Biochemistry for Dummies

John T. Moore, Richard H. Langley0470194286, 978-0-470-19428-7

Introduction — About this book — Conventions used in this book — Icons 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 — Where to go from here — Part 1: Setting The Stage: Basic Biochemistry Concepts — 1: 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 — 2: Dive in: water chemistry — Fundamentals of H2O — Let’s get wet! physical properties of water — Water’s most important biochemical role: the solvent — Hydrogen ion concentration: acids and bases — Achieving equilibrium — Sour and bitter numbers: the pH scale — Calculating pOH — Strong and weak: Bronsted-Lowry theory — Buffers and pH control — Identifying common physiological buffers — Calculating a buffer’s pH — 3: Fun with carbon: organic chemistry — Role of carbon in the study of life — It’s all in the numbers: carbon bonds — Sticky chemistry: bond strengths — Everybody has ’em: intermolecular forces — Water-related interactions: both the lovers and the haters — How bond strengths affect physical properties of substances — Defining a molecule’s reactivity: functional groups — Hydrocarbons — Functional groups with oxygen and sulfur — Functional groups containing nitrogen — Functional groups containing phosphorous — Reactions of functional groups — pH and functional groups — Same content, different structure: isomerism — Cis-trans isomers — Chiral carbons — Part 2: Meat Of Biochemistry: Proteins — 4: 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, 5: Protein structure and function — 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 — A-helix — B-pleated sheet — B-turns and the Q-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 — 6: Enzymes 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 catalysts: when fast is not fast enough — Models of catalysis: lock and key versus induced-fit — All about kinetics — Enzyme assays: fixed time and kinetic — 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 — Allosteric control — Multiple enzyme forms — Covalent modification — Proteolytic activation — Part 3: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Nucleic Acids, And More — 7: 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 the monosaccharides — Most common monosaccharides — Beginning of life: ribose and deoxyribose — Sugars joining hands: oligosaccharides — Keeping it simple: disaccharides — Starch and cellulose: polysaccharides — 8: Lipids and membranes — Lovely lipids: an overview — Fatty subject: triglycerides — Properties and structures of fats — Cleaning up: breaking down a triglyceride — No simpletons here: complex lipids — Phosphoglycerides — Sphingolipids — Sphingophospholipids — Membranes: the bipolar and the bilayer — Crossing the wall: membrane transport — Pumps — Channels — Steroids: pumping up — Prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes: mopping up., 9: 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 — 10: Vitamins and nutrients — More than one-a-day: basics of vitamins — To B or not to B: B complex vitamins — Vitamin B1, Part 5: Genetics: Why We Are What We Are — 15: Photocopying DNA — Let’s do it again: replication — DNA polymerases — Current model of DNA replication — Mechanisms of DNA repair — Mutation: the good, the bad, and the ugly — Restriction enzymes — Mendel rolling over: recombinant DNA — Patterns: determining DNA sequences — 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 — 16: Transcribe this! RNA transcription — RNA polymerase requirements — Making RNA: the basics — Prokaryotic cells — Eukaryotic cells — To heck with Da Vinci: the genetic code — Codons — Alpha and omega — Models of gene regulation — Jacob-Monod; From the Publisher: Are you baffled by biochemistry? You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last. Here’s the good news-you don’t have to stay baffled! Biochemistry For Dummies shows you the fun and easy way to get a handle on biochemistry, apply the science, raise your grades, and prepare yourself to ace any standardized test. This friendly, unintimidating guide presents an overview of the material covered in a typical college-level biochemistry course and makes biochemistry basics easy to understand. It explains all the topics and practical applications in plain English. From cell ultrastructure and carbohydrates to amino acids, proteins, and supramolecular structure, you’ll identify biochemical structures and reactions, send your grades soaring, and start looking forward to your next class, instead of dreading it. Discover how to: Master biochemistry basics; Work through biochemistry problems; Prepare for standardized tests; Grasp amino acid and protein structures; Nail down enzyme terminology; Get a grip on the Michaelis-Menton equation; Load up on carbo knowledge; Crack the nucleic acid code; Learn to love lipids-but not too much; Master the ABCs of vitamins; Apply biochem in everyday life; Explore a career in the field. From water chemistry to protein synthesis Biochemistry For Dummies gives you the vital information, clear explanations, and important insights you need to increase your understanding and improve your performance on any biochemistry test