Unit 1- Protein structure and function-understanding the chemical basis of life
1.1 Water and Proteins
Objectives/ Outcomes
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Understand water as a molecule, solvent and reactant in living systems.
Review acid/base chemistry, colligative properties and intermolecular forces with water as the solvent.
Recognize how the chemical properties of amino acids dictate structure of proteins.
Predict how to separate and characterize proteins based on charge and size.
Learn the language (vocabulary) of biochemistry in these chapters.
Prepare
Chapter 1 (pg. 1-36)
• What are the key factors used to define life?
• Recognize and understand the functions of basic cellular organizations structures.
• Be able to recognize and identify key functional groups used in biochemistry.
• Evolutionary similarity phylogeny of the three domains of life.
• What are the classifications used to define cell types based on their energy and carbon sources?
Chapter 2 (pg. 43-64)
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How does the molecular structure of water contribute to the properties of water? What about other
biomolecules, how are they similar or different?
What causes molecules to be in stable confirmations or to aggregate?
Aqueous solutions are greatly influenced by the concentration of solutes (osmolarity).
Ionization of water, weak acids and bases.
pH and pKa, titration curves
Buffers— composition and characteristics (Henderson-Hasselbalch)
Water as a reactant and product
Explain drug pH partition hypothesis
Chapter 3 (pg 70-100)
• Memorize the names, structures, symbols, and pKR values for the 20 amino acids shown on pages 73,
75.
• What are the structural and chemical characteristics of amino acids? Which are the same and which are
different among the amino acids?
• What is “pI” and what does it tell us about the charge of a protein as a function of pH?
• At pH 7 what are the five classifications of amino acids?
• What effect does chemical environment have on the pKa of an ionizable functional group?
• Identify examples of chemical modifications seen in some amino acids and why they are needed.
• How are peptides or proteins made?
• Draw the structure of a tripeptide with your three favorite amino acids.
• What is a conjugated protein?
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Unit 1- Protein structure and function-understanding the chemical basis of life
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How are proteins removed from a cell?
List methods of separating proteins for isolation and characterization.
Describe the process of separating proteins by chromatography or electrophoresis.
Describe how proteins can be detected quantified without being purified.
Explain different methods of how a peptide can be sequenced.
Protein primary structure, what is it, how is it determined and what can we do with this information?
Additional aids: See Buffers and Amino Acids in the “Study Guide” section
(Ponder) Concept mastery check
Chapter 1: 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12
Chapter 2: 10, 12 - 16
Read Papers on Drug Absorption Part 1 and Part 2
Chapter 3: 5, 6, 10, 13, 14- 16, 18, 25 (a)
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