00061 - Biochemistry

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to acknowledge the students on the basis of general biochemistry and molecular biology. In particular to know the structure and the function of the biological molecules, the significance and the molecular mechanisms of the principal metabolic paths.

Course contents

Biochemistry- (module 1) teacher Prof. Paolo Neyroz
1) Water as general solvent of the biological molecules: Structure and chemical characteristics
2) Proteines 1: general structure of aminoacids (a.a.), the properties of the different lateral chains of the essential 20 a.a., the peptidic bond and the structure levels of the proteins structure.
3) Proteins 2: primary, secondary, tertiary and  quaternary structure. The Anfinsen's experiment.
4) Proteine 3: structural features of the alfa-keratine, silk fibroin and triple elix of collagen.
5) Haemoglobin eand Mioglobin: Structure and function, cooperative effect, allosteric regulators (pH, CO2, BPG), fetal haemoglobin and sikle cell anemia.
6) Enzymology: definition of catalisis, chemical mechanisms, thermodynamics and kinetics, eqz. of Micaelis-Menten, velocity vs. [S] plot, Lineweaver-Burk's plot, enzyme's inhibition, conserved catalytic mechanisms, catalytic triads of proteases.
7) Methabolism: Definition and introduction of the methabolic processes (cathabolism and anabolism), ATP as molecule to conserve chemical energy.
8) Cathabolism organization
9) Glycolisis
10) Mechanism to use different sugars (galactose, fructose and mannose)
11) The pentose phosphare path
12) Glycogenolysis e glycogenosinthesis
13) Glyconeogenesis
14) The citric acid cycle
15) The electrons transport chain and ossidative phosphorylation.
16) The fatty acids degradation: The beta-ossidation.
17) The fatty acids sinthesis
18) The cholesterol sinthesis
19) The proteins' amino group degradation: the urea cycle.

Biochemistry - (module 2), teacher  Prof. Diana Fiorentini

Emostasis: Platlets and clotting factors, the role of vitamine K.

Carbohydrats : monosaccarides, glucose and other sugars, O-glycosidic bond, chemical structures, homopolisaccarides: amyde, glycogeb and cellulose.

Nucleotides: general structure,  N-glycosidic bond,  nucleosides – nucleotides – ATP structure – ATP, ADP and Pi resonance – structure and function of AMPc e GMPc.

General structure of nucleic acids: 5'-3' phosphodiester bond. Hydrolisis of RNA. Enzymatic hydrolisis of nucleic acids. Restriction enzymes.

DNA structure : The Watson and Crick model. DNA denaturation.

Supercoiled DNA in E.Coli : negative and positive superhelix and their role.  Topoisomerases.

Supercoiled DNA in eucariotes : histons – polinucleosomes - cromatine structure. Histons' acetilation/deacetilation.

Central Dogma.

DNA replication in E.Coli .

Eucariotic DNA damnages.

RNA structure : mRNA, tRNA and rRNA.

Trascription in E. Coli.

RNA maturation: introns and  exons – splicing.

Transcription control: sigma factor. Lac-operon. Eucariotes transcription factors and regulation.

Amminoacil-RNAt synthesis: amminoacil-tRNA-sintase's catalytic mechanism.

Genetic code.

Codon-anticodon pairing: third base degeneration: the 61 codons  tRNA recognition. AUG and formyl-metionine AUG vs. internal metionine.

Translation : Shine-Dalgarno sequence - Initiation, Elongation,  Termination. Post-translational modification of proteins.

DNA cloning:  restriction enzymes and DNA fragmentation, cloning vectors,  recombinant DNA – trasfection – genomic libraries and cDNA he e di cDNA. Biotechnology applications.

 

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

J. Berg, J.L. Tymoczko, L. Stryer “Biochimica” settima edizione, Zanichelli, 2012
D.L. Nelson, M.M. Cox “I principi di Biochimica di Lehninger” sesta edizione, Zanichelli, 2014
D. Voet, J.G. Voet, C. W. Pratt “Fondamenti di Biochimica” terza edizione, Zanichelli 2013
T.M. Devlin “Biochimica con aspetti clinico-farmaceutici” , EdiSES, 2013

Assessment methods

To have access to the examination test it is needed to sign into the electronic panel within the scheduled dates. Those which could not sign must send an email to the lecturer (before the closing date) to communicate their problem. Depending on the lecturer decision the student will be admitted to the test.
Students evaluation will be provide by a final examination to verify the appropriate preparation on the different course's topics.
The result of the evaluation is based on the answers to the tests and the exhibited  acquaintance of the course's fundamentals to fulfill the didactic objectives. The final definition of the student preparation and capabilities is given in a score as a fraction of thirty (from 18/30 to 30/30 cum laude). Intermediate written tests scores will be evaluated as weighted average to produce the final score.

Biochemistry (Module 2)

Students' preparation evaluation will be obtain by a written test of 1 hour, there will not be the possibility to consult notes or books. The test will consist of 5 multiple choice questions (3 of them have more than one true answers, and 2 a single true answer) and 3 open questions. The topics of the test will be based exclusively on the arguments presented during the lectures of the course. To pass the written test (minimum score 18) is compelling to be admitted to the oral evaluation. Its validity is one solar year; within this period the student can take the oral examination at any available istitutional term. Students unsatisfied of their written result they can repeat the test; in this case it will be considered the latest score obtained. Students that do not pass the oral test in a solar year time they will have to repeat the written test to be admitted at an additional oral evaluation.

Alla fine del corso gli studenti frequentanti potranno usufruire di una prova scritta a loro riservata, formulata nello stesso modo esposto sopra ed avente la medesima validità.

Teaching tools

Presentation in pdf file format of the lectures at "Materiale didattico" under "Servizi online" of the web page www.unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Neyroz

See the website of Diana Fiorentini