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)

- Thermodynamic reminder

- Water: structure and chemical characteristics
- Proteins 1: general structure of amino acids (a.a.), the properties of the different lateral chains of the essential 20 a.a., the peptide bond and the structure levels of the proteins structure.
- Proteins 2: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure. The Anfinsen's experiment.
- Proteins 3: structural features of the alpha-keratins, silk fibroin and triple helix of collagen.
- Hemoglobin and Myoglobin: structure and function, cooperative effect, allosteric regulators (pH, CO₂, BPG), fetal hemoglobin and sikle cell anemia.
- Enzymology: definition of catalysis, chemical mechanisms, thermodynamics and kinetics, equation of Michaelis-Menten, velocity vs. [S] plot, Lineweaver-Burk's plot, enzyme's inhibition, conserved catalytic mechanisms, catalytic triads of proteases.

- Lipids: structures of simple and complex lipids, phospholipids and cholesterol.

- Biologic membranes' structure and functions: passive and active transport

- Receptors and the relative transduction signaling pathways

Biochemistry- (Module 2)

- Hemostasis: platelets and clotting factors, the role of vitamin K.

- Carbohydrates: monosaccharides, O-glycosidic bond, homopolysaccharides.

- Nucleotides: nitrogen bases, N-glycosidic bond, ATP structure, cAMP e cGMP.

- General structure of nucleic acids: 5'-3' phosphodiester bond, hydrolysis of RNA, enzymatic hydrolysis of nucleic acids, restriction enzymes.
- DNA structure : the Watson and Crick model, DNA denaturation.

- Supercoiled DNA in E. Coli: negative and positive supercoils and their role, topoisomerases.

- Supercoiled DNA in eukaryotes: histones, polynucleosomes, chromatin structure.

-Central Dogma.

- DNA replication in E. Coli.

- Eukaryotic DNA damages.

- RNA structure: mRNA, tRNA and rRNA.

- Transcription in E. Coli, RNA maturation in eukaryotes: introns and exons, splicing.

- Transcription control in prokaryotes: sigma factors, Lac-operon. Eukaryotes transcription factors and regulation.

- Amino acyl-tRNA synthesis: amino acyl-tRNA-synthase's catalytic mechanism.

- Genetic code, codon-anticodon pairing, third base degeneration, the 61 codons tRNA recognition

- Translation: Shine-Dalgarno sequence, initiation, elongation, termination.

- DNA cloning: restriction enzymes and DNA fragmentation, cloning vectors, recombinant DNA, genomic and cDNA libraries, biotechnology applications.

Biochemistry- (Module 3)

- Metabolism: definition and introduction of the metabolic processes (catabolism and anabolism), ATP as molecule to conserve chemical energy.
- Glycolysis
- Pyruvate dehydrogenase
- The citric acid cycle

- The electrons transport chain and the oxidative phosphorylation.
- Gluconeogenesis
- The regulation of glycaemia: glycogen lysis e glycogen synthesis
- The pentose phosphate path
- The fatty acids degradation: the beta-oxidation.
- Amino acid catabolism: transamination reaction, glutamate dehydrogenase, the proteins' amino group degradation: the urea cycle

- The fatty acids synthesis
- The cholesterol synthesis

Readings/Bibliography

J. Berg, J.L. Tymoczko, L. Stryer “Biochemistry” 7th revised international edition, 2012

D.L. Nelson, M.M. Cox “Lehninger principles of Biochemistry” 6th edition, 2014

T.M. Devlin “Devlin Biochemistry", 4th edition, 2013

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures with Power Point slides and short didactic movies

Assessment methods

To have access to the examination test it is needed to sign into the electronic panel of AlmaEsami 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.

Teaching tools

Didactic material available on line at https://campus.unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Diana Fiorentini

See the website of Christian Bergamini

See the website of Concettina Cappadone