Kumi loves to eat, but she's worried that her passion for junk food is affecting her health. Determined to unlock the secrets of dieting, she enlists the help of her brainy friend Nemoto and his beautiful biochemistry professor, Dr. Kurosaka. And so it begins...Follow along in The Manga Guide to Biochemistry as Kumi explores the mysteries of her body's inner workings. With the help of RoboCat, the professor's friendly endoscopic robot, you'll soar through the incredible chemical machinery that keeps us alive and get an up-close look at biopolymers like DNA and proteins, the metabolic processes that turn our food into energy, and the enzymes that fuel our bodies' chemical reactions.As you dive into the depths of plant and animal cells, you'll learn about:The metabolism of substances like carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and alcohol How the energy powerhouses known as mitochondria produce ATP DNA transcription and the different types of RNA that work together to translate the genetic code into proteins Enzyme kinetics, how they're measured, and how enzyme inhibition works Whether you're a medical student, an amateur scientist, or just curious about how your body turns cupcakes into energy, The Manga Guide to Biochemistry is your key to understanding the science of life.
Author(s): Masaharu Takemura, Kikuyaro, Office Sawa
Series: Manga Guide
Edition: 1
Publisher: No Starch Press
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 276
Preface......Page 13
Prologue......Page 15
1. What Happens Inside Your Body?......Page 27
Cell Structure......Page 28
What are the components of a cell?......Page 30
What Happens Inside a Cell?......Page 32
Protein Synthesis......Page 33
Metabolism......Page 34
Energy Production......Page 36
Photosynthesis......Page 38
A Cell Is the Location of Many Chemical Reactions......Page 40
Biochemistry of Protein Synthesis......Page 41
Biochemistry of Metabolism......Page 43
Biochemistry of Energy Production......Page 44
Biochemistry of Photosynthesis......Page 46
Biopolymers......Page 50
Respiration......Page 51
Metabolism......Page 52
2. Photosynthesis and Respiration......Page 53
Ecosystems and the Biogeochemical Cycle......Page 54
What is the Biogeochemical Cycle?......Page 57
Carbon Cycle......Page 59
The Importance of Plants......Page 62
Chloroplast Structure......Page 63
Photosynthesis—The Photophosphorylation Reaction......Page 64
Photosynthesis—Carbon Dioxide Fixation......Page 71
What Is a Carbohydrate?......Page 74
Why do Monosaccharides Take a Cyclic Structure?......Page 77
Why Do We Need to Breathe?......Page 78
Respiration Is a Reaction That Breaks Down Glucose to Create Energy......Page 80
Stage 1: Glucose Decomposition by Glycolysis......Page 82
Stage 2: Citric acid Cycle (aka TCA Cycle)......Page 85
Stage 3: Mass Production of Energy by the Electron Transport Chain......Page 88
Conclusion......Page 93
ATP—The Common Currency of Energy......Page 96
Pyranose and Furanose......Page 97
D-form and L-form......Page 98
What Is CoA?......Page 99
3. Biochemistry in Our Everyday Lives......Page 101
What are Lipids?......Page 102
Fatty Acids......Page 109
Cholesterol Is a Type of Steroid......Page 111
Cholesterol’s Job......Page 112
Lipoproteins: Beyond Good and Evil......Page 114
What is Arteriosclerosis?......Page 117
Is Cholesterol Really Bad?......Page 119
Ingested and Expended Energy......Page 120
Animals Preserve Fat......Page 122
Excess Saccharides Become Fat!......Page 125
When Fat Is Used as An Energy Source......Page 132
Why Do You Gain Weight If You Overeat?......Page 137
Blood Type......Page 138
How is Blood Type Determined?......Page 139
What is Blood Type?......Page 143
What Types of Sugar Are In Fruit?......Page 144
Monosaccharides, Oligosaccharides, and Polysaccharides......Page 145
How Fruits Become Sweet......Page 147
Why Does Fruit Become Sweet?......Page 149
Differences Between Normal Rice and Mochi Rice......Page 150
The Difference Between Amylose and Amylopectin......Page 152
What Do the Numbers Mean in ?(1->4) and ?(1->6)?......Page 154
Why are Mochi Rice Cakes Springy?......Page 159
4. Enzymes Are the Keys to Chemical Reactions......Page 163
Enzymes and Proteins......Page 164
The Roles of Proteins......Page 165
What Is an Enzyme?......Page 167
Proteins are Formed from Amino Acids......Page 168
Primary Structure of a Protein......Page 172
Secondary Structure of a Protein......Page 173
Tertiary Structure of a Protein......Page 174
Quaternary Stucture of a Protein and Subunits......Page 175
Substrates and Enzymes......Page 176
Strict Enzyme? Relaxed Enzyme?......Page 178
Enzyme Classifications......Page 180
Transferases......Page 182
Glucosyltransferase Determines Blood Type......Page 183
Hydrolases......Page 186
Using Graphs to Understand Enzymes......Page 188
Why are Enzymes Important for Chemical Reactions?......Page 189
What Is Activation Energy?......Page 190
Enzymes Bring Down the "Wall"......Page 191
Maximum Reaction Rate......Page 192
The Michaelis-Menten Equation and the Michaelis Constant......Page 194
Let’s Calculate Vmax and Km!......Page 196
Why Do We Take Reciprocals?......Page 200
Enzymes and Inhibitors......Page 207
Allosteric Enzymes......Page 210
5. Molecular Biology and the Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids......Page 213
Nucleic Acid Basics......Page 216
The Discovery of Nuclein......Page 218
Nucleic Acid and Nucleotides......Page 219
Base Complementarity and DNA Structure......Page 223
DNA Replication and the Enzyme DNA Polymerase......Page 226
RNA Structure......Page 228
DNA is the Language of Genes......Page 232
RNA has Several Jobs......Page 234
mRNA......Page 236
rRNA and tRNA......Page 237
Ribozymes......Page 240
The Dirty Job of a Biochemist......Page 242
Development of Recombinant DNA Techniques......Page 243
Returning to Biochemistry......Page 244
The Origin of the Cell......Page 245
Column Chromatography......Page 246
Electrophoresis and a Western Blot......Page 247
Lectin Blotting......Page 248
Centrifugation......Page 249
Enzyme Reaction Measurement......Page 250
Epilogue......Page 253
Index......Page 263
