MPSTME (2019-20)

Elements of Biology

MODULE 4- BIOMOLECULES
All living and non-living things consist of matter, which can be anything that occupies space
and has mass. Mass is the amount of matter in any object, which does not change while weight,
the force of gravity acting on matter, does change. Matter exists in three states as solid, liquid
and gas. All forms of matter, both living and non-living, are made up of a limited number of
building blocks called chemical elements.
Chemical Composition of Living Forms
Elemental analysis reveals the presence of several elements in both living and non-
living matter. Twenty-six elements are present in the human body; four elements, called the
major elements constitute about 96% of the body’s mass viz. oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and
nitrogen. Eight others, the lesser elements contribute to 3.6% to the body’s mass. An additional
14 elements called the trace elements are present in tiny amounts.
All living organisms are made up of same chemicals though their relative amounts may
be different. Most of the chemicals in your body exist in the form of compounds. Biologists
and chemists divide these compounds into two principal classes:
1. Inorganic compounds: They usually lack carbon and are structurally simple. Their
molecules also have only a few atoms and cannot be used by cells to perform complicated
biological functions. They include Na, K, Ca, Mg, water and many salts of NaCl and CaCO 3,
acids and bases, compounds of sulphate and phosphate. They may have either ionic or covalent
bonds. Water makes up 55-60% of a lean adult’s total body mass.
2. Organic compounds: They always contain carbon and usually hydrogen, and always have
covalent bonds. Most of them are large molecules and many are made up of long chains of
carbon atoms. Organic compounds make the remaining 38-43% of the human body. Many
organic molecules are relatively large and have unique characteristics that allow them to carry
out complex functions. Important categories of organic compounds include carbohydrates,
lipids, proteins, nucleic acids and adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
The study of chemistry of living organisms is known as biochemistry. The carbon
compounds obtained from the living tissue are known as biomolecules. The different types of
biomolecules present in the cell are collectively called cellular cell. The compounds of carbon
are central to life on this planet. Carbon compounds include DNAs, the giant helical molecules
that contain all of our genetic information. They also include proteins that catalyse all of the
reactions in our body and that constitute the essential compounds of our blood, muscle and
skin. These biomolecules are mainly (1) amino acids, peptides and proteins, (2) carbohydrates,
(3) nucleotides and (4) lipids.

Monomeric Units and Polymeric Structures

The bond linking in the monomers of the various polymers are discussed below.
1. Proteins: The covalent bond joining each pair of amino acids (or monomers) is a peptide
bond or amide linkage. It always forms between the carbon of the carboxyl group
(--COOH) of one amino acid and the nitrogen of the amino group (--NH2) of another. As

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the peptide bond is formed, a molecule of water is removed, making this a dehydration
synthesis reaction.
2. Lipids: Since the lipids contain small proportion of electronegative oxygen, there are fewer
polar covalent bonds. The saturated fatty acids have only single covalent bond. Further they
contain hydrophilic groups and hydrophobic groups. The hydrophilic groups are present
near the surface of the lipid and are capable of forming hydrogen bonds with water.
3. Carbohydrates: The covalent bond that joins one sugar molecule to another is called as the
glycosidic bond. The glycosidic bond between the anomeric carbon of one monosaccharide
is joined with the hydroxyl group of another monosaccharide to form polysaccharides by
dehydration.
4. Nucleic acids: Covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic bonds are the chemical bonds
that are important in DNA structure.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are hydrates of carbon containing C, H and O, with the empirical formula
(CH2O)n. The ratio of hydrogen to oxygen atoms is usually 2:1, the same as in water. Although
there are exceptions, carbohydrates generally contain one water molecule for each carbon atom.
This is the reason why they are called carbohydrates, which means ‘watered carbon’. Based on
their sizes, carbohydrates can be of the following types.
1. Small carbohydrates: They can cross plasma membrane. They are, further, classified as
follows.
Monosaccharides: They are simple sugars that contain from 3 to 7 carbon atoms. Eg.
glucose (the main blood sugar), fructose (found in fruits), galactose (found in milk sugar)
and ribose (in RNA).
Derived monosaccharides: Eg. Glucuronic acid, D-glucosamine, Deoxyribose in DNA.
Disaccharides: They are simple sugars formed from the combination of two
monosaccharides by dehydration synthesis.
Eg. 1. Sucrose (table sugar) = glucose + fructose
2. Lactose (milk sugar) = glucose + galactose
3. Maltose = glucose + glucose
2. Large carbohydrates: They cannot cross plasma membrane. They are polysaccharides
from tens to hundreds of monosaccharides joined by dehydration synthesis. Glycogen is
the stored form of carbohydrates in animals. Starch is the stored form of carbohydrates in
plants and main carbohydrates in food. Cellulose is the part of cell walls in plants that
cannot be digested by humans but aids movement of food through intestines.
Based on the composition, polysaccharides are classified as (i) homopolysaccharides,
containing only one type of monosaccharides, for eg. glycogen, starch etc.; (ii)
heteropolysaccharides, containing more than one type of monosaccharides or their
derivatives, for eg. agar, pectin etc.

