00061 - Biochemistry

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student becomes familar withessential biochemical concepts: macromolecular structures (sugars, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids) and functions, catalysis,intermediarymetabolism and regulation, cell signalling.Special emphasiswill be given to the major experimental metodologies in biochemistry.

Course contents

Amino acid and proteins: structure and properties of amino acids; structure, stability and formation of the peptide bond. Weak interactions in an aqueous environment: charge-charge interactions, the hydrogen bond, dipole-dipole interactions, hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions.Primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure of proteins; introduction to prediction of protein structure.
Lipids and membranes: fatty acids,phospholipids and sphingolipids,cholesterol,structure,asimmetry and properties ofbiological membranes, membrane proteins: bacteriorhodopsin and porin.Lipids rafts.

How to explore proteins: cell fractionaction, centrifugation, cromatographyc techniques, electrophoresis, western blot, immunofluorescence. Bioinformatics and prediction ofprotein structure.

Myoglobin and hemoglobin: structural aspects, protein structure analysis by X-ray cristallography; structure of heme and oxygen binding, saturation curves, effect of pH and 2,3-DPG.

Signal transduction pathways: signalling strategies, first messengers, receptors, intracellular and membrane receptors. Membrane receptors types: 7TM receptors: rhodopsin and b-adrenergic receptor, G proteins: activation/deactivation, effector systems: adenylate cyclase and phospholipase C.

Enzymes: chemical reaction rates and the effects of catalysts, transition states, the enzyme-substrate complex, some general catalytic mechanisms. Introduction to kinetics of enzymatic catalysis: the Michaelis-Menten analysis, the significance of Km, Vmax and Kcat, rearrangement of Michaelis-Menten equation (Lineweaver-Burk, Eadie-Hofstee, Hanes-Woolf plots). Enzyme inhibition: reversible and irreversible inhibition, competitive, non competitive and acompetitive inhibitors. Multisubstrate reactions. Regulation of enzyme activity: allosteric regulation, covalent modifications (reversible and irreversible), regulation by control of enzymatic synthesis and degradation. Examples of some catalytic mechanisms: lysozyme, ribonuclease A, carboxypeptidase, chymotryspin.
Transport across membranes: channels and membrane pumps: structure and function of channels and membrane pumps, active and passive transport.
Introduction to metabolism: an overview of major metabolic pathways, existence of separate biosynthetic and degradative pathways, energy transductions, the ATP molecule, coenzymes and vitamines.
Carbohydrate metabolism: the molecular structure and behaviour of carbohydrates. Glycolysis, citric acid cycle, gluconeogenesis, glycogen degradation and biosynthesis, pentose phosphate pathway.
Oxidative phosphorylation. Photosynthesis.
Lipid metabolism: utilization of triacylglycerols in animals, fatty acid oxidation, fatty acid biosynthesis, metabolism of phospholipids containing glycerol,of sphingolipids, andof cholesterol.
Metabolism of nitrogenous compounds: biogenesis of organic nitrogen, amino acids biosynthesis and degradation, the transamination reactions, the urea cycle.
Nucleotide metabolism: biosynthesis and degradation of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides.
Integration and control of metabolic processes.
Pathwaysofsignal transduction.

Readings/Bibliography

Biochemistry, J. M. Berg, · J. L. Tymoczko, · L. Stryer ,7th edition

Principes di Biochemistry. A.L. Lehninger, D.L. Nelson , M.M. Cox.

Foundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level, 2007, John Wiley and Co.

Biochemistry,C.K. Mattew and K.E van Holde.

Teaching methods

Lectures

Assessment methods

Written test comprising a series of questions that aim to ascertain students' understanding of the theory presented during lectures and experimental laboratory.

Teaching tools

Ppt presentations

Office hours

See the website of Michela Rugolo

See the website of Maria Paola Turina