Polymerization – a caveat to Condensation

I remember that I did not make the point that a condensation reaction requires the production of a small molecule and that the molecule doesn’t have to be water.  In the case of nucleic acid polymerization, inorganic pyrophosphate, or PPi (the beta and gamma phosphates from the triphosphate precursor), is produced as the NMP is incorporated into the nascent chain.

Check out this transcription video but take care to note that this is a cartoon and the authors chose to show DNA as a tube rather than a double helix that gets separated in a transcription bubble as the polymerase proceeds.

The Scientific Method: Inductive and Deductive

Check out this brief summary of the scientific method and what goes into it.

Brief Summary #2.

Brief Summary #3.

Biology Movies rated A

Check out DNAtube!

Bacteria cytoskeleton

Yes, Virginia. There is a bacterial cytoskeleton.

Lipid Metabolism: tough but fun

I was asked in class today about lipid metabolism and I shined the answer because I didn’t want to get into all the ins and outs and whathaveyous, but this forum will give me the chance to address it in a more manageable manner.

Fatty Acid Biosynthesis

This page is from a faculty member of the Indiana University’s School of medicine and in it he describes lipid biosynthesis pretty well. Scroll down to the matrix-cytosol figure and you’ll get an appreciation of the intricate network involved in this biology.

Another good source of information is here.

Simply put, it’s not trivial; it occurs in the cytoplasm, in/adjacent to the mitochondria, and also at the ER.
We’ll delve much more deeper into the biology when we discuss coupled metabolic pathways.

CH385 Lessons 1 and 2

The heart of this 2-class block is learning some of the terminology to distinguish between the major classes of cells. We have Prokaryotes (eubacteria and archae) and Eukaryotes (protozoans, or single-cell euks and metazoans, or multi-cellular euks).