Outline of biochemistry facts for kids

Biochemistry is the study of the amazing chemical processes that happen inside all living things, like plants, animals, and even tiny bacteria! It helps us understand how our bodies work, how plants grow, and how everything alive uses energy. Think of it as the chemistry of life itself.

How Biochemistry Helps Us

Biochemistry is super useful in many ways, especially in medicine and science.

Medical Tests

• Ames test: This test checks if a chemical, like a food additive, can change the DNA of bacteria. It helps scientists see if something might cause cancer in people.
• Pregnancy test: These tests, using either pee or blood, look for a special hormone called hCG. This hormone shows up when a baby starts growing inside a mother.
• Breast cancer screening: Doctors can test for changes in two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. If a woman has these changes, she might need more frequent check-ups to watch for breast cancer.
• Prenatal genetic testing: This checks a baby before it's born for certain problems, like Down syndrome or spina bifida.
• PKU test: This test looks for a problem called Phenylketonuria (PKU) in babies. If a baby has PKU, they can't break down a certain substance, which can cause health issues if not treated.

Changing Life

• Genetic engineering: This is like taking a tiny instruction (a gene) from one living thing and putting it into another. For example, biochemists put the human gene for insulin into bacteria. Then, these bacteria make human insulin, which helps people with diabetes.
• Cloning: This means making an exact genetic copy of a living thing. Dolly the sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell! She was a perfect copy of the original sheep.
• Gene therapy: Imagine if a part of your body's instructions (a gene) isn't working right and causing a disease. Gene therapy tries to fix this by adding a healthy, working gene to replace the faulty one. It was first used successfully in 1990 to help a young child with a serious immune system problem.

Kinds of Biochemistry

Biochemistry has many different areas of study.

Main Areas

• Animal biochemistry: How chemistry works in animals.
• Plant biochemistry: How chemistry works in plants.
• Metabolism: How living things get and use energy from food.
• Enzymology: The study of enzymes, which are like tiny helpers that speed up chemical reactions in our bodies.

Other Interesting Areas

• Biotechnology: Using living things to make useful products.
• Genetic engineering: Changing genes for specific purposes.
• Nutrition: How food affects our bodies at a chemical level.
• Photosynthesis: How plants use sunlight to make food.
• Toxicology: The study of how poisons affect living things.

History of Biochemistry

Basic Ideas in Biochemistry

To understand biochemistry, it helps to know about the main parts that make up living things and how they work.

Building Blocks of Life

Living things are made of special chemical compounds:

• Carbohydrates: These are sugars and starches, which give us energy. Think of sugar, starch, and glycogen (how our bodies store sugar).
• Lipids: These are fats and oils. They store energy and are important parts of cell membranes. Examples include fatty acids and cholesterol.
• Nucleic acids: These carry genetic information. The most famous ones are DNA (our body's instruction manual) and RNA (which helps carry out those instructions).
• Proteins: These do most of the work in cells and are needed for the structure, function, and regulation of the body's tissues and organs. They are made of smaller units called amino acids. Proteins have complex shapes (protein folding) that help them do their jobs.

Chemical Properties

• Molecular bonds: These are the forces that hold atoms together to form molecules. Examples include covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds.
• pH: This measures how acidic or basic something is. Our bodies need a very specific pH to work correctly.
• Oxidation and Reduction: These are chemical reactions where molecules gain or lose electrons. They are key in energy production.

Important Structures

• In cells: Things like actin and myosin help cells move.
• In animals: Keratin makes up hair and nails, while collagen gives strength to skin and bones.
• In plants: Cellulose makes up plant cell walls, giving plants their structure.

Enzymes and Their Work

Enzymes are special proteins that act like tiny machines, speeding up chemical reactions in our bodies. Without them, many important processes would happen too slowly to keep us alive.

Cell Membranes

Cells are surrounded by a membrane that controls what goes in and out. It's like a gatekeeper! This membrane is made of phospholipids and other molecules. Things move across the membrane through processes like diffusion and osmosis.

Energy Pathways

Living things need energy to survive.

• Pigments: These are colored molecules that capture light energy, like chlorophyll in plants (which makes them green) and hemoglobin in blood (which carries oxygen).
• Photosynthesis: This is how plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make their own food.
• Cellular respiration: This is how cells break down food to release energy, often in the form of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

How Things Are Controlled

• Hormones: These are chemical messengers that tell different parts of the body what to do, like auxin in plants that helps them grow.
• Receptors: These are like tiny antennas on cells that receive signals from hormones or other molecules.

Biochemistry Tools

Scientists use many cool tools to study biochemistry.

Studying DNA and Genes

• DNA sequencing: Reading the exact order of the building blocks in DNA.
• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR): Making many copies of a specific piece of DNA.
• Southern blotting: Finding specific DNA sequences in a sample.
• DNA microarray: Studying many genes at once to see which ones are active.
• Bioinformatics: Using computers to understand biological data, especially DNA and protein sequences.

Cleaning Up Proteins

• Western blotting: Finding specific proteins in a sample.
• Chromatography: Separating different molecules from each other.
• ELISA: A test that finds and measures substances like proteins or antibodies.

Seeing Structures

• X-ray crystallography: Using X-rays to figure out the 3D shape of molecules, like proteins.
• Electron microscopy: Using electrons to see very tiny things, like parts of cells.