BIOCHEMISTRY is the study of chemical processes in living organism, including, but nit limited to living matter.

IMPORTANCE IN NURSING

- It is a study of structure, functions and properties of biomolecules ( chemical compound found in living
organisms. These include chemical compose of mainly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus.
- It is also a building blocks of life and perform important function in living organisms
- The chemistry of life processes
- It focuses on understanding how biological molecules give rise to the processes that occur within living cells and
between cells, which in return relates greatly to study and understanding of tissue organs, organism structure
and function
- Large molecules such as proteins, nucleic acids referred to biological macromolecules
- Low molecular-weight molecules such as glucose and glycerol referred to as metabolites

CELLULAR FOUNDATION

- All cells have, for at least some part of their life, either a nucleoid or a nucleus,
- all living things are made up of cells. This fact was first discovered by Robert Hooke, in 1665/ When he used a
microscope to examine a slice of cork, he discovered that it appeared to be made up of tiny chambers that he
named cells.
- all three domains of life – bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes.
- All cells, no matter what kind, have a plasma membrane
✓ The plasma membrane defines the periphery of the cell
✓ It is composed of lipid and protein molecules that form a thin, tough, pliable, hydrophobic barrier
around the cell
✓ The membrane is a barrier to the free passage of inorganic ions and most other charged or polar
compounds.

- the genome—the complete set of genes, composed of DNA—is replicated and stored, with its associated
proteins.
- All cells also need to be able to obtain and use energy

EUKARYOTES PROKARYOTES

- The nucleoid, in bacteria and archaea, is not separated from the cytoplasm by a membrane;
- The nucleus, in eukaryotes, is enclosed within a double membrane, the nuclear envelope
- Microorganisms without nuclear membranes, formerly grouped together as prokaryotes
COMPONENTS OF CELL

Organisms Belong to Three Distinct Domains of Life

Two large groups of single-celled microorganisms can be distinguished on genetic and biochemical grounds: Bacteria and
Archaea.

Phylogeny refers to the evolutionary relationships between organisms. The Three Domain System,
proposed by Woese and others, is an evolutionary model of phylogeny based on differences in the
sequences of nucleotides in the cell's ribosomal RNAs (rRNA), as well as the cell's membrane lipid
structure and its sensitivity to antibiotics.

Because all cells are similar in nature, it is generally thought that all cells came from a common
ancestor cell termed the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). These LUCAs eventually
evolved into three different cell types, each representing a domain. The three domains are
the Archaea, the Bacteria, and the Eukarya.
- Bacteria inhabit soils, surface waters, and the tissues of other living or decaying organisms
- Many of the Archaea, recognized as a distinct domain by Carl Woese in the 1980s, inhabit extreme
environments—salt lakes, hot springs, highly acidic bogs, and the ocean depths.
- In aerobic habitats with a plentiful supply of oxygen, some resident organisms derive energy from the transfer of
electrons from fuel molecules to oxygen within the cell.
- Other environments are anaerobic, devoid of oxygen, and microorganisms adapted to these environments
obtain energy by transferring electrons to nitrate (forming N2 ), sulfate (forming H2S), or CO2 (forming CH4)
- Many organisms that have evolved in anaerobic environments are obligate anaerobes: they die when exposed
to oxygen. Others are facultative anaerobes, able to live with or without oxygen.

BACTERIA

- Bacteria inhabit soils, surface waters, and the tissues of other living or decaying organisms
- Like eukaryotic cells, bacterial cells have a plasma mem brane surround ing them, but in addition, they also
contain an exterior cell wall, comprised of an interlocked peptidoglycan network.
- Pili play an important role in bac terial conjugation, a process in which DNA is transferred between bacterial
cells. In addition, bacterial cells may have flagella that enable them to move through their surround ings
- bacteria can communicate, not only with members of their own species, but also with other bacterial species,
using chemi cal signals, in a process called quorum sensing

ARCHAEA

- Many of the Archaea, recognized as a distinct domain by Carl Woese in the 1980s, inhabit extreme
environments—salt lakes, hot springs, highly acidic bogs, and the ocean depths.
- Because of this, they were ini tially believed to live only in extreme environ ments and were described as
extremophiles- Microorganism that lives in conditions of extreme temperature, acidity, alkalinity, or chemical
concentration.
- Their tran scriptional machinery, promoter se quences and ribosomes are much more like those of eukaryotes
than of prokaryotes.