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Based on their function, polysaccharides are classified as (i) storage polysaccharides which
serve as food reserve, eg. starch and glycogen; (ii) structural polysaccharides which play
role in formation of cell wall in plants (eg. cellulose) and skeleton in animals (eg. chitin).
Functions of Carbohydrates
1. Glucose is the main respiratory substrate, and it is called as blood glucose which exists
in the body in ring form.
2. Fructose is also called levulose and is found in fruit, honey, corn syrup etc., which
accounts for the major sugar content in our diet. It is absorbed into the small intestine
and after transported to the liver, it is metabolized into glucose by glycolytic pathway.
3. Galactose is not present freely in nature, but combines with glucose to form lactose, a
disaccharide. When absorbed into the body, it is either converted into glucose in the
liver, or stored as glycogen.
4. Ribose is an important sugar found in variety of chemicals such as ATP besides beng a
constituent of nucleotides that form RNA. Similarly, deoxyribose sugar is a part of
nucleotides that form DNA.
5. Mucopolysaccharides help in lubrication of ligaments and tendons, form synovial fluid,
build strength and flexibility of skin, connective tissues and cartilage, bind proteins in
cell walls and store water in the interstitial spaces.
Amino Acids
Amino acids are the monomers of proteins. Each amino acid has an amino group (-NH2), an
acidic carboxyl group (-COOH) and a side chain (R group). The amino acids are known as α-
amino acids because they have a primary amino group (-NH2) as a substituent of the α-carbon
atom, the carbon next to the carboxylic acid group (-COOH). The amino acids are the organic
compounds that are substituted methane.

Classification of Amino Acids

1. Amino acids with non-polar R groups (eg. glycine, valine etc.)
2. Amino acids with uncharged polar R groups or neutral amino acids (eg. serine, glutamine
etc.)
3. Amino acids with charged polar R groups (eg. lysine, glutamic acid etc.)
Zwitterionic Form of Ionic Acids
The amino acids contain both acidic (-COOH) and basic (-NH2) groups. These groups are
ionizable. The amino acids occur as dipolar ions or zwitterions in dry state. In this form, the
carboxyl group is present as carboxylate ion (-CO2-) and the amino group is present as an
aminium ion (-NH3+). The pH at which the concentration of the dipolar ion (zwitterion) is at

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its maximum and the concentration of the cations and the anions are equal is called the
isoelectric point. At this pH, there is no net charge on the protein. It is specific for each amino
acid.

Essential and Non-Essential Amino Acids

The amino acids that can be synthesized by the body are non-essential amino acids. Those that
cannot be synthesized by the body need to be supplemented in the diets. Such amino acids are
known as essential amino acids. For eg. valine, leucine, histidine, lycine etc.

