Biology for Chemists

Origin of life: Prokaryotes and eukaryotes, difference between plant and animal cell, hierarchy of molecular organization of living systems, a brief concept of cell organelles and their functions- nucleus, plasma membrane, chloroplast, Golgi bodies, endoplasmic reticulum, lysosomes, ribosomes and mitochondria, ATP synthesis, substrate level phosphorylation like glycolysis and Kreb’s cycle and oxidative level phosphorylation.

Introduction, classification, optical isomerism, chemical properties, acid-base properties- peptide bond formation and properties, protein structure- primary, secondary, tertiary & quaternary structures, denaturation of proteins, Ramachandran plot, determination of primary structure - sequencing strategies, N-terminal and C-terminal sequencing, synthesis of amino acids by reductive amination, GS-GOGAT system and transamination.

Enzymes: Introduction, classification of enzymes, mechanism of enzyme action, enzyme kinetics, Michaelis – Menten equation and enzyme inhibition.       

Classification, structure and functions of monosaccharides, disaccharides, polysaccharides-starch, cellulose, glycogen, chitin and pectin, glycoconjugates, proteoglycans, glycoproteins and glycolipids

Structure, sources, nomenclature and functions of lipids, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, classification- simple, compound and derived lipids (steroids and cholesterol), synthesis of long chain fatty acids, α-oxidation, β-oxidation.

Purines and Pyrimidines: Structures of purine and pyrimidine bases, nucleosides and nucleotides.

DNA, Double helical structure of DNA(Watson and Crick model) , types of DNA, A, B, C and Z forms, replication.

RNA, RNA structure and its types- rRNA, mRNA, and tRNA, ribozymes, differences between DNA & RNA