Enzymes, Chemical Bonds and Energy

Reflecting back on the course, what are three major themes you would identify that connect that various topics discussed in this course - how are they connected to more than one topic, and how do they connect with what you knew before this course?  What knowledge have you gained with regards to these three themes you have identified?

The three major themes I will be proposing, that connect various topics discussed in biochemistry this semester are enzymes, chemical bonds and energy. Starting with the six basic types of enzymes: oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, lyases, isomerases, and synthetases (ligases). Those basic types of enzymes are the muscle behind metabolism of food sources to create adenosine triphosphate ATP.  ATP is the key player to be utilized as energy by cellular processes.  Enzymes can make chemical bonds to store energy or break chemical bonds to releases energy. These three themes are intertwined.

Development of restriction enzymes allows DNA sequences to be cut at known base sequences to allow researchers to analyze specific sequence of interest. DNA contains the genetic code (genes) that can pass on the information to RNA to create proteins. And enzymes are primarily composed of …. Proteins. 

(Original photo by J Russell)

Here is where the hands on aspect of the class made the biggest impact for me this semester.  The extraction of our own DNA in the laboratory experiment "369 - Human PCR Tool Box."  The polymerase chain reaction was also my topic for my biochemistry wiki site.  All the reading and research had an impact but the hands on processing of the sample of eye brow hairs and watching the tracking dye move across the electrophoresis gel made DNA something accessible.  The viewing of the processed gel and finding bands to be analyzed to determine VNTR, ALU and regions of mitochondrial DNA was the best experience this semester.  We utilized enzymes to break chemical bonds in the DNA and used the energy inherent in all cells to draw the fragments across the electrophoresis gel.