In the first section of this page, you will write a daily summary of that day's class.  For example in  your chapter 2 blog, your first entry should be titled 9/3/10.  You should then write a one or two paragraph summary of that day's lecture, outlining the major points.  In the second section, you are required to add two items (link to a website, video, animation, student-created slide show, student-created PowerPoint presentation) and one journal article pertaining to a topic in this chapter.  A one-paragraph summary must accompany each item describing the main idea and how it applies to the lecture topic.  Please see the PBWorks help guide for assistance embedding video and other items directly in the page.  I will also produce a how-to video on using tables to wrap text around items and other useful tips.  Please see the syllabus for organization and grading details.

A.  Daily Blog

10/20/10

Cellular respiration is my favorite topic!!!!!!!! ATP, carbohydrate, fats, proteins, electrons, and gradients store potential energy. Energy starts with nutrients and gets transfered to electrons, then gradients, and eventually the outcome is ATP. The energy in glucose is store in carbon-hydrogen covalent bonds. The 2nd law of thermodynamics is broken because glycolysis, acetyl coA production, and the citric acid cycle conserve energy. Substrate-level phosphorylation yields net 4 ATP. Diffusion of H+ creates the energy needed for ATP synthesis. Yay for gradients! I use them in Photoshop sometimes! Oxidation is the removal of electrons and reduction is the gaining of electrons. This is important because as electrons move, so does energy. Oxidation is an exergonic process and reduction is an endergonic process. Glucose gets oxidized into 6CO2. Cellular respiration is the process by which living cells obtain energy from organic molecules. Aerobic respiration respiration uses oxygen, which attract electrons and oxidizes things. Glycolysis doesn't require oxygen 'cause it's cool like that; however, it doesn't exactly care if it's there or not. Gyloclysis is nearly identical in all living species. First comes energy investment, then cleavage, then energy liberation. Phosphate from ATP is added to the 6th carbon in glucose. Isomerase changes glucose into fructose. Glucose is more stable, and as ATP is invested and potential energy increases, Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is so unstable that it starts another reaction. Then that molecule gets broken down into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate 'cause it was cleaved. 10 points for the longest blog ever!!!!!!!!

10/22/10

Kinase is a really important enzyme because they transfer energy, and energy is mad important! After glycolysis, if oxygen is present, pyruvate goes to the mitochondria. However, if no oxygen is present, pyruvate can either go into fermentation in the cytoplasm, or it can go through anaerobic respiration in the mitochondria (some bacteria can do this). Pyruvate dehydrogenase takes away a hydrogen/electron from pyruvate, which oxidizes it. It gives the electron/hydrogen to NAD+, reducing it to NADH. NADH has lots of potential energy. Citrate synthetase is an enzyme that synthesizes Citrate. Decarboxylation is when a carboxyl group is leaving. 

2 ATP and 2 NADH from glycolysis in the cytoplasm. 8 NADH and 2 ATP and 2 FADH2 in the mitochondria from the citric acid cycle. 

10/27/10

ATP is the preferred form of energy for cell processes.We get the most ATP from the Electron Transport Chain. The ETC is a series of transmembrane proteins embedded in the inner membrane of the mitochondria. The membrane is folded to allow for more surface area, thus being able to have more room for proteins. The first protein is NADH dehydrogenase. Electrons are added to it, and then goes to cytochrome. Basically it keeps oxidizing and reducing stuff. Lots of stuff I don't feel like typing. The reason for so many steps is to save the potential energy and minimizing the loss of energy as heat. It ends with oxygen being reduced to water. The overall reaction is exergonic. The energy from these steps are used for the active transport of H+. They are proton pumps! ATP synthase synthesizes ATP. Who knew? H+ ions go back into the matrix via facilitated diffusion, and ATP synthase is the protein it uses. It's like a gumball machine! You put H+ in, ATP synthase rotates, and out comes ATP. Wowza. 28-34 ATP result.

Without oxygen, it's anaerobic respiration. You can't do the ETC or the Citric Acid Cycle, so you can only do glycolysis. Cyanide also "suffocates" people. "You mess with the chain, you mess with energy flow in the cell" - Dr. Weber.

10/29/10

10 points for scaring Dr. Weber today.

Cancer cells prefer glycolysis. There can be life without oxygen. Some bacteria will die with oxygen. Oxidants are incompletely reduced O2 species. They can cause damage to our cells. We have enzymes, such as catalase, to help help with this.

In fermentation, pyruvate is reduced to lactate. Those electrons come from NADH, so it's now NAD+. NAD+ can then be used by glycolysis, which is the only part of cellular respiration that can go on under anaerobic respiration. This happens in muscle cells, fungi, and bacteria.

Lactic acid? No me gusta. We should all never run! Ever!

B.  Useful Materials