EUKARYOTES

- Eukaryotic cells are found in both unicellular and multicellular organizational schemes.
- Unicellu lar forms include yeast and many protists, familiar to students from introductory biology labs, like
Paramecium and Amoeba.
 - Multicellular eukaryotes include plants, animals, and fungi.

ORGANELLES

Eukaryotic cells are characterized by internal membrane-bounded compartments, or organ elles. These compartments
divide up the inte rior of the cell into discrete parts that have specialized functions.

Organelles found in eukaryotic cells in clude the nucleus (houses DNA), mitochondria (electron transport system/
oxidative phosphorylation for ATP synthesis),

nucleolus (ribosome synthesis and assembly),

endoplasmic reticulum (lipid metabolism and targeted protein synthesis and folding),

the Golgi apparatus (protein modification and secretion), peroxisomes (oxidation of very long chain fatty acids),
chloroplasts (plants - photosynthesis),

plastids (synthesis and storage of compounds in plants),

lysosomes (ani mals - hydrolytic enzymes),

endosomes (contain endo cytosed material), and vacuoles

The Cytoplasm Is Organized by the Cytoskeleton and Is Highly Dynamic

The cytoskeleton is made up of a network of interlinking protein fibers belonging to three major classes: microtubules,
microfilaments, also known as actin filaments, and intermediate filament.

- All types provide structure and organization to the cytoplasm and shape to the cell.
- Microfilaments, composed of the protein actin, underlie the plasma membrane of animal cells, and give them
their characteristic shapes.
- Microtubules, made up of various kinds of a protein called tubulin, also play vital roles in cell division

CYTOSKELETON include helping to organize the contents of the cell. If you ever wondered what kept or ganelles in an
aqueous cytoplasm from float ing around like beach balls in water, the an swer is that organelles are anchored by
at tachment to the cytoskeleton.

CHEMICAL FOUNDATIONS

The basic unit fo life is the cell. It contains organic and inorganic substances that are important for the various ffunctions
of the cell.

The four most abundant elements in living organisms, in terms of percentage of total number of atoms, are hydrogen,
oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon, which together make up more than 99% of the mass of most cells

Water is the most abundant of all compunds in cells. It is important in the cell because of its solvent power, capacity for
heat and its relation to ion formation.

MACROMOLECULES

ORGANIC COMPOUND- Compounds with carbon

(a) CARBOHYDRATES - carbo- carbon or coal, hydro- water

Monosaccharides

Simplest carbo, soluble in water, made up of single, straight chain of 6 carbon sugar

Glucose the most common monosac, main source of energy for most organism.

SACCHARIN – Synthetic sweetening agent much sweeter than sugar. WITH 2 OR 3

OLIGOSACCHARIDE-

POLYSACCHARIDE- multiple sugars or combi of more than 2 monosac

Ex.glycogen, starch

(b) LIPIDS
Organisms Differ Widely in Their Sources of Energy and Biosynthetic Precursors

We can classify organisms according to how they obtain the energy and carbon they need for synthesizing cellular
material

• There are two broad categories based on energy sources: phototrophs (Greek trophē, “nourishment”) trap and
use sunlight, and chemotrophs derive their energy from oxidation of a chemical fuel
• Photo trophs are organisms that obtain metabolic energy from light, while chemotrophs get their energy from
the oxidation of chemical fuels.
• Organisms that can capture energy from light or from chemical sources are termed autotrophs (auto=self,
troph=nouris hing).
• Others are heterotrophs, which use, as their energy source, the or ganic compounds made by other
or ganisms. Plants, and other photo synthetic organ isms are auto trophs, while ani mals are hetero trophs