Proteins
Short chains of amino acids are called peptides. The chains which have fewer than 40 or 50
amino acids are called polypeptides, while still larger chains are called as proteins. They consist
of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen elements, and some others may contain sulphur,
phosphorous, iron and other elements.

Nucleic Acids
A nucleic acid is a chain of repeating monomers called as nucleotides. Nucleotides are
monomeric unit or building blocks of nucleic acids. Each nucleotide consists of three parts
namely nitrogen base (eg. adenine), a five-carbon sugar (eg. ribose), a phosphate group.
Types of Nucleic Acids
1. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is single-stranded. In RNA, the sugar is ribose.
2. Deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) is double-stranded. In DNA, the sugar is 2’ deoxyribose.
3. Nucleotide residues in DNA and RNA are joined by phosphodiester bonds.
4. The structure of DNA is given by the Watson-Crick double helix model. The two strands
of the double helix DNA are complementary to each other, and this property makes DNA
suitable to store and transmit genetic information from generation to generation.
5. There are three types of RNA-rRNA, mRNA and tRNA.
Functions of Nucleotides
1. They are building blocks of nucleic acids (RNA, DNA)
2. They act as carriers of chemical energy (ATP, GTP)
3. They function as coenzymes for dehydrogenases or oxidases.
4. They are intermediaries in cellular communications and signal transduction.
Lipids
Lipids make up 18-25% of adult body mass, and contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They
are insoluble in polar solvents such as water, hence hydrophobic.

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Fatty Acids
Fatty acids are the simplest and major constituents of all lipids. They are basically
monocarboxylic acid containing short/long-chain hydrocarbon molecules. A fatty acid consists
of a carboxyl group and an R group. The R group can be methyl or ethyl group or can even go
up to 19 carbon atoms.
Types of Fatty Acids
1. Saturated which contain only single covalent bonds between the carbon atoms of the
hydrocarbon chain (eg. stearic acid, palmitic acid)
2. Unsaturated which contains one or more double covalent bonds between the carbon atoms
of the hydrocarbon chain
Essential and Non-Essential Fatty Acids
Both plants and animals have the biosynthetic machinery to manufacture fatty acids. A group
of fatty acids called the essential fatty acids (EFAs) is important for human health. However,
they cannot be synthesized by the human body and must be obtained from foods or
supplements. They occur mostly in oils derived from sunflower, coconut, groundnut etc.
Among the more important EFAs are omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids and cis-fatty
acids.
Classification of Lipids
1. Triglyceride (fats and oils)
2. Phospholipids: It is a major lipid component of cell membranes.
3. Sphingolipids: Major component of cell membranes
4. Steroids: These are compounds that have four rings of carbon atoms.
5. Waxes: They are esters of long-chain fatty acids and long-chain alcohols.
Function of Lipids
1. Lipids provide more than twice as much energy per gram as do carbohydrates and proteins.
2. Excess dietary carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils are deposited in adipose tissue which
provides thermal insulation to the body.
3. Useful products like cooking oil can be manufactured from hydrogenation of triglycerides,
and soaps can be manufactured by saponification of triglycerides.
4. Phospholipids and glycolipids are major constituents of cell walls and cell membranes, with
phospholipids forming lipids bilayers.
5. Cholesterol is an important steroid, which is known to act as an intermediate in the
synthesis of other steroids in the human body.
6. Other important steroids are sex hormones (for reproduction), vitamin D (for bone
strength), adrenocortical hormones, bile acids and bile salts (for digestion process)
7. Prostglandins found in most of the animal tissues are known to affect heart rate, blood
pressure, blood clotting, fertility, while leukotrienes regulate allergic and anti-
inflammatory responses.
8. Lipoproteins play an important role in protein modification and recognition.
9. Waxes form protective coatings on the skin, fur, and feathers of animals and on the leaves
and fruits of plants.

