Syllabus
Thermodynamics of life. Gibbs energy. Oxidation-reduction (redox) potential.
High-energy compounds. Central role of ATP.
Biological redox reactions. Redox membrane carriers.
Basic types of metabolism.
History and perspective of bioenergetics. Peter Mitchell in his chemiosmotic hypothesis.
Structure of mitochondria and biological membranes. Mitochondrial proteome.
Membrane transport. Mitochondrial shuttle mechanisms.
Oxidative decarboxylation of 2-oxoacids.
Citric acid (Krebs) cycle, glyoxylate cycles.
Lipids metabolism.
Respiratory chain, aerobic phosphorylation.
Mitochondrial genetics and pathology.
Respiratory chain and primary stage of photosynthesis: shared and unique features, electron and proton transport pathways. Light-harvesting complexes.
Secondary stage of photosynthesis - Calvin cycle, photorespiration, C3, C4 and CAM plants. Photosynthesis regulation.
Other biosynthetic processes in photoautotrophs (gas nitrogen fixation, assimilation of nitrate and sulphate).
Annotation
The lecture introduces the principles of bioenergetics, ie. energy changes within living systems. The emphasis is on the chemiosmotic theory and membrane bioenergetics.
Research methods are described and their application is demonstrated on the study of human mitochondrial pathology.