Everyday BioChem

A key motivation for learning biochemistry is to appreciate how biochemistry relates to your everyday life. For example, how biochemistry explains the chemical basis of life and what can go wrong in human disease. With this knowledge, you can understand “how it works and why it matters” in biochemical terms. In this section I present 23 examples of everyday biochemistry as described in the chapter openings (CO) in Biochemistry (2021).

CO-1: The Chemistry of Life: Fermentation

CO-2: Biochemistry of Antifreeze Proteins

CO-3: CRISPR-Cas9 Treatment of Anemia

CO-4: GFP is an Autofluorescent Protein

CO-5: Use of Cryo-Electron Microscopy

CO-6: Ouabain Inhibits Na⁺-K⁺ ATPase

CO-7: Statins Inhibit Cholesterol Synthesis

CO-8: Sensory Receptor Mechanisms

CO-9: Cancer and the Warburg Effect

CO-10: Fungal Production of Citrate

CO-11: Contaminated Tempeh Cakes

CO-12: Paraquat: The Marijuana Herbicide

CO-13: Industrial Strength Galactosidase

CO-14: G6PD Mutations Cause Favism

CO-15: Using Pig Fat to Make Soap

CO-16: Nonfat Foods Can Make You Fat

CO-17: Round-Up Ready GMO Plants

CO-18: Methotrexate-Resistant Cancer

CO-19: Treatments for Type 2 Diabetes

CO-20: Defects in DNA Mismatch Repair

CO-21: RNA Splicing Defects and Blindness

CO-22: Novel Antibiotic Discovered in Worms

CO-23: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells