Course

Concepts of Organic Chemistry- Principles of Chemical Bonding, Structure and Properties of water, Acids and Bases, Buffers; Mechanism of Organic Reactions: Chemistry of carbonyl compounds, Oxidation-Reduction reactions, Keto-enol Tautomerism, important functional groups in biochemistry, general types of reactions in  biochemistry.  Non-covalent interactions-  Carbohydrates: Introduction, Sources, Classification. Reactions of carbohydrates, Isomerism of carbohydrates, Fischer projections, Haworth structures. Structure and functions of sugars, homo and heteropolysaccharides, glycoconjugates: Lipids-Introduction, sources, Nomenclature, Classification. Properties & Functions.  Steroids: Structure of steroid nucleus, biological role of cholesterol, fat soluble vitamins : Amino Acids and Proteins- Introduction, Classification optical isomerism, chemical properties, Acid-base properties- Levels of protein structure (Ramachandran plot. Denaturation of proteins.  Carbohydrate –protein covalent linkages, Membrane transport proteins. Enzymes, Kinetics, MM plot and LB plot. Brief discussion on post-translational modifications: Nucleic Acids-Purines & Pyrimidinesnucleotides, RNA, & DNA base pairing schemes, types of RNA: mRNA, rRNA , tRNA,.aminoacyl tRNA synthetase, Secondary structure of DNA, Watson and Crick model.  Denaturation of DNA keto-enol tautomerism and consequences: .Bioenergetics-. Thermodynamics –, Gibbs free energy, endergonic & exergonic reactions. Standard state free energy changes-DG, DG⁰ and DG^’0, Importance of Coupled reactions, High energy compounds, simple problems: Carbohydrate Metabolism-Introduction, Aerobic and anaerobic pathways: Glycolysis and its regulation, Gluconeogenesis and its regulation.TCA cycle – Regulation, Glyoxylate cycle, amphibolic & anaplerotic reactions. Electron Transport chain, Oxidative phosphorylation, & production of ATP, Inhibitors of ETC and ATP synthesis, balance sheet of glucose oxidation, Oxidative stress.,  Pentose phosphate pathway (HMP shunt) & its regulation, Glycogen metabolism and regulation, Photosynthesis – ‘light’ and ‘dark’ reactions: Light reaction- structure of chlorophyll, Light harvesting complexes (LHC’s) Photosystems PSI & II; Mechanism of energy production, photophosphorylation, ancillary pigments. Dark reaction and regulation Calvin cycle, stoichiometry of carbon cycle, C4-pathway, efficiency of photosynthesis. : Lipid Metabolism- Biodegradation of fatty acids, beta – oxidations of saturated & unsaturated fatty acids. Ketone bodies, production during starving and diabetes Biosynthesis of fatty acids – Acetyl-CoA carboxylase reaction, Fatty acid synthase complex, biosynthesis of palmitate, energetics, Regulation of fatty acid biosynthesis. Biosynthesis of triacylglycerols, Biosynthesis of cholesterol, regulation. Prostaglandins and thromboxanes: Amino Acid/ Nucleic Acid Metabolism- Overview of amino acid metabolism, fate of NH₄⁺ and carbon skeleton. Urea cycle and regulation. Biodegradation of amino acids – deamination, transamination, decarboxylation, urea cycle including its regulation. Biosynthesis of amino acids, Disorders of amino acid metabolism, Metabolism of aromatic amino acids, His, Cys, Ser. Biologically active amines. Denovo and salvage pathways for purine synthesis.  Recycling of Purine and Pyrimidine nucleotides by salvage pathways. Lesch-Nyhan syndrome & Gout.

1. Lehninger, Nelson and Cox, Principles of Biochemistry, 4th Edition, W.H.Freeman & Company, 2006.
2. Voet & Voet, Fundamentals of Biochemistry, 4th Edition, Wiley, 2012.
3. Garret and Grisham, Biochemistry – 4^th Edition, Mary Finch, 2012