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Tutorial
1. Write a note on the bond linking in the monomers of the various polymers.
2. What is meant by zwitterion and its isoelectric point?
3. What are polysaccharides? List various functions of polysaccharides.
4. List some important organic compounds present in living organisms.
5. List different types of lipids.
***

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MODULE 8- METABOLISM
Concept of Metabolism
Metabolism is the sum total of the chemical reactions of biomolecules in an organism. The
three main purposes of metabolism are: the conversion of food to energy to run cellular
processes; the conversion of food/fuel to building blocks for proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and
some carbohydrates; and the elimination of nitrogenous wastes. These enzyme-catalyzed
reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to
their environments. The word metabolism can also refer to the sum of all chemical reactions
that occur in living organisms, including digestion and the transport of substances into and
between different cells, in which case the above described set of reactions within the cells is
called intermediary metabolism or intermediate metabolism.
Metabolic reactions may be categorized as catabolic - the breaking down of compounds (for
example, the breaking down of glucose to pyruvate by cellular respiration); or anabolic -
the building up (synthesis) of compounds (such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic
acids). Usually, catabolism releases energy, and anabolism consumes energy.
The chemical reactions of metabolism are organized into metabolic pathways, in which one
chemical is transformed through a series of steps into another chemical, each step being
facilitated by a specific enzyme. Enzymes are crucial to metabolism because they allow
organisms to drive desirable reactions that require energy that will not occur by themselves,
by coupling them to spontaneous reactions that release energy. Enzymes act as catalysts - they
allow a reaction to proceed more rapidly - and they also allow the regulation of the rate of a
metabolic reaction, for example in response to changes in the cell's environment or
to signals from other cells.
Concept of Entropy
Entropy is an important concept in the branch of physics known as thermodynamics. The idea
of "irreversibility" is central to the understanding of entropy. Everyone has an intuitive
understanding of irreversibility. If one watches a movie of everyday life running forward and
in reverse, it is easy to distinguish between the two. The movie running in reverse shows
impossible things happening – water jumping out of a glass into a pitcher above it, smoke going
down a chimney, water in a glass freezing to form ice cubes, crashed cars reassembling
themselves, and so on. The intuitive meaning of expressions such as "you can't unscramble an
egg", or "you can't take the cream out of the coffee" is that these are irreversible processes. No
matter how long you wait, the cream won't jump out of the coffee into the creamer.
In thermodynamics, one says that the "forward" processes – pouring water from a pitcher,
smoke going up a chimney, etc. – are "irreversible": they cannot happen in reverse. All real
physical processes involving systems in everyday life, with many atoms or molecules, are
irreversible. For an irreversible process in an isolated system (a system not subject to outside
influence), the thermodynamic state variable known as entropy is never decreasing. In
everyday life, there may be processes in which the increase of entropy is practically
unobservable, almost zero. In these cases, a movie of the process run in reverse will not seem
unlikely. For example, in a 1-second video of the collision of two billiard balls, it will be hard

