BIOM20001 Lecture 1: BIOM20001
25 Jul 2018
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Document Summary
Life exists because molecular processes are spontaneous (under the appropriate conditions: hydration, temperature, pressure, energy etc) Life on earth is protein-based final products of gene expression: major dry weight component of cells, major structural (cid:494)building block(cid:495) in cells, most cell functions performed by proteins proteins: Act as building blocks (eg. cytoskeletal actin filaments, viral capsids) Act as channels + pumps (eg. ca2+ pump or ca2+ atpase) Transmit cell signals (eg. egfr, src, ras gtpase) Act as molecular machines (eg motor proteins: myosin, kinesin) other specialised proteins act as: antibodies, toxins, hormones, antifreeze, elastic fibres, ropes, luminescence proteins can do almost anything. Chromophore is the part of a molecule responsible for its colour. The colour arises when a molecule absorbs certain wavelengths of visible light + transmits/reflects others. Simple point mutations can convert gfp to other colours eg. bfp (y66h, y145f) Cyan fluorescent protein (cfp), yellow fluorescent protein (yfp), blue fluorescent protein (bfp) molarity.
