sp07 FINAL second exam notes - Paul A Price BIOCHEMISTRY...

Paul A. Price
BIOCHEMISTRY 102 SECOND EXAM NOTES May 11, 2007 final
The second exam will cover problem sets 4 through 6 and the lecture material which corresponds to these
problem sets. The following list gives you a specific description of the areas which will be covered in this exam
and the types of problems to expect. The second exam from spring 2004 is on the website. Please use the
required reading in the text to better understand the material covered in lecture and to obtain the necessary
background information for the solution of problems. No examination question will deal with information
presented in the text but not in lecture, notes to exam, or a problem set. Note: the only significant change
from the May 3, 2007 draft is in item 10.
1 . Some problems from problem sets #4-6, or slight variations on these problems, will be on the exam.
2 . Know the sequence of reactions, the structure and name of each molecule, and the use of ATP, NAD
+
,
NADH, FAD, FMN, biotin, TPP, etc., or their equivalents, for the following pathways. You need not memorize
the reaction mechanisms or the structure of enzyme bound intermediates, except as noted below. You also need
not memorize the name of each enzyme, but you should be able to identify the reaction if given the name of the
enzyme.
(a) Citric acid cycle + pyruvate dehydrogenase (handout 8) .
(b) The conversion of pyruvate to oxaloacetate by pyruvate carboxylase.
(c) Oxidation of saturated fatty acids such as palmitate in a typical cell starting with the formation of fatty Acyl
CoA in the cytosol, entry into the matrix via the carnitine shuttle, and ending with (for palmitate) 8 acetyl CoA
molecules in the mitochondria (handouts 14 and 15) . (Note: you don't need to memorize the structure of
carnitine itself--just use a box with an OH group attached to it, as I did in lecture). Know the point of entry in
electron transport of the NADH and FADH
2
generated in FAO and the expected ATP production from each.
You do not need to know the additional enzymatic reactions which are required for the complete oxidation of
unsaturated fatty acids, but you should know that there will be one less FADH
2
generated in FAO for each C =
C double bond. You do not need to know the detailed enzymatic reactions necessary to oxidize odd chain fatty
acids, but you should know that such fatty acids are synthesized only in some marine organisms and plants, and
that sequential cycles of FAO result in propionyl CoA which is converted into succinyl CoA in three enzymatic
steps, the first of which requires biotin and the last vitamin B12. Know the structure of triacylglycerol, the
enzymatic step which releases free fatty acids from triacylglycerols in adipose tissue (lipase), and the form in
which free fatty acids are transported in blood to user tissues (complexed to albumin).