Biomolecules-the materials for life
Author: Zhiming Ou
Publisher: 3265 Public Way
ISBN: 978-1-0677470-5-3
Summary:
Most people believe that living organisms own something different from nonliving things. In 1828, Friedrich Wohler heated ammonium cyanate to produce urea. The Wohler synthesis disproved the prevailing belief of vitalism—the idea that organic molecules could only be produced by living organisms.
Knowing what molecules can self-replicate is important to keep something alive. So, I went through all molecules that appeared in lives. Now I know life is based on carbon and lived on water and light. There may be lives based on nitrogen (aliens) or silicon (robots), due to their ability to form many types of stable compounds.
I still wonder about the boundary between living and nonliving. The ultimate form of life should have spirit (or soul?). How can biomolecules develop sense? Can the excitation of electromagnetic fields help? It is the only material that can store and activate memory.
Content for Biomolecules—Chemical Materials for Lives
Chapter 1 Introduction 6
Elements in lives
Properties of carbon and water 7
Key Biochemicals involved in metabolism 13
Chapter 2 Amino acids 21
- 1 Amino Acids of Proteins
Peptide Bonds
Classification and Characteristics 24
Acid-Base Properties
- 2 Non-standard Amino Acids 29
- 3 Optical Activity (continued)
Chapter 3 Proteins (Mostly Pictures) 34
- 1 Primary Structure
Sequence determination
Ordering the peptide fragments
Assignment of disulfide bond positions
Protein Modification
Chemical Evolution
Polypeptide Synthesis
- 2 Secondary Structure 55
The Peptide group
Helical structures 60
Beta structures 62
Fibrous Proteins 67
Alpha keratin: a helix of helices
Silk fibroin: a beta pleated sheet
Collagen: a triple helical cable
Elastin: a nonrepetitive coil
The most abundant types of collagens (胶原蛋白):
Type I: Chain composition = [α1(I)]2α2(I), in skin, bone, tendon, blood, vessels, cornea
Type II: Chain composition = [α1(II)]3, in cartilage, intervertebral disk
Type III: Chain composition = [α1(III)]3, in blood vessels, fetal skin
- 3 Globular Proteins 74
Tertiary structure
- 4 Protein Stability 83
Electrostatic forces
Hydrogen bonding forces
Hydrophobic forces
Disulfide bonds
Protein denaturation
- 5 Quaternary Structure 86
Subunit interactions
Symmetry in proteins
Determination of subunit composition
- 6 Protein Folding 86
Protein renaturation
Folding pathways
The roles of accessory proteins
Prediction of protein structures
Dynamics 99
Structural Evolution
Structures of cytochromes c
Gene duplication
Chapter 4 Hormones (a type of chemical messenger)
Chemical Classes 107
Binding proteins
Comparison with neurotransmitters 111
Regulation of synthesis
Effects in humans 112
Therapeutic use
Chapter 5 Enzymes
- 1 Names and Properties 113
Nomenclature
Properties
Substrate specificity
Coenzymes 119
- 2 Kinetics 121
- 3 Regulation and Inhibition of Enzymic Reactions 123
Chapter 6 Polymerases catalyze the synthesis of DNA or RNA
DNA polymerase 128
Helicases, DNA ligases 139
Eukaryotic DNA polymerase 143
Reverse transcriptase 145
Telomeres and telomerases 147
Chapter 7 Lipids 149
- 1 Structure and Synthesis
Fatty acids (脂肪酸) 150
Cholesterol （胆固醇） 163
Triacylglycerols (三酸甘油酯) 171
Glycerophospholipids （甘油磷脂） 173
Sphingolipids （神经鞘脂） 176
- 2 Properties of lipid aggregates 178
- 3 Biological membranes 182
- 4 Membrane assembly and protein targeting 193
- 5 Lipid-linked proteins and lipoproteins 199
Chapter 8 Sugars and Polysaccharides 206
- 1 Monosaccharides 207
- 2 Polysaccharides 212
Disaccharides
Structural Polysaccharides 215
Storage Polysaccharides 217
Starch and glycogen
Glycosaminoglycans
- 3 Digestion of Sugars, insulin 221
Glucose transporters
Regulation of Glucose Transporter/Translocator in Health and diabetes
- 4 Glycoproteins (to be continued)