KBC/BEN Bioenergetics

Lecturer: Marek Petřivalský
Lecture: 3 hours/week
Credits: 3
Winter semester
Form of course completion: exam

Biological membranes – basic types of energy-transducing membranes, membrane transport. Thermodynamics of biochemical processes – biochemical systems and energy flow, free Gibbs energy and entropy, chemical, electrochemical and redox potentials. Chemiosmotic flow of protons – chemiosmotic theory, protonmotive force, proton stechiometry, respiration control, proton reverse flow. Mitochondrial respiratory chain – components, electron flow and proton translocation, stechiometry, artificial electron acceptors and donor, coupling and uncoupling of phosphorylation, heat production in brown adipose tissue. Production of oxygen radicals and oxidative stress, plant alternative oxidase. Bacterial respiratory chains – P.denitrificans, E.coli, H.pylori, Nitrobacter, Thiobacillus, methanogenesis. The origin of protonmotive force in photosynthesis – capture of radiation energy, transfer of excitation energy. Photosynthetic bacteria – Rhodobacter, photosynthetic reaction centres, photosynthesis of green algae and plants, photosystem II and I, cyclic electron transport. Bacteriorhodopsin and halorhodopsin as ion pumps. ATP synthase – F1.Fo-ATPasa, subunits, enzymology, regulation. Transport of metabolites and ions across membranes – mitochondrial transporters and transports mechanisms of bacteria. Mitochondria and disease – oxidative stress, apoptosis and necrosis, reperfusion cell injury, neurodegenerative disorders, mitochondrial genome and genetic disorders. Regulation of ion permeability as signal mechanism – neurotransmitters, excitable membranes, transmission of neuronal excitation. Energy transduction in organism movement – molecular motors, cellular cytoskeleton, bacterial movement, mechanism of muscle contraction. Experimental methods of bioenergetics.