Bioenergetics
Objectives
The course on Bioenergetics will focus on the various aspects of energy transduction performed by living organisms. By the end of the course the student should understand the thermodynamic and kinetic principles involved in energy transduction and be able to solve numerical application problems. He should know the components and organisation of the respiratory chains and photosystems and understand the mechanisms of electron/proton coupling. He should be aware of the diversity of bacterial respiration and photosynthesis. It is also expected that the student develops skills in searching, understanding, and discussing the scientific literature in this field.
General characterization
Code
10804
Credits
3.0
Responsible teacher
Maria Teresa Nunes Mangas Catarino, Ricardo Saraiva Loureiro Oliveira Louro
Hours
Weekly - 2
Total - 24
Teaching language
Inglês
Prerequisites
There are no requirements but the student should have basic knowledge in Biochemistry.
Bibliography
1.“Bioenergetics 4”, David G. Nicholls and Stuart J. Ferguson (2013) Academic Press.
2.“Energy and Life”, John M. Wrigglesworth (1997) Taylor and Francis.
3.“Bioenergetics at a Glance”, David A. Harris (1995) Blackwell Science
Teaching method
The course is organized in lectures and workshops.
The lectures will cover the topics of the program.
The workshops will be dedicated to numerical applications in Bioenergetics and to the presentation and discussion of frontline scientific articles by the students.
Evaluation method
The final evaluation is the result of a theoretical examination paper (60%), and presentation and discussion of scientific articles (40%).
To be approved in this curricular unit, the grade of the theoretical examination paper cannot be smaller than 8.5/20.
Subject matter
1. Introduction to Bioenergetics: Life, energy and metabolism.
2. Quantitative Bioenergetics: the measurement of driving forces. Gibbs free energy. Oxidation-reduction potencial. Electrochemical potential.
3. Chemiosmotic energy transduction. Electron transfer and electron/proton coupling. Proton motive force generation.
4. Mitocondrial respiratory chain.
5. ATPsynthase: structure, mechanism and regulation.
6. Light reactions of photosynthesis: organisation of the photosystems and proton motive force generation.
7. Diversity of bacterial respiration and its environmental relevance.
8. Bioenergetics and health (discussion of scientific articles)