Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. After a stint in the United States Army, he decided to try his hand at teaching. In , he joined the chemistry faculty of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he still teaches chemistry. John enjoys cooking and making custom knife handles from exotic woods. Richard Langley grew up in southwestern Ohio. His next stop was the University of Nebraska, where he received his doctorate in chemistry.
Afterwards, he took a postdoctoral position at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, followed by a visiting assistant professor position at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls. In , he moved to Stephen F. Austin State University. Rich enjoys jewelry making and science fiction. I love you guys. We would also like to thank Kristin DeMint for her support and assistance in the early portion of this project and to Corbin Collins who helped us complete it. Thanks to our colleague Michele Harris who helped with suggestions and ideas.
And many thanks to all of the people at Wiley publishing who helped bring this project from concept to publication. Cesavice, Alissa D. Ellet, Stephanie D. RNA Transcription Physical properties of water Energy efficiency RNA Transcription. We are certainly happy you have decided to delve into the fascinating world of biochemistry. It takes hard work, attention to detail, and the desire to know and to imagine. Biochemistry, like any area of chemistry, is not a spectator sport.
You must interact with the material, try different explanations, and ask yourself why things happen the way they do. Work hard and you will get through your biochem course.
More importantly, you might grow to appreciate the symphony of chemical reactions that take place within a living organism, whether it be a one-celled organism, a tree, or a person. As each individual instrument contributes to an orchestra, each chemical reaction is necessary, and sometimes its part is quite complex.
However, when you combine all the instruments, and each instrument functions well, the result can be a wonder to behold and hear. The same is true of an organism. If all the reactions occur correctly at the right time, the organism functions well. If a reaction or a few reactions are off in some way, the organism may not function nearly as well. Genetic diseases, electrolyte imbalance, and other problems may cause the organism to falter. And what happens then? Biochemistry is often where ways of restoring the organism to health are found.
About This Book Biochemistry For Dummies is an overview of the material covered in a typical college-level biochemistry course. We have made every attempt to keep the material as current as possible, but the field is changing ever so quickly. The basics, however, stay the same, and that is where we concentrate our efforts.
We also include information on some of the applications of biochemistry that you read about in your everyday life, such as forensics, cloning, gene therapy, genetic testing, genetically modified foods, and so on. Much of the biochemistry revolves around knowing the structures of the molecules involved in biochemical reactions.
If you are in a biochemistry course, you probably have had at least one semester of organic chemistry. You will recognize many of the structures, or at least the functional groups, from your study of organic chem.
If you bought this book just to gain general knowledge about a fascinating subject, try not to get bogged down in the details. Skim the chapters. If you find a topic that interests you, stop and dive in. Have fun learning something new.
Conventions Used in This Book We have organized this text in a logical progression of topics that might be used in a biochemistry course. We have made extensive use of structures and reactions. While reading, try to follow along in the associated figures, whether they be structures or reactions. The icons point out things to which you should pay particular attention, for various reasons.
If you are taking a biochemistry course, use this rather inexpensive book to supplement that very expensive biochemistry textbook.
We use this icon to alert you to a tip on the easiest or quickest way to learn a concept. Between the two of us, we have almost 70 years of teaching experience. The Real World icon points out information that has direct application in the everyday world.
Concentrate on the area s in which you need help. If you are interested in real-world applications of biochemistry, by all means read those sections indicated by the Real World icon. However, if you just need help on the straight biochemistry, feel free to skip the applications.
If you fall into a different category, we hope you enjoy this book anyway. How This Book Is Organized Here is a very brief overview of the topics we cover in the various parts of this book. Use these descriptions and the Table of Contents to map out your strategy of study. In the first chapter you find out about the field of biochemistry and its relationship to other fields within chemistry and biology. You also get a lot of info about the different types of cells and their parts. In Chapter 2 we review some aspects of water chemistry that have direct applications to the field of biochemistry, including pH and buffers.
Finally, you end up with a one-chapter review of organic chemistry, from functional groups to isomers. You are introduced to amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Having the building blocks in hand, in the next chapter we show you the basics of amino acid sequencing and the different types of protein structure. Finally, we will finish this part with a discussion of enzyme kinetics, both catalysts speeding up reactions and inhibitors slowing them down.
Then we jump over to lipids and steroids. Next are nucleic acids and the genetic code Da Vinci, eat your heart out! In these chapters we look at energy requirement and where that energy goes.
Finally, since you will be hot and sweaty anyway, we throw you into the really smelly bog of nitrogen chemistry. We also spend some time talking about the Human Genome Project. Part VI: The Part of Tens In this final part of the book we discuss ten great applications of biochemistry to the everyday world and reveal ten not-so-typical biochemical careers. Where to Go from Here The answer to this question really depends of your prior knowledge and goals.
As with all For Dummies books, this one attempts to make all the chapters independent, so that you can pick a chapter containing material you are having difficulty with and get after it, without having to have read other chapters first. If you feel comfortable with the topics covered in general and organic chemistry, feel free to skip Part I. If you want a general overview of biochemistry, skim the remainder of the book.
