatives that are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents. Lipids consist of fats, oils, hormones, and certain components of membranes that are grouped together because of their hydrophobic interactions. The lipids are essential constituents … Read more
Enzymes Definition An enzyme is a protein biomolecule that acts as a biocatalyst by regulating the rate of various metabolic reactions without itself being altered in the process. The name ‘enzyme’ literally means ‘in yeast’, and this was referred to denote one of the most important reactions involved in the … Read more
Factors that affect enzyme action Enzymes are biological catalysts that accelerate the rate of chemical reactions in the biological system of living beings. Like catalysts, enzymes are also affected by a number of factors that regulate enzyme action. These factors are related to the chemical nature of enzymes as enzymes … Read more
What are Enzyme Inhibitors? Inhibitors are compounds that convert the enzymes into inactive substances and thus adversely affect the rate of enzymatically-catalyzed reaction is called an enzyme inhibitor, and the process involved is termed enzyme inhibition. Some enzyme inhibitors are normal body metabolites that inhibit a particular enzyme while other … Read more
Amino acids Proteins are the structural scaffolds of our bodies. At the molecular level whatever function is going on, it is being assisted or done by a protein. Proteins have a wide array of structures and functions, but all proteins are similar when it comes to their building blocks. These … Read more
Buffer Solutions DEFINITION A buffer is an aqueous solution consisting of a mixture of a weak acid & its salt or a weak base & its salt that resist a change in pH on the addition of either acid or base. Note:- A lot of biological & chemical reactions need … Read more
Plant Hormones – A compound produced by one part of the plant. Hormones – A compound produced in one area of an organism and has an effect on another area. Image Source: BioNinja Classes of Plant Hormones Major classes of hormones produced by plants and PGPR are: Auxins (IAA) Cytokinins … Read more
Germinating seeds can convert stored lipids into glucose by a cyclic process known as the glyoxylate cycle. Animal-like vertebrate can’t use the acetate of acetyl CoA into gluconeogenesis. So they can’t convert lipid into glucose via gluconeogenesis, because stored lipid firstly breaks into acetate of acetyl CoA and then enter … Read more
Other carbohydrates such as polysaccharides like dietary starch and glycogen are breakdown their monomer (glucose) during digestion by the action of amylase enzyme, and now glucose absorbed into the cell where it enters glycolysis, but endogenous glycogen, some disaccharides (trehalose, maltose, lactose), and some monosaccharides, which are not the intermediates … Read more
Pyruvate can enter in lactic acid fermentation and alcoholic fermentation in anaerobic condition, in aerobic condition pyruvate loss hydrogen and carbon dioxide and convert into acetyl CoA and enter into the TCA cycle, and also enter into the biosynthetic pathway. In the case of low glucose levels, pyruvate enters into … Read more
Pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) It is also called a Phosphogluconate Pathway or Hexose Monophosphate pathway. In this pathway, NADP+ is an electron acceptor instead of NAD+. This is taking place in the two-phase- oxidative phase of PPP and non-oxidative phase of PPP. Figure: The pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). The PPP … Read more
Glycogen is stored polysaccharide in vertebrate and some micro-organism, whereas starch in case of the plant. Glycogen Breakdown Breakdown of glycogen takes place through the three enzymatic reactions, glycogen phosphorylase, glycogen debranching enzyme, and phosphoglucomutase. Three steps are as follow – Glycogen phosphorylase action Glycogen phosphorylase removes glucose residue as … Read more
Glycolysis and Gluconeogenesis Glycolysis is the process of breakdown of glucose, while gluconeogenesis is the synthesis of glucose. Gluconeogenesis is the opposite of glycolysis with some bypass steps. Glycolysis Glycolysis is a breakdown of one molecule of glucose into 2 molecules of pyruvate through a series of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, and … Read more