32: Biochemistry and Climate Change
- Page ID
- 95210
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- 32.01B: Part 1 - Back to the Present and Future of Climate Change
- This page explores the intersection of biochemistry and climate science, focusing on how biochemical principles underpin climate change. It sets learning goals for students to relate biochemical concepts to climate processes, identify greenhouse gases and their biochemical pathways, and interpret climate data. The content emphasizes the biochemical basis of feedback loops, the impact of climate change on ecosystems, and examines mitigation strategies.
- 32.2: Part 1 - Use of Isotope Analysis in Measuring Climate Change
- This webpage discusses the biochemical and geochemical principles of isotopes, particularly their application in climate change research. It explains how stable and radioactive isotopes, like carbon-13, carbon-14, and oxygen-18, are used to reconstruct past climate conditions by analyzing shifts in isotope ratios found in ice cores, sediments, and biological materials.
- 32.3: Climate Change - Part 1 - The Carbon Cycle and Carbon Chemistry
- This page provides a comprehensive overview of the carbon cycle, emphasizing its significance in understanding climate change. It examines the movement of carbon through various Earth systems, like the atmosphere and oceans, detailing the processes of photosynthesis, respiration, and rock weathering. Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion are highlighted as major disruptors, increasing atmospheric CO2 and driving climate change.
- 32.4: Part 2 - Biofuels A - Corn and Sugar Cane Ethanol
- The page provides an in-depth exploration of bioethanol production from corn and sugar cane, detailing the biochemical processes involved, environmental sustainability, and the socio-economic implications. It outlines the components, enzymatic reactions, fermentation processes, and life cycle analyses essential for understanding bioethanol's potential as a biofuel.
- 32.5: Part 2 - Biofuels B - Cellulosic Ethanol
- The page discusses the production of cellulosic ethanol as a sustainable biofuel alternative to fossil fuels, highlighting its potential advantages over first-generation biofuels like corn ethanol. It outlines the biochemical processes involved, including pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis using cellulases, and addresses the challenges posed by the complex structure of plant cell walls containing cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin.
- 32.6: Part 2 - Algae - an Introduction
- The page discusses the diversity and classification of algae, emphasizing their role in photosynthesis and carbon fixation. It explores algae's biochemical composition, growth requirements, and potential in carbon sequestration and biofuel production. The page reviews the classification of microalgae and macroalgae, highlighting their roles as oxygenic photosynthesizers, primary producers, and contributors to biofuels.
- 32.7: Part 2 - Algae - Bioethanol production
- The page outlines a comprehensive exploration of algae as a source for bioethanol production. It delves into various learning goals such as differentiating algal feedstocks from conventional sources, examining metabolic pathways, analyzing enzymes for algal carbohydrate breakdown, and investigating fermentation processes. It also assesses pretreatment techniques, net energy balance, genetic engineering approaches, and environmental implications.
- 32.8: Part 2 - Biodiesel, Syngas and Bioaviation fuels
- The text provides an in-depth overview of biofuels, including biodiesel, syngas, and bioaviation fuel. It outlines the chemical foundations, feedstock options, production pathways, and technological innovations associated with these fuels. The text discusses the transesterification process in biodiesel production, syngas generation via gasification, the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for creating liquid fuels from syngas, and bioaviation fuel???s potential to reduce carbon emissions.
- 32.09: Part 2 - Biohydrogen, An Introduction
- This page covers the fundamentals of biohydrogen and its role as a renewable energy source in a low-carbon future. It outlines various biochemical pathways for hydrogen production, including microbial and algal processes, highlighting key enzymes and microorganisms involved. The comparison between dark fermentation and photobiological hydrogen production is presented with emphasis on process parameters affecting yields.
- 32.10: Part 2 - Biohydrogen - Hydrogenases
- This page outlines learning goals focused on hydrogenases, enzymes pivotal in biohydrogen metabolism. It emphasizes understanding hydrogenases' roles, structure-function relationships, catalytic mechanisms, and physiological contexts. Additionally, it explores environmental and industrial potential, factors affecting activity, and strategies for genetic and metabolic engineering to optimize hydrogenase performance.
- 32.11: Part 3 - A Warmer World: Temperature Effects On Chemical Reactions
- The page explores the fundamental concepts of biochemistry related to temperature effects on biochemical processes. It outlines learning goals such as understanding the thermodynamic and kinetic basis of temperature effects using the Arrhenius equation, examining how temperature influences enzyme activity, reaction rates, and ecological processes, and exploring biological adaptations to temperature changes.
- 32.12: Part 3 - A Warmer World: Temperature Effects On Proteins
- This page covers various learning goals related to biochemistry, particularly focusing on protein thermal stability, denaturation mechanisms, heat-shock responses, adaptations in thermophiles, enzyme kinetics, and experimental methods for studying thermal effects. It emphasizes the biological importance of these concepts in the context of climate change and their applications in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
- 32.13: Part 3 - Biochemistry, Climate Change and Human Health
- The page discusses the biochemical impacts of climate change on human health, focusing on various areas like heat stress, infectious diseases, and air quality. It outlines learning goals for biochemistry majors, emphasizing the importance of understanding how rising temperatures and environmental shifts alter biochemical processes, influence disease dynamics, and affect nutrient quality.
- 32.14: Part 3 - Climate Change, Infectious Disease and Pandemics
- This comprehensive webpage penned by Henry Jakubowski explores various dimensions of infectious diseases, their historical impact and potential influences of climate change. It outlines the links between climate variables and disease dynamics, examining the molecular adaptations of pathogens and their transmission via vector-borne diseases. It emphasizes the importance of understanding such relationships for predicting and preparing for future disease outbreaks and pandemics.
- 32.16: Part 4 - Fixing Carbon Fixation
- This biochemistry text emphasizes carbon fixation as a vital component for sustaining global ecosystems. It discusses carbon fixation's role, especially the Calvin-Benson cycle, highlights RuBisCO's inefficiencies, and explores alternative pathways like C4 photosynthesis. Opportunities for genetic engineering and synthetic biology to enhance carbon fixation are covered, along with the potential environmental and economic impacts.
- 32.17: Part 4 - Fixing Nitrogen Fixation
- The page discusses the biochemical mechanics and significance of nitrogen fixation, emphasizing the transformation of atmospheric N??? into NH???, which supports agriculture and ecosystem health. It outlines the nitrogenase enzyme's structure, mechanism, and the energetic challenges of nitrogen fixation. The text also covers the genetic engineering of nitrogen-fixing capabilities into non-legume crops and evaluates nitrogen fixation's environmental impacts.
- 32.18: Part 4 - Turning Trees into Plexiglass: Synthetic Biology For Production of Green Foods and Products
- This page provides a comprehensive overview of synthetic biology innovations in biochemistry, focusing on sustainable production methods for biochemists. Key learning goals include understanding synthetic biology's role in converting plant biomass into valuable products, exploring metabolic pathway engineering, optimizing enzymatic deconstruction of biomass, and assessing sustainability.