KE7001 Biochemistry Lectures

Regulation: Enzymes and hemoglobin

Reading material: Stryer, Chapter 10

Abstract: Although it may not always feel like it, life, at least at the fundamental level, is not chaotic, but instead a highly coordinated and integrated set of processes. Coordination and integration is accomplished in several ways, e.g. by compartmentalisation, by specialisation of tissues and organs, and by regulation of metabolic pathways. Metabolic pathways are regulated in several ways. Some enzymes, e.g. pepsin and the pancreatic serine proteases which cleave proteins in the food, are synthesized as inactive precursors which are activated by proteolysis. Many key enzymes in metabolism are allosterically regulated, often through feed-back inhibition. Phosphorylation of enzymes is a general way to regulate their activity.

Links:
Stryer: Cooperative Binding and Kinetics (Conceptual insight)
Stryer: Chapter 10 Living figures (Use Netscape/Chime)

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