Learning Outcomes for Biochemistry II, CH462/562, senior level terminal undergraduate course cotaught with first year graduate curriculum for biochemistry majors.
1. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to recognize how fundamental chemical
principles and reactions are utilized in biochemical processes. They should recognize how biochemical
reactions are not special, but follow fundamental chemical principles to achieve viability. As an
example, in the study of the electron transport chain, the complex oxidation-reduction reactions still
follow the fundamental guidance of thermodynamics for spontaneous chemical reactions. This is a high
level skill that requires the ability to integrate prior chemical knowledge with the complex reactions
within the living cell.
2. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to judge whether a proposed or hypothetical
reaction is consistent with the general framework of catabolic and anabolic metabolism. To give one
example, it has been proposed that beta oxidation of fatty acids can still proceed in anaerobic (oxygenfree) cells. Is this possible or consistent with the catabolism of fatty acids? Deciding such issues is a high
level skill that requires a firm and fundamental understanding of the limits or possibilities of metabolic
biochemical reactions.
3. Upon completion of chapters 17(Fatty Acid Catabolism) and 18 (Amino Acid Oxidation and the
Production of Urea), students should recognize how common foodstuffs are turned into metabolic
energy and will be able to predict the energy content and value of different classes of chemical
compounds. For example, the student should be able to predict the relative merits of a high protein
diet versus a high carbohydrate diet. This is a mid-level skill that will require building a knowledge base
and then applying fundamental chemical principles to see how the reactions fit together in a coherent
scheme.
4. Upon completion of chapter 19 (Electron Transfer and Oxidative Phosphorylation) students should be
able to calculate the energy yield from the catabolism of any compound. For example, how many
calories or joules of energy are available to a cell from the complete catabolism of the fatty acid palmitic
acid. This is a mid-level skill that will require application of the energy balance of oxidative
phosphorylation with the determination of the correct amount of NADH and FADH2 fed into the
electron transport chain.
5. Upon completion of chapters 24 (Genes and Chromosomes), 25 (DNA Metabolism), 26 (RNA
Metabolism), 27 (Protein Metabolism), and 28 (Regulation of Gene Expression) students should
understand the three-cornered central paradigm of biochemistry: replication/transcription/translation.
For example, how and why the nucleotide triplets of DNA and RNA are ultimately decoded into the
amino acid sequence of proteins. This is a low level skill that just requires learning some basic facts, that
can become a mid- to high level skill depending on the details of the processes.
6. Upon completion of chapter 23 (Hormones) students should recognize the general principles of how
chemical signals present in trace amounts are signals that are amplified into whole organism responses.
Key characteristics of hormones, such as short duration, will be stressed. This is a mid-level skill that is
generally of high interest to students because it makes so many connections with real every day events
that people experience. Why does adrenaline make us breathe deeper and elevate our heartbeats?
Why and how do heroin and morphine affect our brains? What do exogenous steroids do to the body?
7. Upon completion of chapter 22 (Biosynthesis of Amino Acids, Nucleotides, and Related Molecules)
students should be able to reconstruct the anabolism of the essential building blocks of life. For
example, why are some amino acids essential for mammals (must be ingested) while others can be
made within the body? This is a mid-level skill that requires the student to see the fundamental
common reaction threads in a complex body of chemical transformations.
8. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to use their factual background knowledge in
biochemistry to understand and to duplicate the reasoning that led to key advancements in
biochemistry. Given a set of parameters and a level of background knowledge, they will be expected to
design and/or interpret new experiments to reveal information on biochemical systems. They will be
expected to reproduce the analysis of key historical biochemical experiments. Wsdhen challenged with
new hypothetical situations, they will design experiments and provide an interpretation of expected
results. This is a very high level skill.