Module 1: Introduction to Biomolecules

Once we know the biochemical processes that occur within the living cell, we can understand the changes that happen in diseased cells.
It is very important to understand a disease in order to be able to to design a drug.
Almost all cancers are due to mutations of DNA.

Paclitaxel or taxol is a plant alkaloid which has 11 chiral centres and is used in  the treatment of many different types of cancers, including breast cancer, cervical cancer and ovarian cancer.


Some biomolecules we have in our body:

Vitamins
Fats and Lipids
Protein
Carbohydrates


A DNA molecule consists of three major components: phosphate, sugar and the nucleobases.
The four nucleus bases that are present in DNA are thymine, cytosine, adenine and guanine.
Adenine and Guanine are purine bases; Thymine and Cytosine are pyrimidine bases.
In every human cell,  about six feet length of DNA are packed within the chromatin of the cell nucleus. An adult human being has around 100 trillion cells.
AT base pairs and GC base pairs are usually called Watson-Crick base pairs, after their discoverers.
When nucleic acids are modified, then the non-Watson-Crick base pairs play a vital role in forming the new molecules.

Examples of non-Watson-Crick base pairs:

Hoogsteen
Wobble


The melting temperature of DNA is the temperature at which 50% of the double strand is melted away into an individual strand.
The melting temperature of a DNA is determined by UV spectroscopy.