Faculty of Science

Objectives

To cover in greater detail the structures and functions of the major bio-molecules including, water, protides, enzymes and Nucleic Acids.

Contents

Water, hydrogen buffers and chemical equilibria

Amino acids: nomenclature, structure classification, reactions of amino-acid side chains with indications of in-vivo post-synthetic protein modifications.

Peptides: classification, structure and function; Peptide synthesis by the solid state method; Peptide sequencing methods; Proteins: physico-chemical properties, functions.

Protein Conformations: primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary structures and the forces that stabilize them. Pictures of protein Structures: hemoglobin, myoglobin, ribonuclease, etc.

Enzymes: Classification, structure, Notions of enzyme kinetics and inhibition patterns (briefly).

The Genetic Material: Introduction to chemical structures of DNA & RNA, physico-chemical properties, features of viral, eukaryotic and prokaryotic DNA, chromatin structure; RNA catalysis.