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to distinguish the forward and the backward case, because the increase of entropy during that
time is relatively small. In thermodynamics, one says that this process is practically
"reversible", with an entropy increase that is practically zero. The statement of the fact that the
entropy of an isolated system never decreases is known as the second law of thermodynamics.
Bioenergetics
 Bioenergetics is a field in biochemistry and cell biology that concerns energy flow through
living systems. This is an active area of biological research that includes the study of the
transformation of energy in living organisms and the study of thousands of
different cellular processes such as cellular respiration and the many
other metabolic and enzymatic processes that lead to production and utilization of energy
in forms such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules. That is, the goal of bioenergetics
is to describe how living organisms acquire and transform energy in order to perform
biological work. The study of metabolic pathways is thus essential to bioenergetics.
 Bioenergetics is the part of biochemistry concerned with the energy involved in making
and breaking of chemical bonds in the molecules found in biological organisms. It can also
be defined as the study of energy relationships and energy transformations and
transductions in living organisms.
 The ability to harness energy from a variety of metabolic pathways is a property of all living
organisms.
 Growth, development, anabolism and catabolism are some of the central processes in the
study of biological organisms, because the role of energy is fundamental to such biological
processes.
 Life is dependent on energy transformations; living organisms survive because of exchange
of energy between living tissues/ cells and the outside environment.
 In a living organism, chemical bonds are broken and made as part of the exchange and
transformation of energy. Energy is available for work (such as mechanical work) or for
other processes (such as chemical synthesis and anabolic processes in growth), when weak
bonds are broken and stronger bonds are made. The production of stronger bonds allows
release of usable energy.
 An exergonic reaction is a spontaneous chemical reaction that releases energy.It is
thermodynamically favored, indexed by a negative value of ΔG (Gibbs free energy). Over
the course of a reaction, energy needs to be put in, and this activation energy drives the
reactants from a stable state to a highly energetically unstable transition state to a more
stable state that is lower in energy. The reactants are usually complex molecules that are
broken into simpler products. The entire reaction is usually catabolic. The release of energy
(called Gibbs free energy) is negative (i.e. −ΔG) because energy is released from the
reactants to the products.
 An endergonic reaction is an anabolic chemical reaction that consumes energy.[18] It is the
opposite of an exergonic reaction. It has a positive ΔG because it takes more energy to
break the bonds of the reactant than the energy of the products offer, i.e. the products have
weaker bonds than the reactants. Thus, endergonic reactions are thermodynamically
unfavorable. Additionally, endergonic reactions are usually anabolic.

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Thermodynamics as Applied to Biological Systems
 Many quantitative observations made by physicists and chemists on the interconversion of
different forms of energy led to the formulation, in the nineteenth century, of two
fundamental laws of thermodynamics.
 The first law is the principle of the conservation of energy: in any physical or chemical
change, the total amount of energy in the universe remains constant, although the form of
the energy may change. The second law of thermodynamics, which can be stated in several
forms, says that the universe always tends toward more and more disorder: in cell natural
processes, the entropy of the universe increases.
 Gibbs free energy (G) expresses the amount of energy capable of doing work during a
reaction at constant temperature and pressure. When a reaction proceeds with the release
of free energy (i.e., when the system changes so as to possess less free energy), the free-
energy change, ΔG, has a negative sign and the reaction is said to be exergonic. In
endergonic reactions, the system gains free energy and ΔG is positive.
 Enthalpy, H, is the heat content of the reacting system. It reflects the number and kinds of
chemical bonds in the reactants and products. When a chemical reaction releases heat, it is
said to be exothermic; the heat content of the products is less than that of the reactants and
ΔH has a negative value. Reacting systems that take up heat from their surroundings are
endothermic and have positive values of ΔH.
 Entropy, S, is a quantitative expression for the randomness or disorder in a system. When
the products of a reaction are less complex and more disordered than the reactants, the
reaction is said to proceed with a gain in entropy.
Concept of Keq and its relation to free energy
The composition of a reacting system (a mixture of chemical reactants and products) will tend
to continue changing until equilibrium is reached. At the equilibrium, concentration of
reactants and products, the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are exactly equal and no
further net change occurs in the system. The concentrations of reactants and products at
equilibrium define the equilibrium constant. In the general reaction
aA + bB cC + dD,
where a, b, c, and d are the number of molecules of A, B, C, and D participating, the
equilibrium constant is given by
[C]c[D]d
Keq =
[A]a[B]b
where [A], [B], [C], and [D] are the molar concentrations of the reaction components at the
point of equilibrium. When a reacting system is not at equilibrium, the tendency to move
toward equilibrium represents a driving force, the magnitude of which can be expressed as the
free-energy change for the reaction, ΔG. Under standard conditions (298 K (25 °C)), when
reactants and products are initially present at 1 M concentrations or, for gases, at partial
pressures of 101.3 kPa (1 atm), the force driving the system toward equilibrium is defined as
the standard free-energy change, ΔG° By this definition, the standard state for reactions that
involve hydrogen ions is [H+] = 1 M, or pH is 0. Most biochemical reactions occur in well

