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Syllabus

8.1 Metabolism

Path:

Additional higher level » Topic 8: Metabolism, cell respiration and photosynthesis » 8.1 Metabolism

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.

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DP Biology Questionbank

8.1 Metabolism

Description

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