The molecules of life

Key to making future advances in the areas of biochemistry and molecular medicine is a new generation of molecular biologists and biochemists who are able to harness the tools and insights of physics and chemistry to exploit the emergence of genomic and systems-level information in biology.The basic ideas of energy, entropy, equilibrium thermodynamics, transport processes and reaction kinetics are closely related to exciting issues in contemporary biology, such as protein folding, chaperones and prion diseases, DNA polymerase and ribosome fidelity, DNA recognition, drug design, signal transduction, ion channel function, motor protein action and the versatility of enzyme mechanism. Providing this physical chemistry and biochemical foundation is The "Molecules of Life", a new undergraduate textbook for undergraduate students majoring in biology or pre-med. It deepens our understanding of how life functions by illuminating the physical principles underpinning biological phenomenaPart I. Biological Molecules 1. From Genes to RNA to Proteins 2. Nucleic Acid Structure 3. Glycans and Lipids 4. Protein Structure 5. Evolutionary Variation in Proteins Part II. Energy and Entropy 6. Energy and Intermolecular Forces 7. Entropy 8. Linking Energy and Entropy Part III. Free Energy 9. Free Energy 10. Chemical Potential and the Drive to Equilibrium 11. Voltages and Free Energy Part IV. Molecular Interactions 12. Molecular Recognition 13. Specificity of Macromolecular Recognition 14. Allostery Part V. Kinetics and Catalysis 15. Rates of Molecular Processes 16. Principles of Enzyme Catalysis 17. Diffusion and Transport Part VI. Assembly and Activity 18. Folding 19. Fidelity in DNA and Protein Synthesis