Carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, and proteins

Another biochemistry post that will probably end up looking like a Table of Contents for CHEM1004/SCIE1106... enjoy :P

Recognise carbohydrates and derivatives.

• Carbohydrates- Structure, Chemistry and Biological Function
• Carbohydrates- Biologically Important Monosaccharides and Disaccharides

Recognise the structure and roles of glycerol, fatty acids, triacylglycerols, phospholipids and steroids.

• Lipids- Chemistry of Fatty Acids and Lipids

Recognise that AA have chemical classifications, and know the basic and acidic AA names. Understand that AA are zwitterions and be able to draw their structure at different pHs.

• Amino Acids

Just in case you can't be bothered digging through the above post, the basic amino acids are arginine, histidine, and lysine, and the acidic amino acids are aspartic acid and glutamic acid.

I don't think we need to be able to draw the entire amino acid, but we do need to know which parts become protonated or deprotonated at different pHs, and what the resulting overall charge is. As the pH gets lower, the concentration of hydrogen ions increases, so more hydrogen ions bind to amino acids, resulting in -COOH and -NH₃⁺, so an overall positive charge on the amino acid. The inverse is true for an increase in pH (fewer hydrogen ions, so you get -COO^- and -NH₂, with an overall negative charge).

Be able to draw and label components of peptides, and know levels of protein structure hierarchy, including bonds and structures therein.

• Proteins- Levels of Structure

Define prosthetic groups, simple, conjugated, fibrous, globular, native and denatured proteins.

• Simple protein- A protein that is just made up of a chain of amino acids.
• Conjugated protein- A protein that has additional components, such as iron ions, as well as the chain of amino acids.
• Prosthetic groups- The components of a conjugated protein other than the amino acids.
• Fibrous protein- A protein that exists in a long rod- or wire-like structure.
• Globular protein- A protein that exists in a ball-ish shape, usually with hydrophobic residues on the inside and hydrophilic residues on the outside.
• Native protein- A fully-formed protein that is stabilised by its secondary and tertiary (and sometimes quaternary) structures.
• Denatured protein- A protein that has had its shape altered and is now unable to perform its usual function.

Know the general functions of proteins. Understand that proteins bind ligands.

• Protein Function

Just to be clear- the above linked post mentioned that proteins bind other molecules, but did not say what those molecules were called. Well, they're called ligands. You're welcome.