Interesting Biochemistry Website

http://biochemsys.com/

This website designs environmentally save products using biochemistry. I think this website is interesting because now a days everyone is trying to be more green and what better way than using environmentally friendly products using the same ideas we learn in biochemistry
They manufacture anything from graffiti erasers to brake cleaner. A lot of their products are non-toxic and some are biodegradable. I think if anyone is interested in being green and having a healthier environment they should look up this website. One of the things that I liked most about this website is that they supply Material safety data sheets (MSDS) for all their products so one can know exactly what they are getting.

What knowledge have you connected to past knowledge?

I have made a lot of connections from other classes to biochemistry. I feel I have learned a lot of the material in microbiology. The discussions about the cells and what the organelles do, have all been discussed during microbiology. I feel that microbiology gave me a better way to visualize the scale at which proteins and enzymes work at.
I feel a lot of the genetic make up and amino acid sequences and structures of proteins was all discussed in genetics. Genetics talked a lot about the function and roles of the processes that we are discussing. I have pulled a lot of knowledge from biology too when talking about the cells and how the earth came to be with just the elements. I feel knowledge from chemistry plays a role especially in the log base equations and pHs and Pka’s. Biochemistry truly is a diverse class, which is able to bring in so much knowledge from other scientific fields that one can build on.

Protein as Enzyme 1NPF

The protein that I found is 1NPF myoglobin in the horse heart. My protein clearly has a primary structure because it has an amino acid sequence. My protein has other multiple structures too. All protiens have secondary structure, 1NPF has 6 alpha sheets. It has tertiary structure because it has 3D shape and folds and it twists. It has no quaternary structure because my protein is lacking multiple subunits.
My protein was isolated from equus caballus. This protein is a myoglobin protein used to store oxygen. This protein would be useful in research because its function is already known. Also it plays an important role by storing oxygen so if the scientists needed to research how proteins can store oxygen this is one they could use. In this particular study 1NPF was used to help look at another proteins function. “To the best of our knowledge, the crystal structure of hh Mb(EtNO) is the first such determination of a nitrosoalkane adduct of a heme protein (Copeland DM).” This protein can be useful in finding the function of this other protein so in a research setting one could use this protein with a known function to find out the function of another protein.


Works Cited:
Reference:
Copeland DM, West AH, Richter-Addo GBCrystal structures of ferrous horse heart myoglobin complexed with nitric oxide and nitrosoethaneProteins v53, p.182-192
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/mmdb/mmdbsrv.cgi?Dopt=s&uid=25253&log$=seqview_protein_structuread_title

What is Biochemistry and how does it differ from the fields of genetics, biology,chemistry and molecular biology?

There are a lot of similarities and differences between biology, chemistry, molecular biology and biochemistry. I feel biochemistry sums up all of these scientific fields. When I think biology, I think the study of living organisms and where they live, how they began. In chemistry I think of elements and their reactions and properties. Molecular biology I think about molecular reactions and structures and DNA.
Biochemistry is a mixture of all fields. Biochemistry is a mixture of all fields. Biochemistry is the study of chemical reactions and structures in living organisms. Biochemistry has to do with amino acids, proteins, fatty acids etc.
I think that it is different because biochemistry is a broader field. It encompasses all of the fields. It doesn’t just focus on structure and chemical reactions. I feel that the other fields are very specific and defined and I feel biochemistry is not specific.