Biochemistry Lecture: Unit 16 Amino-acid, nitrogen and nucleotide metabolism

The course was built based on Biochemistry courses of MIT, Harvard, and Stanford MIT: 7.05 Harvard: MCB 63 Stanford: BIO 83 The course covers the content of a two-semester undergraduate biochemistry sequence. It is built from the topics taught in: MIT 7.05 General Biochemistry and 5.07 Introduction to Biological Chemistry; Harvard MCB 63 Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine and MCB 65 Physical Biochemistry; Stanford CHEM 141/143 The Chemical Principles of Life I & II, BIO 83 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and CHEM 181 Biochemistry I. The big idea Amino acids supply nitrogen for building molecules and can also be burned for energy. Spare nitrogen is toxic as ammonia, so the liver converts it into urea. Nucleotides are built from scratch or recycled — and these building pathways are major targets for cancer drugs. By the end of this unit, I can… ☐ explain transamination (vitamin B6 / PLP) and release of ammonia by glutamate dehydrogenase ☐ outline the urea cycle and explain why ammonia is dangerous ☐ sort amino acids into glucogenic and ketogenic ☐ describe nucleotide synthesis and how methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil and hydroxyurea stop DNA synthesis