GS030013  Structure and Function of Biological Macromolecules

Brennan, Richard. Three semester hours. Spring, even-numbered years. Prerequisites: organic chemistry (one year), undergraduate biochemistry (one semester, but one year strongly recommended) or graduate-level biochemistry course (one semester), physical chemistry (one semester strongly recommended) or consent of the instructor.

Structure and Function of Biological Macromolecules provides an in-depth examination of the chemistry, structure and function of biological macromolecules with an emphasis on proteins, nucleic acids and their complexes. Specific topics that will be covered include: the structures and chemical properties of proteins and their amino acid building blocks, post-transcriptional modifications of proteins, structures and chemical properties of DNA and RNA, DNA interaction with small molecules, protein-nucleic acid interaction with emphasis on transcription regulation, post-transcriptional regulation, the structural basis for epigenetics, catalysis and its regulation, the structural and biochemical underpinnings of signal transduction, membrane proteins and proteins involved in immunity. Furthermore, graduate students will be introduced to the two major approaches utilized to determine the structure of proteins, nucleic acids and their complexes at atomic resolution.