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Bioenergetics deals with the very first energy transformation steps performed by living cells. Increased dissipation is the primary effect of processing external energy packages. Enzyme-supported charge separation is the minor but essential outcome for maintaining life. This book explores the usefulness of dissecting the entropy production of enzymes involved in cellular defenses, fermentation, respiration, and photosynthesis, assuming that tightly regulated dissipation is the hallmark of life.Researchers, educators, and students of life sciences can find in this text many examples of how we can use the interdisciplinary approach to study cells'virtuoso ability to connect the microscopic to the macroscopic world. Each chapter is a self-contained unit with a glossary and selected references for further reading.

Provides a multidisciplinary approach to the study of energetics of secretion responses by combining the knowledge and expertise of leading authorities from various fields.

Provides a multidisciplinary approach to the study of energetics of secretion responses by combining the knowledge and expertise of leading authorities from various fields.

The fascinating machinery that life uses to harness energy is the focus of this volume of the Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration series. Experts in the field communicate their insights into the mechanisms that govern biological energy conversion from the atomic scale to the physiological integration within organisms. By leveraging the power of current structural techniques the authors reveal the inner workings of life.

Principles of Bioenergetics summarizes one of the quickly growing branches of modern biochemistry. Bioenergetics concerns energy transductions occurring in living systems and this book pays special attention to molecular mechanisms of these processes. The main subject of the book is the'energy coupling membrane'which refers to inner membranes of intracellular organelles, for example, mitochondria and chloroplasts. Cellular cytoplasmic membranes where respiratory and photosynthetic energy transducers, as well as ion-transporting ATP-synthases (ATPases) are also part of this membrane. Significant attention is paid to the alternative function of mitochondria as generators of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that mediate programmed death of cells (apoptosis and necrosis) and organisms (phenoptosis). The latter process is considered as a key mechanism of aging which may be suppressed by mitochondria-targeted antioxidants.

Energy Transduction in Biological Membranes was primarily designed for graduate courses in bioenergetics. Not only does it discuss basic principles and concepts central to modern membrane biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, but also (1) the components and pathways for electron transport and hydrogen ion translocation, and (2) the utilization of electrochemical ion gradients. The book is unique in presenting a comparative treatment of respiratory and photosynthetic energy transduction, and in using protein sequence data coupled with physical concepts to discuss the mechanisms of energy transducing proteins.

Life is an enduring mystery. Yet, science tells us that living beings are merely sophisticated structures of lifeless molecules. If this view is correct, where do the seemingly purposeful motions of cells and organisms originate? In Life's Ratchet, physicist Peter M. Hoffmann locates the answer to this age-old question at the nanoscale. Below the calm, ordered exterior of a living organism lies microscopic chaos, or what Hoffmann calls the molecular storm -- specialized molecules immersed in a whirlwind of colliding water molecules. Our cells are filled with molecular machines, which, like tiny ratchets, transform random motion into ordered activity, and create the'purpose'that is the hallmark of life. Tiny electrical motors turn electrical voltage into motion, nanoscale factories custom-build other molecular machines, and mechanical machines twist, untwist, separate and package strands of DNA. The cell is like a city -- an unfathomable, complex collection of molecular workers working together to create something greater than themselves. Life, Hoffman argues, emerges from the random motions of atoms filtered through these sophisticated structures of our evolved machinery. We are agglomerations of interacting nanoscale machines more amazing than anything in science fiction. Rather than relying on some mysterious'life force'to drive them -- as people believed for centuries -- life's ratchets harness instead the second law of thermodynamics and the disorder of the molecular storm. Grounded in Hoffmann's own cutting-edge research, Life's Ratchet reveals the incredible findings of modern nanotechnology to tell the story of how the noisy world of atoms gives rise to life itself.

The fermentation of sugar by cell-free yeast extracts was demonstrated more than a century ago by E. Buchner (Nobel Prize 1907). Buchner's observations put an end to previous animistic theories regarding cellular life. It became clear that metabolism and all cellular functions should be accessible to explication in chemical terms. Equally important for an understanding of living systems was the concept, explained in physical terms, that all living things could be cons- ered as energy converters [E. Schrödinger (Nobel Prize 1933)] which generate complexity at the expense of an increase in entropy in their environment. Bioenergetics was established as an essential branch of the biochemical sciences by the investigations into the chemistry of photosynthesis in i- lated plant organelles [O. Warburg (Nobel Prize 1931)] and by the discovery that mitochondria were the morphological equivalent that catalyzed cellular respiration. The?eld of bioenergetics also encompasses a large variety of ad- tional processes such as the molecular mechanisms of muscle contraction, the structure and driving mechanisms of microbial?agellar motors, the energetics of solute transport, the extrusion of macromolecules across membranes, the transformation of quanta of light into visual information and the maintenance of complex synaptic communications. There are many other examples which, in most cases, may perform secondary energy transformations, utilizing - ergy stored either in the cellular ATP pool or in electrochemical membrane potentials.

This volume focuses on the cooperative binding aspects of energetics in biological macromolecules. Methodologies such as NMR, small-angle scattering techniques for analysis, calorimetric analysis, fluorescence quenching, and time resolved FRET measurements are discussed.•Methods for Evaluating Cooperativity in a Dimeric Hemoglobin•Multiple-Binding of Ligands to a Linear Biopolymer•Fluorescence Quenching Methods to Study Protein-Nucleic Acid Interactions•Linked Equilibria in Biotin Repressor Function: Thermodynamic, Structural and Kinetic Analysis