Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: How Life Works

Getting started on the subjects that Professor Ahern calls "the science of us"; the handful of elements involved in biochemical reactions; the bonds they form; the wide array of molecules that result, which includes amino acids.

Investigating why water is so singularly suited to life; water molecules have a polar charge; how this feature allows water to dissolve sugars and salts while leaving oils and fats untouched; what makes water solutions acidic or basic.

A tour through the 20 amino acids that link together in different combinations and sequences to build proteins; besides water, proteins are the most abundant molecules in all known forms of life; they make up everything from enzymes to muscle cells.

How peptide bonds join amino acids to form an almost unlimited number of protein types; the order of amino acids matters, but even more important are the shapes they form; surveying primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary protein structures.

How proteins fold into complex shapes, often with the help of molecular chaperones; the consequences of proteins that do not fold properly, leading to degenerative conditions; looking at intrinsically disordered proteins that lack a fixed structure.

Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen and takes away carbon dioxide; how structure is the key to this vital function; how variant forms of hemoglobin can have life-saving or fatal consequences depending on structure.