This is a collection of animated and still graphics which illustrates significant biochemical concepts and processes. It has been taken for the most part from the Integrated Biochemistry Learning Series, a HyperCard-based course in Medical Biochemistry. Our students find that animations of complex processes often aid understanding in a way that one or two still diagrams cannot. If these materials seem useful, they may be used directly on line, or they may be downloaded for projection from a computer during a standard lecture.
This is a boring movie because at high ATP concentration there is no electron transport, no proton pumping and no ATP synthesis. To be appreciated, this sequence must be contrasted to its companion, which is described in the following paragraph. (63K animation)
In this animation ATP concentration is low, so the proton gradient can drive the F1Fo ATPase in the reverse direction, synthesizing ATP. Dissipation of the proton gradient allows the electron transport system to pump protons out of the mitochondria to replenish the gradient.(346K animation)
An acetyl group is transferred to lipoyllysine of the transacetylase, and then to CoA. The dihydrolipoyl group is then reoxidized by dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase.(80K animation)
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A substrate molecule binds to an enzyme site that does not match it exactly, and in the process changes the shape of the enzyme so that an exact fit occurs.(72K animation)
This animation emphasizes the difference between the APAPAPAP sequence of substituents in the I-series of porphyrins and the APAPAPPA sequence in the III-series. A link to this animation is also found in the "Heme and Iron Metabolism" module of NetBiochem.
(260K animation with sound)
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A double bond is placed at the omega - 9 position of a saturated fatty acid. This animation emphasizes the location of the desaturation, but does not show a mechanism.
(216K animation)
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An effector (agonist) binds to a cell membrane, triggering intracellular synthesis of cAMP and activation of protein kinase A, which phosphorylates intracellular proteins. (80K animation)
An effector (agonist) binds to a cell membrane, triggering intracellular hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate, activation of a Ca(II)-calmodulin-sensitive protein kinase and activation of protein kinase C by diglyceride. (96K animation)
Protons in the tubule fluid react with bicarbonate ions in the tubule fluid, producing carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is returned to the blood to replace the carbon dioxide which had produced bicarbonate in the previous step. (122K animation)
The structure of glucose is shown as being an equilibrium between the open chain form and the alpha and beta anomers of the ring form.
(139K animation)
The animations were converted from a HyperCard program (Integrated Biochemistry Learning Series) to QuickTime at the rate of 10 frames per second. This was chosen to produce relatively smooth movies without making files so large that their value would be incommensurate with the transfer time.
There is a controller bar at the bottom of each movie. To start any movie you must click on the forward arrow in this bar. If you want to examine a specific point in the movie (say, because it went by too fast) you can move the slide to that point (by clicking at the desired location in the controller bar) and thereby view the corresponding frame for as long as you want.
To use the animated (.mov) files you must have a QuickTime player installed on your computer.
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