It's alive! It's alive! (Thanks to biochemistry, that is.)

Biochemistry is the science of the chemical processes that allow for...well...life. If it moves, breathes, eats, or sleeps, biochemistry can probably explain how. So, it stands to reason that the fundamentals of biochemistry can get a little complicated.

In Biochemistry For Dummies, you'll explore the carbons, proteins, and cellular systems that make up the biochemical processes that create and sustain life of all kinds. Perfect for students majoring in biology, chemistry, pre-med, health-services, and other science-related fields, this book tracks a typical college-level biochemistry class. It simplifies and clarifies the subject with easy-to-follow diagrams and real-world examples. You'll also get:

• Explorations of cell biology, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and other fundamental building blocks of life
• Discussions of the basic structures common to all living organisms

• Treatments of the microscopic details of life that make us all tick

  If you're looking for a hand with some of the trickier parts of biochemistry--or you just need an accessible overview of the subject--check out Biochemistry For Dummies today!

  Autorentext

  John T. Moore, EdD, and Richard H. Langley, PhD, teach Chemistry at Stephen F. Austin State University. Together they have more than 8.9 x 101 years of science education experience, and they have authored or coauthored oodles of books on chemistry topics.

  Klappentext

  It's alive! It's alive! (Thanks to biochemistry, that is.) Biochemistry is the science of the chemical processes that allow for...well...life. If it moves, breathes, eats, or sleeps, biochemistry can probably explain how. So, it stands to reason that the fundamentals of biochemistry can get a little complicated. In Biochemistry For Dummies, you'll explore the carbons, proteins, and cellular systems that make up the biochemical processes that create and sustain life of all kinds. Perfect for students majoring in biology, chemistry, pre-med, health-services, and other science-related fields, this book tracks a typical college-level biochemistry class. It simplifies and clarifies the subject with easy-to-follow diagrams and real-world examples. You'll also get: Explorations of cell biology, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and other fundamental building blocks of life Discussions of the basic structures common to all living organisms * Treatments of the microscopic details of life that make us all tick If you're looking for a hand with some of the trickier parts of biochemistry--or you just need an accessible overview of the subject--check out Biochemistry For Dummies today!

