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Biochemistry for dummies
Author
Publisher
Wiley Publishing Inc
Publication Date
©2011
Edition
Second edition.
Language
English
Description
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Table of Contents
From the Book - Second edition.
Introduction
About this book
Conventions used in this book
What you're not to read
Foolish assumptions
How this book is organized:
Part 1: Setting The Stage: Basic Biochemistry Concepts
Part 2: Meat Of Biochemistry: Proteins
Part 3: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Nucleic Acids, And More
Part 4: Bioenergetics And Pathways
Part 5: Genetics: Why We Are What We Are
Part 6: Part Of Tens
Icons used in this book
Where to go from here
Part 1: Setting The Stage: Basic Biochemistry Concepts:
Biochemistry: what you need to know and why:
Why biochemistry?
What is biochemistry and where does it take place?
Types of living cells:
Prokaryotes
Eukaryotes
Animal cells and how they work
Brief look at plant cells
Seems so basic: water chemistry and pH:
Fundamentals of H2O
Let's get wet! The physical properties of water
Water's most important biochemical role: the solvent
Hydrogen ion concentration: acids and bases
Achieving equilibrium
Understanding the pH scale
Calculating pOH
Applying the Brønsted-Lowry theory
Buffers and pH control:
Identifying common physiological buffers
Calculating a buffer's pH
Fun with carbon: organic chemistry:
Role of carbon in the study of life
It's all in the numbers: carbon bonds
When forces attract: bond strengths:
Everybody has 'em: intermolecular forces
Water-related interactions: both the lovers and the haters
How bond strengths affect physical properties of substances
Getting a reaction out of a molecule: functional groups:
Hydrocarbons
Functional groups with oxygen and sulfur
Functional groups containing nitrogen
Functional groups containing phosphorus
Reactions of functional groups
pH and functional groups
Same content, different structure: Isomerism:
Cis-trans isomers
Chiral carbons
Part 2: Meat Of Biochemistry: Proteins:
Amino acids: the building blocks of protein:
General properties of amino acids:
Amino acids are positive and negative: the zwitterion formation
Protonated? pH and the isoelectric point
Asymmetry: chiral amino acids
Magic 20 amino acids:
Nonpolar (hydrophobic) and uncharged amino acids
Polar (hydrophilic) and uncharged amino acids
Acidic amino acids
Basic amino acids
Lest we forget: rarer amino acids
Rudiments of amino acid interactions:
Intermolecular forces: how an amino acid interacts with other molecules
Altering interactions by changing the pH
Combining amino acids: how it works:
Peptide bond and the dipeptide
Tripeptide: adding an amino acid to a dipeptide
Protein structure and function:
Proteins: not just for dinner
Primary structure: the structure level all proteins have:
Building a protein: outlining the process
Organizing the amino acids
Example: the primary structure of insulin
Secondary structure: a structure level most proteins have:
Helix
Pleated sheet
Turns and the loops
Tertiary structure: a structure level many proteins have
Quaternary structure: a structure level some proteins have
Dissecting a protein for study:
Separating proteins within a cell and purifying them
Digging into the details: uncovering a protein's amino acid sequence
Enzyme kinetics: getting there faster:
Enzyme classification: the best catalyst for the job:
Up one, down one: oxidoreductases
You don't belong here: transferases
Water does it again: hydrolases
Taking it apart: lyases
Shuffling the deck: isomerases
Putting it together: ligases
Enzymes as catalysis: when fast is not fast enough
All about kinetics:
Enzyme assays: fixed time and kinetics
Rate determination: how fast is fast?
Measuring enzyme behavior: the Michaelis-Menten equation:
Ideal applications
Realistic applications
Here we go again: Lineweaver-Burk plots
Enzyme inhibition: slowing it down:
Competitive inhibition
Noncompetitive inhibition
Graphing inhibition
Enzyme regulation
Part 3: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Nucleic Acids, And More:
What we crave: carbohydrates:
Properties of carbohydrates:
They contain one or more chiral carbons
They have multiple chiral centers
Sweet topic: monosaccharides:
Most stable monosaccharide structures:
Pyranose and furanose forms
Chemical properties of monosaccharides
Derivatives of monosaccharides
Most common monosaccharides
Beginning of life: ribose and deoxyribose
Sugars joining hands: oligosaccharides:
Keeping it simple: disaccharides
Starch and cellulose: polysaccharides
Aldose family of sugars
Lipids and membranes:
Lovely lipids: an overview
Behavior of lipids
Fatty acids in lipids
Fatty subject: triglycerides:
Properties and structure of fats
Cleaning up: breaking down a triglyceride
No simpletons here: complex lipids:
Phosphoglycerides
Sphingolipids
Sphingophospholidpids
Membranes: the bipolar and the bilayer:
Crossing the wall: membrane transport
Steroids: pumping up
Prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes: mopping up.
