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What drives biological reactions? – part A Energy – how do the laws of thermodynamics affect living organisms? Are living cells in chemical equilibrium?

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Presentation on theme: "What drives biological reactions? – part A Energy – how do the laws of thermodynamics affect living organisms? Are living cells in chemical equilibrium?"— Presentation transcript:

1 What drives biological reactions? – part A Energy – how do the laws of thermodynamics affect living organisms? Are living cells in chemical equilibrium? All images are from Wikimedia unless otherwise indicated.

2 Which law of thermodynamics do energy pyramids illustrate? First law: energy cannot be created or destroyed Second law: in any energy conversion, some energy is wasted; moreover, the entropy of any closed system always increases. 1 million Joules of sunlight 10,000 J primary producers 1,000 J 100 J Primary consumers Secondary consumers

3 Gibb's free energy and work Free energy (G) = Enthalpy (H) - Temperature (T) x Entropy (S)  G =  H - T  S G Reaction progress G Exergonic  G < 0 Endergonic  G > 0

4 Free energy and chemical equilibrium For the reaction: A + B  C + D  G = ΔG o + RTln([C][D]/[A][B])  G o = standard free energy change, at pH7 and 1 Molar concentrations of reactants and products; R = the gas constant; T = absolute temperature in degrees Kelvin At equilibrium,  G = 0, and [C][D]/[A][B] = K eq ; therefore  G o = -RTlnK eq

5 Reactions proceed toward equilibrium All chemical reactions are theoretically reversible. ΔG = RTln([C][D]/[A][B]) – RTlnK eq [C][D]/[A][B] < K eq G [C][D]/[A][B] > K eq Progression regression

6 Q: Are living cells in chemical equilibrium?

7 Cells maintain disequilibrium The products of a chemical reaction are siphoned off as reactants of other reactions Campbell & Reece, Biology, 8 th ed.

8 How do cells build their macromolecules (accomplish work), when anabolic reactions are endergonic? Free energy changes are additive. Cells couple endergonic reactions with exergonic reactions. Glutamate + NH 4 +  glutamine  G = +3.4 kcal/mol ATP  ADP + P i  G = -7.3 kcal/mol net  G = -3.9 kcal/mol

9 9 Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) Hydrolysis of ATP H2OH2O Adenosine diphosphate (ADP) Inorganic phosphate (P i ) HH Maureen Knabb West Chester U.

10 What drives biological reactions? – part B What are enzymes and how do cells use them? All images are from Wikimedia unless otherwise indicated.

11 Q: The oxidation of glucose to CO 2 and H 2 O is highly exergonic; ΔG o = -636 kcal/mole. Why doesn’t glucose spontaneously combust?

12 Activation energy determines reaction rate Free energy determines the equilibrium point, but not the reaction rate.

13 Enzymes are biological catalysts The enzyme-substrate complex creates a transition state with lower activation energy than the uncatalyzed reaction.

14 Enzyme-catalyzed reactions show saturation kinetics V max - 1/2 V max KMKM [substrate]

15 Enzyme inhibitors - competitive

16 allosteric regulation of enzymes

17 Feedback regulation Inhibition by the end-product (negative feedback) Activation by end-product or metabolite (positive feedback) A2BConvertase AB C Product Metabol.


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