Course Director:
Arthur L. Haas, Ph.D.
ahaas@lshsc.edu

1. The sun is the ultimate source of energy for life on earth.
2. All forms of life are constructed from fundamental units called cells.
3. Cells obey the laws of chemistry and physics.
4. Biochemical reactions are catalyzed by enzymes.
5. Enzymes are protein catalysts; ribozymes are RNA catalysts.
6. The primary structure of a protein governs its secondary, tertiary structure, and quaternary structure.
7. Biomolecules which interact have complementary structures.
8. Enzymes may be regulated by non-covalent or allosteric agents and by covalent modification, for example, phosphorylation.
9. Metabolic regulation and molecules with regulatory activities (allosteric effectors) follow a pattern that makes physiological sense (the molecular logic of the cell).
10. ATP is the common currency of energy exchange in all forms of life (Lipmann's law).
11. Cells maintain an energy charge of about 0.85.
12. A proton motive force across a membrane furnishes the energy for ATP synthesis by respiratory chain phosphorylation.
13. ATP hydrolysis provides energy for establishing ion gradients (primary active transport) and ion gradients provide energy for metabolite transport (secondary active transport).
14. The generation of inorganic pyrophosphate and its subsequent hydrolysis catalyzed by pyrophosphatase serves to pull biochemical reactions forward.
    
15. The final common pathway in oxidative metabolism is the Krebs citric acid cycle.
16. NADH is the hydrogen carrier in most energy-generating catabolic processes; NADPH is the hydrogen carrier or reductant in most anabolic processes.
17. Activated monomers are the precursors for condensation and polymerization reactions.
18. Biochemical pathways are exergonic and proceed with the liberation of free energy.
19. The pathway for the biosynthesis of a biochemical compound differs from its degradation.
20. Various forms of life are continually giving rise to slightly different forms, some of which are adapted to multiply more effectively.
21. A single gene codes for one enzyme or polypeptide.
22. DNA is the molecule of heredity. In some viruses, RNA performs this function.
23. DNA forms an antiparallel double helix with Watson-Crick base pairing (A with T; G with C). U (found in RNA in place of T) forms a complementary base pair with A.
24. DNA biosynthesis is semiconservative.
25. The flow of information in biological systems is from DNA to DNA and from DNA to RNA to protein; in some cases, information flows from RNA to DNA.
26. The genetic code is triplet in nature (a sequence of three nucleotides encodes one amino acid) and mRNA is read in the 5' to 3' direction.
27. The genetic code is (almost) universal.
28. Complementary nucleic acid base pairing is antiparallel in nature.
29. Nucleic acid elongation reactions proceed in the 5' to 3' direction; amino acid elongation reactions in protein synthesis proceed from the amino to carboxyl terminus.
30. Eukaryotes possess interrupted genes. Intervening sequences in RNA are removed by splicing reactions.

The scientific mind does not so much provide the right answers as ask the right questions. --Claude Levi-Strauss