Lecture Materials

Unit I: Introduction

Lecture 1 - Introduction to Biochemistry

In this overview of biochemistry you will be introduced to some of the important molecular players in living systems, including a the major types of biological polymers, the energy transformations required to create and sustain a living system, and the cell, which is the basic unit of a living systems.

Lecture 2 - Water

Before we start to look at biological molecules, we will look first at the most abundant substance in a living cell, water. The chemical and physical properties of water are quite unique and are largely responsible for the structure and function of a living cells and their components.

Return to Top

Unit II: Structure and Function of Biological Molecules

Lecture 3 - Proteins

Proteins are the workhorses of living cells, so this is where we will begin with our survey of the structure and function of biological molecules. Proteins are polymers built from monomers of amino acids. There are twenty common amino acids that are used by all organisms to make proteins, with each displaying a characteristic set of chemical and physical properties. Every protein has a defined sequence of amino acid monomers in its polymer chain, which is referred to as its primary structure. This sequence is determined by the gene that codes for a protein. The interactions of the amino acids with each other and with water determine how a protein will fold into a functional 3-dimensional structure.

Lecture 4 - Enzymes

Enzymes are biological catalysts; nearly every reaction that takes place in a living cell is catalyzed by an enzyme. Most enzymes are proteins, with some requiring non-protein components called coenzymes in order to function. The control of enzymatic activity plays a central roll in controlling the activities and proper functioning of a living cell.

Lecture 5 - Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates were given their name because they are composed of units that comprise an equivalent of one water molecule for each carbon atom, (CH2O)n. Other names that they have been given include saccharides and sugars. Carbohydrates display wide range of functions including structural ones along with serving a major source of chemical energy.

Lecture 6 - Lipids and Membranes

Lipids are biological molecules that share the common physical characteristic of being insoluble in water. Since water is the most abundant component of living cells, this leads to some interesting consequences. A good example are the membrane lipids, which when exposed to water will spontaneously form membranes. These membranes define the boundary of a cell, and for eukaryotic cells, the various organelles, with their specialized functions, within the cell. Many of the important activities that takes place in a living cell occur either across or within these membranes.

Return to Top

Unit III: Metabolism and Bioenergetics

Lecture 7 - Introduction to Metabolism

Metabolism is the sum total of the all of the reactions that take place in a living cell. Metabolism can be divided into two main categories, catabolism, which is the aggregate of the reactions involved in breaking down food molecules to extract their chemical energy and to produce starting material for the biosynthetic reactions, and anabolism, which comprises the biosynthetic reactions.

Lecture 8 - Carbohydrate Metabolism

Carbohydrate metabolism, both catabolism and anabolism, form the central core for all of metabolism; the degradation and synthesis of most of the other biological molecules feed into, and out of, this central core of reactions. For this reason, we will place a major emphasis on studying these core reactions. These are grouped into several series, or pathways of reactions, including glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, the pentose phosphate pathway, the citric acid cycle, and the electron transport chain along with oxidative phosphorylation.

Lecture 9 - Photosynthesis

The ultimate source of energy for nearly all living systems on the earth is the sun. Photosynthesis is the process by which some organisms are capable of converting the sun’s light energy into chemical energy. These organisms satisfy not only their own energy needs but also the needs of most of the other organisms as well, which are incapable of carrying out photosynthesis.

Lecture 10 - Lipid and Amino Acid Metabolism

Here we will look at some of the pathways that are used to synthesize and degrade these three major classes of biological molecules.

Return to Top

Unit IV: Flow of Biological Information

Lecture 11 - Nucleic Acids

One of the essential processes for a living cell is reproduction. This requires that the cell has the ability to store and replicate the information it needs to create and sustain new cell. While the proteins are good at carrying out their role as the workhorses for the cell, they are not well suited to replicating themselves. The nucleic acids, DNA and RNA, are more suited to this role.

Lecture 12 - DNA Replication and Repair

DNA has evolved to become the primary storage form of genetic information within a living cell. Here we will look at how DNA is able replicated itself.

Lecture 13 - RNA

The information contained in a DNA molecule is used to synthesize RNA molecules, in a process called transcription. There are three major types of RNA: ribosomal RNA (rRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA).

Lecture 14 - Protein Synthesis

The different types of RNA work together to produce the proteins, in a process called translation. It is the protein enzymes, that then produce the other components of the cell in metabolism.

Return to Top