Nucleic acids and the code of life:
Nucleotides: the guts of DNA and RNA:
Reservoir of genetic info: nitrogen bases
Sweet side of life: the sugars
Sour side of life: phosphoric acid
Tracing the process: from nucleoside to nucleotide to nucleic acid:
First Reaction: Nitrogen base + 5-carbon sugar = nucleoside
Second Reaction: Phosphoric acid + nucleoside
nucleotide
Third Reaction: Nucleotide becomes nucleic acid
Primer on nucleic acids:
DNA and RNA in the grand scheme of life
Nucleic acid structure
Vitamins: both simple and complex:
More than one-a-day: basics of vitamins
To B or not to B: B complex vitamins:
Vitamin B1, (thiamine)
Vitamin B2, (riboflavin)
Vitamin B3 (niacin)
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
Biotin
Folic acid
Pantothenic acid
Wonders of vitamin B12
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
Hormones: the body's messengers:
Structures of some key hormones:
Proteins
Steroids
Amines
Now and later: prohormones:
Proinsulin
Angiotensinogen
Fight or flight: hormone function:
Opening the letter: hormonal action
Models of hormonal action
Part 4: Bioenergetics And Pathways:
Life and energy:
ATP: the energy pony express:
ATP and free energy
ATP as an energy transporter
It's relative: molecules related to ATP:
Nucleoside triphosphate family
As easy as 1, 2, 3: AMP, ADP, and ATP
Where it all comes from
ATP: the body's monetary system:
Metabolism 1: Glycolysis:
Glucose: where it all starts
Releasing the power: energy efficiency
Going in reverse: Gluconeogenesis
Alcoholic fermentation: we'll drink to that
Metabolism 2: Citric acid (Krebs) cycle:
Let's get started: synthesis of acetyl-CoA
Three's a crowd: tricarboxylic acids
Oxidative decarboxylation
Production of succinate and GTP
Oxaloacetate regeneration
Amino acids as energy sources
Electron transport and oxidative phosphorylation:
Electron transport system
Oxidative phosphorylation
Proposed mechanisms
ATP production
Involving the fats: b-oxidation cycle
Not so heavenly bodies: ketone bodies
Investing in the future: biosynthesis:
Fatty acids
Membrane lipids
Amino acids
Smelly biochemistry: nitrogen in biological systems:
Ring in the nitrogen: purine
Biosynthesis of purine
How much will it cost?
Pyrimidine synthesis:
First Step: Carbamoyl phosphate
Next Step: Orotate
Last Step: Cytidine
Back to the beginning: catabolism:
Nucleotide catabolism
Amino acid catabolism
Heme catabolism
Process of elimination: the urea cycle
Amino acids once again
Metabolic disorders:
Gout
Lesch-Nyhan syndrome
Albinism
Alkaptonuria
Phenylketonuria
Part 5: Genetics: Why We Are What We Are:
Photocopying DNA:
Let's do it again: replication:
DNA polymerases
Current model of DNA replication
Mechanism of DNA repair
Mutation: the good, the bad, and the ugly
Restriction enzymes
Mendel rolling over: recombinant DNA
Patterns: determining DNA sequences:
Getting charged up about gel electrophoresis
Determining the base sequence
Butler did it: forensic applications
Genetic diseases and other DNA testing applications:
Sickle cell anemia
Hemochromatosis
Cystic fibrosis
Hemophilia
Tay-sachs
Transcribe this! RNA transcription:
Types of RNA
RNA polymerase requirements
Making RNA: the basics:
Promoting transcription of RNA
Prokaryotic cells
Eukaryotic cells
Not a secret any longer: the genetic code:
Codons
Alpha and omega
Models of gene regulation:
Jacob-Monod (operon) model
Regulation of eukaryotic genes
Translation: protein synthesis:
Hopefully not lost in translation:
Why translation is necessary
Home, home in the ribosome
Translation team:
Team captain: rRNA
Here's the snap: mRNA
Carrying the ball: tRNA
Charging up the middle: amino acid activation
Hooking up: protein synthesis:
Activation
Initiation
Elongation
Termination
Wobble hypothesis
Variation in eukaryotic cells:
Ribosomes
Initiator tRNA
Initiation
Elongation and termination
Part 6: Part Of Tens:
Ten great applications of biochemistry:
Ames test
Pregnancy testing
HIV testing
Breast cancer testing
Prenatal genetic testing
PKU screening
Genetically modified foods
Genetic engineering
Cloning
Gene-replacement therapy
Ten biochemistry careers:
Research assistant
Plant breeder
Quality control analyst
Clinical research associate
Technical writer
Biochemical development engineer
Market research analyst
Patent attorney
Pharmaceutical sales
Biostatistician
Index.
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ISBN
9781118021743
9781118103975
9781118103951
9781119860969
9781118103968
9781118103975
9781118103951
9781119860969
9781118103968
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