Dive deeper into the gene pool when you find a topic that interests you. And for all of you, no matter who you are or why you are reading this book, we hope that you have fun reading it and that it helps you to learn biochemistry.
First we survey the field of biochemistry and its relationship to other disciplines within chemistry and biology. We cover several different types of cells and their parts. Then we look at some features of water chemistry that apply to biochemistry, paying attention to pH and buffers.
In the end, you get a brush-up on your organic chemistry, which sets the stage for Part II. But if you are thinking about taking a course in biochemistry or just want to explore an area that you know little about, keep reading.
This chapter gives you basic information about cell types and the parts of the cell — which are extremely important in biochemistry. This chapter sets the stage for the details. Why Biochemistry? Look around. See all the living or once living things around you? The processes that allow them to grow, multiply, age, and die are all biochemical in nature. Sometimes we sit back and marvel at the complexity of life, the myriad of chemical reactions that are taking place right now within our own bodies, how all these biochemical reactions are working together so that we can sit and contemplate them.
We encourage you to step back from the details occasionally and marvel at the complexity and beauty of life. Biochemistry is the chemistry of living organisms. Biochemists study the chemical reactions that occur at the molecular level of organisms. Normally it is listed as a separate field of chemistry. However, in some schools it is part of biology, and in others it is separate from both chemistry and biology. Biochemistry really reaches out and combines aspects of all the fields of chemistry.
Because carbon is the element of life, organic chemistry plays a large part in biochemistry. Biochemistry is similar to molecular biology; both study living systems at the molecular level, but biochemists concentrate on the chemical reactions that are occurring.
Biochemists may study individual electron transport within the cell, or they may study the processes involved in digestion. Types of Living Cells All living organisms contain cells. A cell is a prison of sorts. Just as a prison inmate can still communicate with the outside world, so can the cell contents.
The prisoner must be fed, so nutrients must be able to enter every living cell. There is a sanitary system for the elimination of waste.
And, just as inmates may work to provide materials for society outside the prison, a cell may produce materials for life outside the cell. There are two types of cells: prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Viruses also bear some similarities to cells, but these are limited.
Prokaryotic cells are the simplest type of cells. Many one-celled organisms are prokaryotes. Prokaryotes Prokaryotes are mostly bacteria. Besides the lack of a nucleus, there are few well-defined structures inside a prokaryotic cell. The prison wall has three components: a cell wall, an outer membrane, and a plasma membrane.
This wall allows a controlled passage of material into or out of the cell. The materials necessary for proper functioning of the cell float about inside it, in a soup known as the cytoplasm. Figure depicts a simplified version of a prokaryotic cell. Plasma membrane Cell wall Ribosomes Figure Simplified prokaryotic cell. DNA Eukaryotes Eukaryotes are animals, plants, fungi, and protists. You are a eukaryote. In addition to having a nucleus, eukaryotic cells have a number of membraneenclosed components known as organelles.
Eukaryotic organisms may be either unicellular or multicellular. In general, eukaryotic cells contain much more genetic material than prokaryotic cells. The primary components of animal cells are listed in Table These components, and a few others, are also present in plant cells.
Figure illustrates a simplified animal cell. The plasma or cytoplasm is the fluid inside the cell. It is important for the health of the cell to prevent this fluid from leaking out.
However, necessary materials must be able to enter through the membrane, and other materials, including waste, must be able to exit through the membrane. Transport through the membrane may be active or passive.
Active transport requires that a price be paid for a ticket to enter or leave the cell. The cost of the ticket is energy. Passive transport does not require a ticket. Passive transport methods include diffusion, osmosis, and filtration.
They organize microtubles, which help move the parts of the cell during cell division. The cell can be thought of as a smoothly running factory. The endoplasmic reticulum is the main part of the cell factory. There are two basic regions to this structure, known as the rough endoplasmic reticulum and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum. The rough endoplasmic reticulum contains ribosomes, and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum contains no ribosomes more about ribosomes and their function is coming up in this chapter.
The rough endoplasmic reticulum, through the ribosomes, is the assembly line of the factory. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum is more like the shipping department, which ships the products of the reactions that occur within the cell, to the Golgi apparatus. The Golgi apparatus serves as the postal system of the cell.
It looks a bit like a maze, and within it, materials produced by the cell are packaged in vesicles, small membrane-enclosed sacs. The vesicles are then mailed to other organelles or to the cell membrane for export.
Secreted substances are then available for other cells or organs. Lysosomes are the landfills of the cell. They contain digestive enzymes that break down substances that may harm the cell Chapter 6 has a lot more about enzymes. The products of this digestion may then safely reenter the cell.
This slightly disturbing process, called autodigestion, is really part of the cell digesting itself. Mitochondria use food, primarily the carbohydrate glucose, to produce energy, which comes mainly in the form of adenosine triphosphate ATP — to which Chapter 13 is dedicated. These serve as the control center of the cell and are the root from which all future generations originate. A double layer known as the nuclear membrane surrounds the nucleus.
Usually the nucleus contains a mass of material called chromatin. If the cell is entering a stage leading to reproducing itself through cell division, the chromatin separates into chromosomes.