  Inhalt

  **Introduction/b>

  About This Book 1

  Foolish Assumptions 2

  Icons Used in This Book 3

  Beyond the Book 3

  Where to Go from Here 4

  **Part 1: Setting the Stage: Basic Biochemistry Concepts/b>

  Chapter 1: Biochemistry: What You Need to Know and Whyb>7**

  Why Biochemistry? 7

  What Is Biochemistry and Where Does It Take Place? 8

  Types of Living Cells 8

  Prokaryotes 9

  Eukaryotes 9

  Animal Cells and How They Work 10

  A Brief Look at Plant Cells 12

  Chapter 2: Seems So Basic: Water Chemistry and pHb>15**

  The Fundamentals of H2O 16

  Let's get wet! The physical properties of water 16

  Water's most important biochemical role: The solvent 18

  Hydrogen Ion Concentration: Acids and Bases 20

  Achieving equilibrium 20

  Understanding the pH scale 21

  Calculating pOH 23

  Applying the Brsted-Lowry theory 23

  Buffers and pH Control 27

  Identifying common physiological buffers 27

  Calculating a buffer's pH 28

  Chapter 3: Fun with Carbon: Organic Chemistryb>31**

  The Role of Carbon in the Study of Life 31

  It's All in the Numbers: Carbon Bonds 33

  When Forces Attract: Bond Strengths 33

  Everybody has 'em: Intermolecular forces 34

  Water-related interactions: Both the lovers and the haters 35

  How bond strengths affect physical properties of substances 35

  Getting a Reaction out of a Molecule: Functional Groups 37

  Hydrocarbons 37

  Functional groups with oxygen and sulfur 37

  Functional groups containing nitrogen 38

  Functional groups containing phosphorus 39

  Reactions of functional groups 40

  pH and functional groups 43

  Same Content, Different Structure: Isomerism 44

  Cis-trans isomers 44

  Chiral carbons 44

  Part 2: The Meat of Biochemistry: Proteins

  Chapter 4: Amino Acids: The Building Blocks of Protein

  General Properties of Amino Acids 50

  Amino acids are positive and negative: The zwitterion formation 50

  Protonated? pH and the isoelectric point 51

  Asymmetry: Chiral amino acids 52

  The Magic 20 Amino Acids 53

  Nonpolar (hydrophobic) and uncharged amino acids 53

  Polar (hydrophilic) and uncharged amino acids 55

  Acidic amino acids 57

  Basic amino acids 57

  Lest We Forget: Rarer Amino Acids 58

  Rudiments of Amino Acid Interactions 59

  Intermolecular forces: How an amino acid interacts with other molecules 59

  Altering interactions by changing the pH 61

  Combining Amino Acids: How It Works 62

  The peptide bond and the dipeptide 63

  Tripeptide: Adding an amino acid to a dipeptide 64

  Chapter 5: Protein Structure and Functionb>65**

  Proteins: Not Just for Dinner 65

  Primary Structure: The Structure Level All Proteins Have 67

  Building a protein: Outlining the process 67

  Organizing the amino acids 68

  Example: The primary structure of insulin 69

  Secondary Structure: A Structure Level Most Proteins Have 69

  The -helix 70

  The -pleated sheet 71

  -turns and the -loops 73

  Tertiary Structure: A Structure Level Many Proteins Have 74

  Quaternary Structure: A Structure Level Some Proteins Have 75

  Dissecting a Protein for Study 75

  Separating proteins within a cell and purifying them 75

  Digging into the details: Uncovering a protein's amino acid sequence 78

  Chapter 6: Enzyme Kinetics: Getting There Fasterb>83**

  Enzyme Classification: The Best Catalyst for the Job 84

  Up one, down one: Oxidoreductases 85

  You don't belong here: Transferases 86

  Water does it again: Hydrolases 86

  Taking it apart: Lyases 87

  Shuffling the deck: Isomerases 87

  Putting it together: Ligases 87

  Enzymes as Catalysts: When Fast Is Not Fast Enough 88

  All about Kinetics 90

  Enzyme assays: Fixed time and kinetics 91

  Rate determination: How fast is fast? 92

  Measuring Enzyme Behavior: The Michaelis-Menten Equation 94

  Ideal applications 97

  Realistic applications 98

  Here we go again: Lineweaver-Burk plots 98

  Graphing kinetics data 100

  Enzyme Inhibition: Slowing It Down 102

  Competitive inhibition 102

  Noncompetitive inhibition 103

  Graphing inhibition 103

  Enzyme Regulation 104

  Part 3: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Nucleic Acids, and More, Oh My!7

  Chapter 7: What We Crave: Carbohydratesb>109**

  Properties of Carbohydrates 110

  They contain one or more chiral carbons 110

  They have multiple chiral centers 111

  A Sweet Topic: Monosaccharides 113

  The most stable monosaccharide structures:

  Pyranose and furanose forms 113

  Chemical properties of monosaccharides 115

  Derivatives of monosaccharides 117

  The most common monosaccharides 119

  The beginning of life: Ribose and deoxyribose 120

  Sugars Joining Hands: Oligosaccharides 120

  Keeping it simple: Disaccharides 121

  Starch and cellulose: Polysaccharides 124

  The Aldose Family of Sugars 126

  Chapter 8: Lipids and Membranesb>129**

  Lovely Lipids: An Overview 129

  Behavior of lipids 130

  Fatty acids in lipids 131

  A Fatty Subject: Triglycerides 132

  Properties and structures of fats 132

  Cleaning up: Breaking down a triglyceride 134

  No Simpletons Here: Complex Lipids 134

  Phosphoglycerides 135

  Sphingolipids 137

  Sphingophospholipids 137

  Membranes: The Bipolar and the Bilayer 138

  Crossing the wall: Membrane transport 139

  Steroids: Pumping up 142

  Prost…