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buffered aqueous solutions near pH 7; both the pH and the concentration of water are
essentially constant. For convenience of calculations, biochemists therefore define a slightly
different standard state, in which the concentration of H+ is 10-7M (pH is 7) and that of water
is 55.5 M. Physical constants based on this biochemical standard state are written with a prime
(e.g., ΔG°' and K'eq) to distinguish them from the constants used by chemists and physicists.
Under this convention, when H2O or H+ are reactants or products, their concentrations are not
included in equations but are instead incorporated into the constants ΔG°' and K'eq .
Just as K'eq is a physical constant characteristic for each reaction, so too is ΔG°' a constant.
There is a simple relationship between K'eq and ΔG°':
ΔG°' = -RT ln K'eq
The standard free-energy change of a chemical reaction is simply an alternative mathematical
way of expressing its equilibrium constant. If the equilibrium constant for a given chemical
reaction is 1.0, the standard free energy change of that reaction is 0.0 (the natural logarithm of
1.0 is zero ). If K'eq of a reaction is greater than 1.0, its ΔG°' is negative. If K'eq is less than 1.0,
ΔG°' is positive. Because the relationship between ΔG°' and K'eq is exponential, relatively small
changes in ΔG°' correspond to large changes in K'eq.
Spontaneity
 According to the First Law of Thermodynamics, the total energy in an isolated system always
remains constant. This law also explains the relationship between the work done by the system
and the heat absorbed without putting any limitation on the direction of heat flow.
 A spontaneous process is an irreversible process. However, you can actually reverse it by the
application of some external agents. The entropy of any system is the amount of randomness
in it.
 Generally, total entropy change is the essential parameter which we can use to describe the
spontaneity of any process. Since most of the chemical reactions are either in a closed system
and open system; we can say there is a change in enthalpy along with a change in the entropy.
 Since enthalpy also increases or decreases the randomness by affecting the molecular motions,
we can say that entropy change alone cannot be responsible for the spontaneity of such a
process. Therefore, to explain the spontaneity of a process, we use the Gibbs energy change.
 Gibbs energy is a state function. It is an extensive property. The general expression for Gibbs
energy change at constant temperature is as follows:
ΔGsys = ΔHsys – TΔSsys
Where,
ΔGsys = Gibbs energy change of the system
ΔHsys = system’s enthalpy change
ΔSsys = system’s entropy change
T = System’s Temperature
This is the Gibbs equation. For a spontaneous process, the total entropy change, ΔStotal is
always positive.
ΔStotal = ΔSsys + ΔSsurr

