Web Site: Spring 2001
This course is really a biological version of an analytical chemistry course where the student is introduced to a number of technological skills involving spectrophotometric analysis, chromatography, and electrophoresis. These skills will be used to extract, separate, and identify a few of the many carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids which are found in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. We will look at the significance of the carbon atom and its role in forming the major building block of these biomolecules. We will become familiar with the "functional groups" on organic molecules which form the amino acid, sugar, fatty acid, and nucleotide monomeric units which, in turn, are responsible for forming the essential macromolecules responsible for the structure and function of living organisms.
The students currently in Biomolecules should check this web page on a regular basis for assignments, special announcements, and for links to web-sites.
BIOMOLECULES: THE COURSE
This course is required for biology, biology-chemistry, and other selected majors. Students coming into this course are expected to have completed one year of chemistry and one year of biology. Biomolecules has been added to the curriculum to provide a background that will encourage you to have a better understanding of material presented in courses such as cell biology, plant and animal physiology, microbiology and genetics. You will become familiar with the classes of molecules (biomolecules) such as sugars, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids that form the cellular components of living organisms. We have included laboratory exercises that will acquaint you with some of the analytical tools and methods that are a part of a modern molecular biology laboratory.
To facilitate the learning processes employed in the course, the instructors will expect the assigned readings for lecture and laboratory will be done and that attendance will be regular. A great deal of your learning will occur outside of the classroom and this can be accomplished by a systematic review of the reading assignments and lecture notes and answering assigned questions over the lecture and laboratory material. Forming a study-group has been shown to help facilitate the learning process for many individuals. Although we will not be assigning formal study-groups for Biomolecules, we do suggest that you do establish some type of association involving members of this class to discuss readings, to answer questions that are to be turned in, to prepare laboratory write-ups, and to prepare for quizzes and examinations. At times, we may break the class up into groups for certain activities and your established study-group would allow you to work with students that you know and with whom you will feel comfortable working.
INSTRUCTOR
David P. Kreps: Office is in S101.
Phone No. is 5310.
Office hours are posted.
TEXTS
1. Stoker, Stephen, Organic and Biological Chemistry, 1998
2. Wolfe, Cell Structure, 1985, Wadsworth
3. Biomolecules Manual
4. Handouts
SCHEDULE
1. Lecture: Wednesday and Friday, S-113, 1:00-1:50 p.m.
2. Laboratory: Thursday, S-108; 9:30-12:30 p.m. or 2:00 p.m.-5:00
p.m.
GRADING
1. Three one-hour examinations (Final included)
300pts
(Some laboratory work will be covered on these
exams.)
2. Quizzes (unannounced)
100pts
3. Laboratory write-ups
100pts
4. Paper (Details announced in class)
50pts
MAKEUP POLICIES
Examinations are scheduled, therefore exceptions will be few. (Going
to Florida for Spring Break or going home early are not among the accepted
excuses.) Do not expect to make up a missed laboratory if the instructors
or laboratory assistants have not been notified in advance.
LECTURE SCHEDULE
DATE TOPIC READING
Jan.31
Introduction to the course and to the carbon atom
Handouts
Feb. 2
Classes of hydrocarbons
Stoker- Ch.1
Feb. 7
An Introduction to functional groups found in biomolecules
Stoker (Selected)
Manual A1-5
Feb. 9
Special functional groups: alcohols, phenols, ethers, and thiols
Stoker- Ch.3
Feb. 14
Carbohydrates
Stoker-Ch.7
Feb. 16
Manual p.A6-8
Feb. 21
Complex carbohydrates
Stoker- Ch.7
Feb. 23
Lipids: fats and oils
Stoker- Ch.8
Feb. 28
Phospholipids and steriods and biolgical membranes
Stoker- Ch.8
Manual p.9-13
Mar. 2
FIRST EXAMINATION
Mar. 7
Amino acids and peptide bonds
Stoker- Ch.9
Manual p.14-23
Mar. 9
Primary and secondary structure of proteins
Stoker- Ch.9
Handouts
Mar. 14
Enzymes and vitamins
Stoker- Ch.10
Mar. 16
Enzyme activity and enzyme regulation
Stoker- Ch.10
Mar. 21
NO CLASSES
Mar. 23
SPRING BREAK
Mar. 28
Nucleic acids
Stoker-Ch. 11
Mar. 30
SECOND EXAMINATION
Apr. 4
Nucleic acids: structures of RNA and DNA
Stoker- Ch.11
Manual p. A13-28
Apr. 6
Synthesis of nucleic acids
Stoker- Ch.11
Apr. 11
Biochemical energy conversions: metabolic pathways
Stoker- Ch.12
Apr. 13
Easter Break
Apr. 18
Energy Conversions in the cell
Stoker-Ch. 12
Apr. 20
Carbohydrate: digestion and absorption
Stoker-Ch. 13
Apr. 25
Cell Structure
Wolfe (On Reserve)
Apr. 27
Cell Structure
Wolfe
May 2
Cell Structure
Wolfe
May 4
Cell Structure
Wolfe
May 9
Class presentations
May 11
Class presentations
May 14-17 FINAL
EXAMINATIONS
LABORATORY SCHEDULE
Feb. 1 Lab sign-in and an introduction to basic analytical techniques
Feb. 8 Testing for sugars, identification of sugars present in fruit juices using thin layer chromotography
Feb. 15 Separation of sugars in germinating seeds and spectrophotometric deter- mination of glucose
Feb. 22 Determination of lipid saturation and separating lipid components of a biological membrane
Mar. 1 Spectrophotometric analysis for cholesterol and the isolation and identification of lipids in grains
Mar. 8 Color tests for amino acids
and proteins
Construction of an amino acid map using two dimensional TLC
Partial sequencing of cytochrome-C with carboxypeptidase A (Week 1)
Mar. 15 Spring Break
Mar. 22 Partial sequencing of cytochrome-C
with carboxypeptidase A (Week 2)
Estimation of protein molecular weight using SDS agarose electrophoresis
Mar. 29 Detection and separation of isoenzymes
Measurement of serum proteins using spectrophotometric analysis
Apr. 5 Alkaline phosphatase project (Week 1)
Apr. 12 Alkaline phosphatase project (Week 2)
Apr. 19 Isolation and measurement of bacterial DNA
Apr. 26 Restriction analysis of lambda phage
May 3 Isolation and measurement of RNA from yeast
May 10 Examination of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
May 17 FINAL EXAM WEEK
ASSIGNMENTS
Laboratory Write-ups
Research Projects
OTHER WEB-SITES
Functional
Groups #1
Functional
Groups #2