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Concepts of Biochemistry
Biochem-700

Dr. Nayla Munawar

Assistant professor
Department of Biochemistry
UAF

Concepts of biochemistry

•An introduc4on to Biochemistry and its applica4ons in applied sciences.
Introduc4on to prokaryo4c, eukaryo4c and archeal cells. Concept of
probio4cs and prebio4cs. Architecture and composi4on of biomembranes
and transporta4on. Significance and applica4ons of enzymes and co-
enzymes. Therapeu4c enzymes. Programmed cell death. Tumors and their
biomarkers. Metabolic roles of vitamins and minerals. Metabolism of
macromolecules and their regula4on. Glycobiology, glyco-conjugates and
their applica4ons. Electron transport chain, ATP synthesis. Photosynthesis.
Photorespira4on and C4 plants. Energe4cs of photosynthesis and
respira4on. Secondary metabolites of plants and their role as bioac4ve
compounds. Protein folding and misfolding. Protein targe4ng.
Biosignalling. Structure of nucleic acids. Flow of gene4c informa4on. Post
transcrip4onal and post transla4onal modifica4ons. Introduc4on to genes
and gene cloning. Gene4c engineering and gene4cally modified organisms.
Introduc4on to bioinforma4cs and omics (Proteomics, Genomics,
Transcripteomics, Metabolomics). Introduc4on to nanobiotechnology and
its applica4ons.

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Lecture No. 1

Introduction and Scope of

Biochemistry

After this lecture you would know

-What is biochemistry
-The importance of biochemistry
-How biochemistry impact your life

•  Read book chapters.

«  Ahmad, M. 2011. Essentials of Medical Biochemistry. Vol. I. 8th Ed. Merit

Publishers, Lahore.
«  Ferrier, D.R. 2013. Biochemistry: Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews. 6th Ed.
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. New York, USA.
«  Murray, R.K., D.A. Bender, K.M. Botham, P.J. Kennelly, V.W. Rodwell and
P.A.Weil. 2012. Harper’s Illustrated Biochemistry. 29th Ed. McGraw Hill. New
York, USA.
«  Nelson, D.L. and M.M. Cox. 2013. Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. 6th
Ed. WH Freeman & Company, New York, USA.
«  Rodwell, V. and D. Bender. 2015. Harpers Illustrated Biochemistry. 30th Ed.
McGraw Hill. New York, USA.

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What is Biochemistry?
Bio=Life

Chemistry: deals with the composition, properties and reactions of matter,

particularly at the level of atoms and molecules

Biochemistry??????

Science deals with the study of chemical reactions that occur in living cells
and organisms

The term “Biochemistry” was introduced by a German chemist

Carl Neuberg in 1903

Life is a chemical process…………………………based on metabolic

reactions

Basic principles of biochemistry are common to all living organism

In biochemistry biological phenomena are analyzed in terms of

chemistry

So it could be called as,

Biological chemistry or Chemical biology

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How does biochemistry impact

you?
•  Medicine

•  Agriculture

•  Industrial applications

•  Environmental applications

Principle Areas of Biochemistry

•  Structure and function of biological

macromolecules

•  Metabolism – anabolic and catabolic

processes.

•  Molecular Genetics – How life is replicated.

Regulation of protein synthesis

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Once upon a time, a long long time ago…..

Vitalism: idea that substances and processes
associated with living organisms did not
behave according to the known laws of
physics and chemistry

Evidence:
1)  Only living things have a high degree of
complexity
2)  Only living things extract, transform and
utilize energy from their environment
3)  Only living things are capable of self
assembly and self replication

Origins of Biochemistry:
A challenge to “Vitalism.”

Famous Dead Biochemist!

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Fallacy #1: Biochemicals can only be

produced by living organisms

• Dead Biochemist #1

• 1828 Friedrich Wohler

Fallacy #2: Complex bioconversion of

chemical substances require living matter

Dead Biochemists #2

• 1897 Eduard Buchner

Glucose + Dead Yeast = Alcohol

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Fallacy #2: Complex bioconversion of

chemical substances require living
matter

Dead Biochemists #3
•  Emil Fischer

Findings of other famous biochemists

•  1944 Avery, MacLeod and McCarty iden4fied DNA as

informa4on molecules
•  1953 Watson (s4ll alive) and Crick proposed the structure
of DNA
•  1958 Crick proposed the central dogma of biology

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Organization of Life
•  elements
•  simple organic compounds (monomers)
•  macromolecules (polymers)
•  supramolecular structures
•  organelles
•  cells
•  tissues
•  organisms

Range of the sizes

of objects studies
by Biochemist and
Biologist

1 angstrom = 0.1 nm

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Elements of Life

Most abundant, essential for all organisms: C, N, O, P, S, H

Less abundant, essential for all organisms : Na, Mg, K, Ca, Cl
Trace levels, essential for all organism: Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn
Trace levels, essential for some organisms: V, Cr, Mo, B, Al, Ga, Sn, Si, As, Se, I,

Many Important Biomolecules are Polymers

lipids proteins carbohydrate nucleic acids

monomer fatty acid amino acid glucose nucleotide

polymer phospholipid protein subunit cellulose DNA

supramolecular
membrane protein complex cell wall chromosome
structure

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Modern biochemistry branches

1. Descriptive biochemistry:

deals with the qualitative and quantitative characterization of the various cell
components

2. Dynamic biochemistry:

deals with the elucidation of the nature of and mechanism of the reactions
involving these cell components

New disciplines
­  Enzymology
­  Endocrinology
­  Clinical biochemistry
­  Molecular biochemistry
­  Agriculture biochemistry and pharmacological biochemistry

Significance of biochemistry
Ø  Understanding and maintenance of health

Ø  Understanding and treatment of disease

Objectives of biochemistry

Major objective: the complete understanding of all the chemical processes

associated with living cells at the molecular level

To achieve this objective

§  Isolate numerous molecules found in the cell
§  To study their structure and function

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Other objectives
1.  Isolation , structural elucidation and determination of mode of action of
biomolecules
2.  Identification of disease mechanism
3.  Study of inborn error of metabolism
4.  Study of oncogene in cancer cells
5.  The relationship of biochemistry with genetics, physiology, immunology,
pharmacology, toxicology etc.

Conclusion
Biochemistry is related to almost all the life sciences and
without biochemistry background and knowledge, a thorough
understanding of health and well being is not possible

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