Reflecting back on the course

If I had to choose three major themes of this course they would include: connection, creating energy, and the building blocks of life. The first theme is connection, which includes topics and ideas from other courses that have been incorporated into this course. These include knowledge of glycolysis, chemistry and proteins. The second theme pertains to glycolysis, the krebs cycle and the electron transport chain. All of these processes create the energy used to sustain life. The last theme covers the topics of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids and the associated mechanisms, including transcription and translation, that are the building blocks of life.

How would you explain the connection between glucose entering the body and energy created by the body to a friend?

Glycogen or starch are needed for the process of glycolysis to begin. Glycolysis has 10 steps.
1. Hydrolysis occurs- water breaks down glucose. A phosphate molecule is removed from ATP forming ADP and then the phosphate group is added to the glucose molecule forming Glucose-6-Phosphate.
2. The enzyme isomerase then reconfigures Glucose-6-Phosphate to Fructose-6-Phosphate
3. Fructose-1,6-biphosphate is created because 1 ATP phosphoralates Fructose-6-Phosphate
4. Fructose-1,6-biphosphate is cleaved creating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate snf dihydroxyacetone phosphate.
5. Dihydroxyacetone phosphate is isomerized to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.
6. Oxidation and phosphorylation of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate to 1,3-biphosphoglycerate
7. A phosphate group is transferred from 1,3-biphosphoglycerate to ADP to make ATP an give 3-phosphaoglycerate.
8. 2-phosphoglycerate is formed through the isomerization of 3-phosphoglycerate
9. Dehydration of 2-phosphoglycerate occurs giving phosphoenolpyruvate
10. A phosphate group is transfered to ADP from phosphoenolpyruvate to form pyruvate.

The net gain of glycolysis is 2 ATP and 2 pyruvate molecules

What knowledge have you connected with past knowledge? Take 2

We have touched on many topics that I am very familiar with and have studied extensively. Glycolysis was a topic that we looked at in depth in general microbiology. We had to learn all of the steps, enzymes, products, how those products were used, etc. It was refreshing to look at this again and to just look at the big concepts of the process, because quite frankly I don't remember all of the steps anymore and I could very easily look them up in a book if I needed them. To study it in the way that we are is perfect, we get a great overview and understanding of the process and know the basic steps and products. Also, thermodynamics was a review from general chemistry and even before that. It is always comforting to review topics. Overall, this class has connected with a lot of my previous learning.