What knowledge have you connected with past knowledge?

As biochemistry is a complex subject area that connects with many other scientific areas of study, it is understandable and expected that knowledge learned in this class can relate to many learned in the past. One area that I have been able to connect with past knowledge is the discussion of RNA as the first biomolecule, as it can both catalyze as well as encode knowlege. This ties in nicely to the Cell Biology class that I took. We discussed Tom Cech, Nobel Laureate, and his experimental discovery of RNA as a catalyst in great detail. Also, in Animal Physiology, we discussed Michaelis Menten kinetics and its application to the rate of reactions and the uptake of glucose into an animal cell. Finally, the induced fit model of enzyme-substrate binding tied into material learned in Principles of Biology, Anatomy and Physiology, and Animal Physiology. In this case, however, the model was modified. The new model of enzyme-substrate binding replaced the "lock and key" model that was taught in those classes in the past.

Find a protein using PDB explorer-describe your protein, including what disease state or other real-world application it has.

The protein I selected is called 3B8E; however, it is more commonly known as the Sodium/Potassium Pump or Sodium/Potassium ATPase. This protein has a quarternary structure that consists of an alpha, beta, and gamma subunit. Each subunit is 998, 46, and 29 amino acids long, respectively. The 3B8E contains a large amount of alpha helixes and a few beta pleated sheets, and arranges itself in a globular arrangement.
The 3B8E Sodium/Potassium Pump is found in the cell membrane of every cell in the body of animals. It is responsible for maintaining the gradients of both sodium and potassium. In order to maintain proper functioning, animal cells must have a high gradient of sodium outside the cell and a high gradient of potassium inside the cell. The Sodium/Potassium ATPase uses active transport to pump three sodium ions out of the cell and two potassium ions into the cell. This protein uses a molecule of ATP to acheive this, since it pumps the ions against their gradient. Without this protein, cells would not be able to function at all. This makes the 3B8E, or Sodium/Potassium Pump a very important biomolecule.

What is biochemistry, and how does it differ from the fields of genetics, biology, chemistry, and molecular biology?

Biochemistry is the study of the function and role of various biomolecules. Biochemistry examines and evaluates the chemistry of molecules such as lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids. Biochemistry is also concerned with the vital, chemical processes of life that these biomolecules are involved in, such as metabolism and enzyme-catalyzed reactions.
Biochemistry, although distinct in its focus, is related to many other scientific fields. Genetics is a field of study which involves the examination of biomolecules, specifically nucleic acids. However, the field of genetics is interested in the genetic variation between individuals and it's effect on the organism or cell, rather than the chemical properties and processes of biomolecules. The broad field of biology is the study of life and living creatures; while biochemistry studies the chemical properties of biomolecules, the field of biology is much broader in that it is concerned with the development, growth, and distribution as well as structure and function of living things. Chemistry and biochemistry are inherently linked. However, chemistry is a much broader field that examines matter and chemical reactions. Biochemistry is merely chemistry applied to the structures of life. Finally, molecular biology and biochemistry deal with the same sorts of molecules and molecular pathways. However, the focus of molecular biology is to understand the interaction between different parts of the cell, particularly between DNA, RNA, and proteins. Biochemistry instead deals with the same molecules, but examines the chemistry of the molecules and reaction rather than looking for an overall understanding of function and physiology. It is clear that biochemistry is linked to all of these fields; however, it is evident that biochemistry is alone in it's concentration on the specific chemical properties and processes of biomolecules.