Biochemical Reactions in Human Body, Chromosomes and Sickle Cell Disease - Essay Example

Final Essay Final Essay Question a) Digestion is the process of breaking down food mechanically or through enzymes in the alimentary canal into small and soluble substances that can be used by the human body.An enzyme is a substance produced by a living organism that acts as a catalyst to cause a particular biochemical reaction. The digestion of proteins starts in the stomach and ends in the small intestine (Roberts and Ingram, 2001). An enzyme called pepsin breaks down proteins into small polypeptides. Trypsin completes the digestion of proteins while starch is digested by an enzyme called amalyse.The digestion of starch starts in themouth where amalyse breaks it into maltose. Fats are digested in the small intestine. An enzyme known as lipase breaks down fat into fatty acids and glycerol. Peptidases complete the digestion of proteins by turning polypeptides into amino acids. b) Although they are active in the small intestine,most enzymes are produced by the pancreas. The pancreas produces the amalyze, trypsin and lipase. The gastric glands produce pepsin.The wall of the small intestine produces maltase, sucrose and peptides. The thick and muscular stomach wall contains nearly 35 million gastric glands (Roberts and Ingram, 2001). The gastric glands produce a fluid known as gastric juice, which contains pepsin. The amalyse in the mouth cavity is produced by gastric glands while that found in the small intestine is produced by the pancreas. c) Pepsin works best in acidic conditions. The gastric juice contains hydrochloric acid, an enzyme that works best in the stomach. Trypsin is active in the small intestine. Enzyme amalayse is active in the mouth cavity and the small intestine. Peptidases and lipase are active in the small intestine. Question 2 a) A chromosome is a long, continuous strand of DNA that contains RNA and a number of different associated proteins. The four types alterations to a chromosome structure are inversion, deletion, duplication, and translocation. Deletion is the loss of a nucleotide from a gene by mutation.It is the loss of a fragment of a chromosome. An example of deletion of chromosomes is the Cri du Chat which is caused by a missing part in the #5 chromosome. Duplication is the repetition of a part of a chromosome as a result of fusion of a fragment of a homologous chromosome. It is a result of an error in meiosis or mutagens. An example of duplication is the Pallister an syndrome part of the #12 chromosome is duplicated. Inversion is a change in chromosome as a result of a reattachment of a fragment chromosome to the original chromosome,in a reverse direction. Mutagens and errors in meiosis could cause it. Inversions can be observed in the insect known as Drasophilia.It is present in its salivary glands chromosomes. Translocation is the attachment of a chromosomal fragment to a non-homologous chromosome. The most common one is reciprocal translocation where a segment from one chromosome is exchanged another segment in a non homologous one. b) Changes in a nucleotide sequence could result in the production of different proteins.Splice site mutations affect introns, whichare special areas of DNA found in eukaryotic cells (Shmaefsky, 2006). An intron is a section of a gene that does not contain information for making a protein. They are removed from the messenger RNA just after transcription (Shmaefsky, 2006) .This leaves behind exons which contain the protein coding information.These exons are bonded together to create the messenger RNA which undergoes translation to produce the protein product of the gene (Shmaefsky, 2006) Question 3 a) Sickle cell disease is a genetic condition which affects hemoglobin. The hemoglobin is the molecule in red blood cells responsible for transporting oxygen in the body.Individuals with this disorder have an S shaped hemoglobin that distorts the red blood cells into a crescent shape. In normal conditions, red blood cells have a round shape and are flexible. It allows them to travel freely in the blood stream. There are two types of alleles, A and S. Individuals with AA alleles have normal RBCS while those with SS have the condition. The condition prevents oxygen from reaching the kidney spleen leading to a lot of pain.The disease also reduces the lifespan of those who have it by 30 years (University of Utah, 2014). b) The hemoglobin is made in two parts. These are the beta and alpha parts. The condition is caused by a mutation in a gene on chromosome 11 that codes for the beta subunit of the hemoglobin protein.This mutation prevents hemoglobin from forming normally. c) A child whose mother is heterozygous for the trait and the father is homozygous dominant for the trait would be expected to express the trait. The different forms of sickle cell disease are determined by the genes inherited from the child’s parents. The child would have the disease because the mother is carrying the trait and the father has the disease. Question 4 a) The three main fossil fuels are coal,natural gas and petroleum.These three fuels were formed millions of years ago within the earth through the decomposition of buried dead organisms. They are classified as non-renewable energy sources because they take a long time to form.They are relatively old compared with some renewable energy sources but have a significantly higher environmental cost. b) The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, which causes global warming. This is the phenomena responsible or unpredictable weather patterns and climate change. The water bodies absorb carbon dioxide that makes them acidic.This threatens the entire ecosystem ofthe oceans.The use of fossil fuels leads to pollution of the environment. The mining of coal degrades the excavation site while the drilling of oil makes the land unsuitable for any other activity. Air pollution leads to acid rain which damages crops and pollutes water bodies leading to the death of organisms living in the water. c) Renewable energy resources offer cleanenergy which does not affect the environment adversely. They are described as renewable since they are not depleting any resource to create energy. Photovoltaic (PV) Solar power is harnessing the suns energy to produce electricity.Wind power is the conversion of wind energy by wind turbines into a useful energy, such as electricity or mechanical energy. Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower. It is the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. This is the most widely used form of renewable energy. Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nuclei through controlled nuclear reactions.Although they are efficient, nuclear disasters have ahuge impact on the environment and human life. d) There are two major reasons for the preference of renewable energy sources over non- renewable energy sources. The first one is that renewable energy sources can be replenished while non-renewable energy sources cannotbe replaced because they come from the earth and take a very long time to form.The second reason is that renewable energy sources have a significantly less negative impact on the environment as compared to non-renewable energy sources. Renewable ones are also cheaper. This makes them more sustainable sources as compared to non-renewable energy sources. References Roberts, M., & Ingram, N. R. (2001). Biology. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes. Shmaefsky, B. (2006). Biotechnology 101. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. University of Utah. (2014) Sickle cell anaemia. Retrieved from http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/disorders/singlegene/sicklecell/ Read More