This week's reading is Chapter 6.1, 6.4, and 6.5 (Metabolism), Chapter 7.1 – 7.5 (Cellular Respiration) and Chapter 8.1 (Photosynthesis) of the course textbook, which is accessible through the Syllabu

This week's reading is Chapter 6.1, 6.4, and 6.5 (Metabolism), Chapter 7.1 – 7.5 (Cellular Respiration) and Chapter 8.1 (Photosynthesis) of the course textbook, which is accessible through the Syllabus or through the course's "Textbooks" page.

Optional: If you are having difficulties grasping particular concepts from the textbook or if you want to explore them more in details, you could watch videos about biology on Khan Academy at "Khan Academy Biology”. The videos are categorized and named according to the concept they explain, so it should be easy to find those that are relevant to study. Three sections helpful for this unit are Energy and Enzymes, Cellular Respiration, and Photosynthesis.

Part 1

In your assigned readings, you learned how cells utilize energy. Discuss the importance of electrons in the transfer of energy in living systems. Be sure to use a specific example in your discussion.

Be sure to use in text citation and provide references for your sources. While not required for this discussion, you may use outside resources. Any materials cited in this course should be referenced using the APA style guidelines.  

Part 2

How do drugs work?

Many drugs, legal or not, work by either stimulating or inhibiting specific metabolic enzymes. As such, products of metabolic reactions can be selectively increased or decreased depending on the drug’s mechanism of action in the cell. In your readings, you learned that statins are a class of drugs used to reduce cholesterol levels. Their mechanism of action is to inhibit the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. HMG-CoA reductase is the enzyme that synthesizes cholesterol from lipids in the body. By inhibiting this enzyme, the levels of cholesterol synthesized in the body can be reduced.

You will research and present a drug of your choosing for this assignment. You are free to chose any drug as long as it works by inhibiting a specific enzyme; e.g., statins. You cannot, however, use statins.

Write a 2-3 page (500 – 750 words, 12 point font) paper including the following elements. Be sure to compose your work with your own words. Do not copy and paste from any source.

• Identify the drug as synthetic or biological/natural and describe the chemical structure.
• Describe how the chemical structure of the drug is necessary for function; i.e., cellular mechanism of action.
• Identify the drug as either a competitive or allosteric inhibitor. Describe how this works.
• Identify one or more adverse effects of the drug. Explain the effect based on the drug’s effect on metabolism.
• Use in-text citation and provide source references for at least 3 sources. The textbook can be one source.
  • When citing articles or other types of documents, follow standard guidelines as introduced on "Citing references in scientific research papers".