PROTEINS, ENZYMES and COENZYMES
Chemistry of living tissues.Role and properties of water in biological processes.Hydrogen bond and other secondary interactions. Protein-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.Pyruvatefermentation.Fate of pyruvate under aerobic conditions.Thephosphogluconatepathway.Gluconeogenesis.Degradative metabolism of disaccharides and polysaccharides (starch and glicogen).Glicogenbiosynthesis.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