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8.1 Metabolism

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Description

Nature of science:
Developments in scientific research follow improvements in computing—developments in bioinformatics, such as the interrogation of databases, have facilitated research into metabolic pathways. (3.8)
Understandings:
  • Metabolic pathways consist of chains and cycles of enzyme-catalysed reactions.
  • Enzymes lower the activation energy of the chemical reactions that they catalyse.
  • Enzyme inhibitors can be competitive or non-competitive.
  • Metabolic pathways can be controlled by end-product inhibition.
Applications and skills:
  • Application: End-product inhibition of the pathway that converts threonine to isoleucine.
  • Application: Use of databases to identify potential new anti-malarial drugs.
  • Skill: Calculating and plotting rates of reaction from raw experimental results.
  • Skill: Distinguishing different types of inhibition from graphs at specified substrate concentration.
Guidance:
  • Enzyme inhibition should be studied using one specific example for competitive and non-competitive inhibition.
 Theory of knowledge:
  • Many metabolic pathways have been described following a series of carefully controlled and repeated experiments. To what degree can looking at component parts give us knowledge of the whole?
Utilization:
  • Many enzyme inhibitors have been used in medicine. For example ethanol has been used to act as a competitive inhibitor for antifreeze poisoning.
  • Fomepizole, which is an inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase, has also been used for antifreeze poisoning.
Syllabus and cross-curricular links:
Biology
Topic 2.7 DNA replication, transcription and translation
Chemistry
Topic 6.1 Collision theory and rates of reaction

Aims:
  • Aim 6: Experiments on enzyme inhibition can be performed.
  • Aim 7: Computer simulations on enzyme action including metabolic inhibition are available.

Directly related questions

Sub sections and their related questions

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