PROTEINS, ENZYMES and COENZYMES
Chemistry of living tissues. Role and properties of water in biological processes. Hydrogen bond and other secondary interactions. The weak interactions and their role in biomolecules. Ionization of protein amino acids, proteins and nucleotides. Buffers and their use in pratical biochemistry. -forming amino acids: structure and properties. Peptide bond: formation and geometry; structural organizations of proteins (primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary structures). Protein functions. Examples of structure/function relationships in globular (i.e: myoglobin and hemoglobin), fibrous (i.e: collagen, alfa- and beta-keratins) and membrane proteins.
Role and classification of enzymes. Vitamins and coenzymes. Enzyme kinetics and thermodynamics; Michaelis-Menten equation; significance and determination of kinetic parameters (Km, Vmax, Turnover Number). Enzyme regulation: basic principles. Structure and function of nucleotides.
METABOLISM
General aspects of metabolism: eso- and endoergonic reactions; high energy compounds; coupled reactions; catabolic and anabolic patways.
Carbohydrates. Structure and general properties of the principal carbohydrates. The glycolytic pathway. Pyruvate fermentation. Fate of pyruvate under aerobic conditions. The phosphogluconate pathway. Gluconeogenesis. Degradative metabolism of disaccharides and polysaccharides (starch and glicogen). Glicogen biosynthesis. Regulation of carbohydrate metabolism.
Lipids. Chemistry and metabolism of simple and complex lipids. Structure and properties of: fatty acids; triacyl-glicerols; membrane lipids. Catabolism of triacyl-glicerols: lipases and beta-oxidation of fatty acids. Metabolism of propionate and formation of ketone bodies.
Proteins. Protein degradation and protein turnover. Ubiquitin and proteasome complex. Proteolytic enzymes and protein digestion. Fate of amino acid alfa-amino groups and urea cycle. General aspects of amino acid catabolism; fate of aminoacid carbon atoms.
The generation of energy in the central metabolism: citric acid cycle, mitochondrial electron transport chain, oxidative phosphorylation and ATP synthesis.

VOET, VOET, PRATT: Fundamentals of Biochemistry
NELSON, COX: Lehninger principles of biochemistry