Where,
ΔStotal = total entropy change for the process

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ΔSsys = entropy change of the system
ΔSsurr = entropy change of the surrounding
 In exothermic reactions, enthalpy of the system is negative. Thus, all such reactions are
spontaneous. In endothermic reactions, Gibbs free energy is negative only when we keep the
temperature very high in other cases, the entropy change is very elevated.
ATP as an energy currency
ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) is called the energy currency of the cell, and of life, because it
is the energy molecule that all cells need in order to do anything within the human body. The
molecule is used like a battery within cells and allows the consumption of one of its
phosphorous molecules.
Once the cell's phosphorous is used it becomes ADP, and in the mitochondria, the phosphorous
is returned through a system called cellular respiration. During cellular respiration, if oxygen
is available, the mitochondria can produce 36 to 38 ATP per reaction through aerobic
respiration. If there is an oxygen debt when the muscles have used all of their supplies, only
two ATP can be supplied through anaerobic respiration.
Glycolysis
Glycolysis (from glycose, an older term for glucose + -lysis degradation) is the metabolic
pathway that converts glucose C6H12O6, into pyruvate, CH3COCOO− + H+. The free
energy released in this process is used to form the high-energy molecules ATP (adenosine
triphosphate) and NADH (reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide). Glycolysis is a
sequence of ten enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Most monosaccharides, such
as fructose and galactose, can be converted to one of these intermediates. The intermediates
may also be directly useful. For example, the intermediate dihydroxyacetone
phosphate (DHAP) is a source of the glycerol that combines with fatty acids to form fat.
Glycolysis is an oxygen-independent metabolic pathway. The wide occurrence of glycolysis
indicates that it is an ancient metabolic pathway.
Kreb’s Cycle
The citric acid cycle (CAC) – also known as the TCA cycle (tricarboxylic acid cycle) or
the Krebs cycle – is a series of chemical reactions used by all aerobic organisms to release
stored energy through the oxidation of acetyl-CoA derived from carbohydrates, fats,
and proteins, into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and carbon dioxide. In addition, the cycle
provides precursors of certain amino acids, as well as the reducing agent NADH, that are used
in numerous other reactions. Its central importance to many biochemical pathways suggests
that it was one of the earliest established components of cellular metabolism and may have
originated abiogenically. Even though it is branded as a 'cycle', it is not necessary for
metabolites to follow only one specific route; at least three segments of the citric acid cycle
have been recognized.
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light
energy into chemical energy that can later be released to fuel the organisms' activities. This
chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules, such as sugars, which are synthesized
from carbon dioxide and water. In most cases, oxygen is also released as a waste product.

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Most plants, most algae, and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis; such organisms are
called photoautotrophs. Photosynthesis is largely responsible for producing and maintaining
the oxygen content of the Earth's atmosphere, and supplies all of the organic compounds and
most of the energy necessary for life on Earth.
Although photosynthesis is performed differently by different species, the process always
begins when energy from light is absorbed by proteins called reaction centres that contain
green chlorophyll pigments. In plants, these proteins are held
inside organelles called chloroplasts, which are most abundant in leaf cells, while in bacteria
they are embedded in the plasma membrane. In these light-dependent reactions, some energy
is used to strip electrons from suitable substances, such as water, producing oxygen gas. The
hydrogen freed by the splitting of water is used in the creation of two further compounds that
serve as short-term stores of energy, enabling its transfer to drive other reactions: these
compounds are reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) and adenosine
triphosphate (ATP), the "energy currency" of cells.
Concept of Energy Change
If energy is released during a chemical reaction, then the change in free energy, signified as
∆G (delta G) will be a negative number. A negative change in free energy also means that the
products of the reaction have less free energy than the reactants, because they release some free
energy during the reaction. Reactions that have a negative change in free energy and
consequently release free energy are called exergonic reactions. Think: exergonic means
energy is exiting the system. These reactions are also referred to as spontaneous reactions, and
their products have less stored energy than the reactants. An important distinction must be
drawn between the term spontaneous and the idea of a chemical reaction occurring
immediately. Contrary to the everyday use of the term, a spontaneous reaction is not one that
suddenly or quickly occurs. The rusting of iron is an example of a spontaneous reaction that
occurs slowly, little by little, over time.
If a chemical reaction absorbs energy rather than releases energy on balance, then the ∆G for
that reaction will be a positive value. In this case, the products have more free energy than the
reactants. Thus, the products of these reactions can be thought of as energy-storing molecules.
These chemical reactions are called endergonic reactions and they are non-spontaneous. An
endergonic reaction will not take place on its own without the addition of free energy.
Tutorial
1. Explain the concept of metabolism in detail.
2. Write a note on thermodynamics as applied to biological systems.
3. What is ATP? Explain in brief why it is called the energy currency of the cell.
4. Write a short note on glycolysis.
5. Explain the concept of energy change.
***

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