Week 1 - Intro to Basic Chemistry

Outline : 

Outline Different Types of Cells Sizes of Cells, Organelles, and Proteins Biologically Important Atoms Covalent Bonds Amino Acids and Proteins X-ray Crystallography

Prokaryotic Cells : 

Prokaryotic Cells Cells that lack a membrane-enclosed nucleus Ribosomes are cytoplasmic particles that function in protein synthesis How small is a bacterium? You could place 500 bacteria, each 10,000 Å, end-to-end across the period at the end of this sentence. 10,000 - 50,000 Å (1 Å = 10-10 meters)

Eukaryotic Cells : 

Eukaryotic Cells They are generally larger than prokaryotic cells A major feature is the presence of a membrane-enclosed nucleus The nucleus contains most of the cell’s genetic information 500,000 Å (1 Å = 10-10 meters)

Relative Sizes of Molecules : 

Relative Sizes of Molecules Height of a first grader - 10,000,000,000 Å Diameter of a eukaryotic cell - ~500,000 Å Diameter of a bacterium - ~50,000 Å Diameter of a virus - ~500 Å Diameter of a ribosome - ~200 Å Typical diameter of a protein - ~50 Å Thickness of a cell membrane - ~40 Å Carbon-carbon single bond length - 1.54 Å

Slide 5: 

The most important atoms in biological systems are: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur

Slide 6: 

The Structures of Atoms Found in Organisms

Slide 7: 

H C N O P S 2 oxygens gives O2, molecular oxygen that we breathe 1 oxygen and 1 carbon gives CO, carbon monoxide, a highly toxic gas

Slide 8: 

Different Types of Covalent Bonds the shared electrons glue the atoms together

Slide 11: 

Basic Structure of An Amino Acid

Slide 13: 

Proteins Are Polymers of Amino Acids some proteins in your body have the same amino acid sequence as those found in the chimpanzee polypeptide chain

Slide 14: 

Light Microscope

Slide 17: 

Examples of Protein Crystals

History of X-ray Crystallography : 

History of X-ray Crystallography 1895: W. C. Roentgen discovered X-rays 1913: Structure of table salt (NaCl) was solved 1949-57 Dorothy Hodgkin solved the structures of penicillin and vitamin B-12 (Nobel Prize in 1964) 1958 First protein structure was solved - myoglobin - John Kendrew 1959 Structure of hemoglobin was solved - Max Perutz 1962 John Kendrew and Max Perutz won the Nobel Prize

History of Hemoglobin : 

History of Hemoglobin Crystals of hemoglobin were first discovered in 1849 when they were found six hours after the death of a guinea pig. Max Perutz (1914-2002) solved the structure of hemoglobin in 1960 at the MRC in Cambridge, England (published in Nature). It took 25 years! There are now 387 structures of hemoglobin solved. There are now 42082 protein structures deposited in the PDB.

Slide 21: 

First Structure of Hemoglobin

Slide 22: 

Space-filling Representation of Hemoglobin

Slide 23: 

Stick Representation of Hemoglobin

Slide 24: 

Ribbon Representation of Hemoglobin

Summary : 

Summary Talked about biologically relevant atoms and how they come together to form bonds Talked about proteins - they are made up of building blocks called amino acids - they are polymers X-ray crystallography - a way to see what molecules look like in three-dimensions