GENERAL BIOCHEMISTRY

To give basic notions necessary for understanding physical, chemical and biological context in which biochemical transformations and molecular interactions occur during differentiation, reproduction and life of living organisms

• - Amino acids: structure, function, physical and chemical characteristics and their classification.
• - Peptides: Features of the peptide bond, examples of peptides of considerable biological interest.
• - Levels of structural and supramolecular organization of proteins.
• - Chromoproteins transporters of oxygen: myoglobin and hemoglobin; structural and functional differences, factors that influence the binding of hemoglobin to oxygen; allosteric behavior of hemoglobin; hemoglobin role in the transport of carbon dioxide; buffering action of hemoglobin; physiological and pathological variants of hemoglobin.
• - General properties and characteristics of enzymes: classification and nomenclature of enzymes, isoenzymes, multi-enzyme complexes, enzyme kinetics, affinity and activity: the Michaelis-Menten constant, Maximum Speed and their implications; graphic of the double reciprocal for the calculation of KM; enzyme inhibitors (irreversible and reversible, competitive, non-competitive and incompetive; methods to recognize the type of inhibition). Regulation of enzyme activity, allosteric enzymes; Clinical Applications: Enzymes as analytical tools, diagnostic and therapeutic (direct and indirect ELISA methods).
• - Levels of structural and supramolecular organization of nucleic acids.
• - Genetic code and its features.
• - DNA replication in eukaryotes and prokaryotes.
• - Examples of damage to DNA and DNA repair mechanisms.
• - From genes to proteins: transcription, RNA maturation and translation.
• - Regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes: induction, repression and gene activation; operons and their regulation mechanism.
• - Regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes.
• - Molecules involved in cell recognition: the role of membrane carbohydrates .
• - Mechanisms of intercellular communication: nervous and hormonal pathways;
• - Structural and functional characteristics of the different types of receptors for hormones and growth factors (7-transmembrane helices, with tyrosine kinase activity, receptors for steroid hormones, receptors for thyroid hormones); transduction pathways of signals (proteins Gs, Gi and Gq, protein Ras cascade of MAP kinase, intracellular second messengers (cAMP, cGMP, IP3, DAG, Ca + +) and their mode of synthesis, action and degradation. Intracellular mechanisms and molecules involved in the transmission of some sensory signals (rhodopsin, transducin and light signals, protein Golf and olfactory signals, gustducina and perception of flavors).
• - Restriction enzymes in recombinant DNA technology.
• - Techniques for cloning and DNA isolation, gene amplification by PCR.
• - Implications and applications of biotechnology in research, medicine and agriculture.
• - Molecules involved in cell cycle control and cell proliferation (cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases).
• - Mechanisms of cell death: necrosis and apoptosis; morphological differences, and molecular mechanisms. Molecules involved in the execution of the apoptotic program.

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