In addition to conveying genetic information to future generations, the nucleus produces two important molecules for the interpretation of this information.
The nucleolus produces a third type of ribonucleic acid known as ribosomal ribonucleic acid rRNA. Chapter 9 is all about nucleic acids. Ribosomes contain protein and ribonucleic acid subunits. It is in the ribosomes where the amino acids are assembled into proteins. Many of these proteins are enzymes, which are part of nearly every process occurring in the organism. Part II of this book is devoted to amino acids, proteins, and enzymes.
The small vacuoles, or simply vacuoles, serve a variety of functions, including storage and transport of materials. The stored materials may be for later use or may be waste material no longer needed by the cell. A Brief Look at Plant Cells Plant cells contain the same components as animal cells — plus a cell wall, a large vacuole, and, in the case of green plants, chloroplasts. Figure illustrates a typical plant cell. Cellulose, like starch, is a polymer of glucose. The cell wall provides structure and rigidity.
The large vacuole serves as a warehouse for large starch molecules. Glucose, which is produced by photosynthesis, is converted to starch, a polymer of glucose.
At some later time, this starch is available as an energy source. Chapter 7 talks a lot more about glucose and other carbohydrates. Chloroplasts, present in green plants, are specialized chemical factories. These are the sites of photosynthesis, in which chlorophyll absorbs sunlight and uses this energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to produce glucose and release oxygen gas.
The green color of many plant leaves is due to the magnesium-containing compound chlorophyll. We swim, bathe, boat, and fish in it. It carries our waste from our homes and is used in the generation of electrical power. We drink it in a variety of forms: pure water, soft drinks, tea, coffee, margaritas, and so on. Water, in one form or another, moderates the temperature of the earth and of our bodies. In the area of biochemistry, water is also one of the lead actors. Our bodies are about 70 percent water.
Water plays a role in the transport of material to and from cells. And many, many aqueous solutions take part in the biochemical reactions in the body. In this chapter, we examine the structure and properties of the water molecule.
We explain how water behaves as a solvent. We look at the properties of acids and bases and the equilibria that they may undergo.
Finally, we discuss the pH scale and buffers, including the infamous Henderson-Hasselbalch equation. Sit back, grab a glass of water, and dive in!
The Fundamentals of H2O Water is essential to life; in fact, human beings are essentially big sacks of water. Water accounts for 60—95 percent of our living cells, and 55 percent of the water in the human body is in intracellular fluids.
The intake is about 45 percent from liquids and 40 percent from food, with the remainder coming from the oxidation of food. The loss is about 50 percent from urine and 5 percent from feces, with the remainder leaving through evaporation from the skin and lungs. A water balance must be maintained within the body. If the loss of water significantly exceeds the intake, the body experiences dehydration.
If the water loss is significantly less than the intake, water builds up in the body and causes edema fluid retention in tissues. Physical properties of water The medium in which biological systems operate is water, and physical properties of water influence the biological systems. Therefore, it is important to review some properties of water that you learned in general chemistry. This charge distribution is due to the electronegativity difference between hydrogen and oxygen atoms the attraction that an atom has for a bonding pair of electrons.
Normally, such partial charges result in an intermolecular force known as a dipole-dipole force, in which the positive end of one molecule attracts the negative end of another molecule. This leads to stronger-than-expected intermolecular forces. These unexpectedly strong intermolecular forces have a special name: hydrogen bonds.
Hence the term intermolecular force. From water biochemistry to protein synthesis, Biochemistry For Dummies gives you the vital information, clear explanations, and important insights you need to increase your understanding and improve your performance on any biochemistry test.
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We also do not have links that lead to sites DMCA copyright infringement. If You feel that this book is belong to you and you want to unpublish it, Please Contact us. Moore, J. Needham, D. Glutamic and aspartic acids as precursors. Skip to content. Author : John T. Author : J. If you are allergic to a molecule in a dust mite, for example, you might be allergic to shrimp or even tropical fish food. If you are allergic to some pollens, you could also be allergic to nuts, fruits, and some vegetables because they may share those pesky allergenic molecules.
Some of these shared allergenic molecules have been identified by scientists, and the reader will benefit by learning where they hide. The readers unexplained reactions could be caused by these cross-reactive molecules. This is a situation where a little bit of knowledge is dangerous because cross-reactivity as it is, often briefly mentioned in magazines, could create fear of foods. Alternatively, knowledge about cross-reactive molecules could uncover these specific allergens. Patients could easily avoid these cross-reactive pollen molecules if they knew they were in their foods, thereby eliminating much suffering from allergy.
Why would a patient who tested positive to a pollen eat the same allergens in a food? If they knew about cross-reactivity, they would not.
This book explains the allergic response and the many chemicals the body produces in response to an allergic reaction. Allergy is a serious medical condition, and a patient can unintentionally make their allergic reaction much worse by exposure to a similar cross-reactive allergen. Alternatively, in addition to the patients chosen medical treatment, knowing about cross-reactivity can provide the patient with additional self-help. Popular Books. Fear No Evil by James Patterson.
Mercy by David Baldacci. The Awakening by Nora Roberts. The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly.
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