Biochemistry

Biochemistry

Paper 3: Biochemistry
Word Count:
3835

Biochemistry is the study of the chemical process in all living things. Biochemistry deals with the structure and function of the cellular components that make up proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and biomolecular components. Biochemistry also studies the chemical properties that are involved in the enzyme-catalyzed reactions. The types of reaction and components that effect enzymes, the process of metabolism, and the difference between RNA and DNA are all parts of biochemistry.
Amino acids play the central role when it comes to the building blocks of proteins, but also in the “middle man” when it comes to the body’s metabolism. Within the protein itself there are approximately 20 amino acids that create an array of chemical versatility. The protein is encoded with a specific sequence of the amino acids, which is determined by the sequence of bases in the gene that encodes the protein. Proteins are responsible for the catalyses of all the reactions of living things but they also control all the cellular processes   [ (Dayhoff) ].
Humans need twenty amino acids in their daily nutritional consumption, of those twenty; there are only ten the human body can make on its own, while the other ten must be consumed from outside sources.   The body must receive the essential twenty amino acids daily because without one of those amino acids, the body will begin to undergo a breakdown of the body’s supply of proteins to make up for that one that was absent   [ (Dayhoff) ].
When two or more amino acids bond together they form what is called a peptide bond. The bond is the beginning of the formation of what will later become a protein. The peptide bond is a chemical bond that forms between an amine group and a carboxyl group. The bond between the two goes through dehydration synthesis, where water is released. The bond that is formed is a C (O) NH, or a peptide bond. The molecule is then called an amide....