Molecular & cell biology for dummies

Introduction -- About this book -- Conventions used in this book -- What you're not to read -- Foolish assumptions -- How this book is organized -- Part 1: World of the cell -- Part 2: Molecules: the stuff of life -- Part 3: Working cell -- Part 4: Genetics: from one generation to the next -- Part 5: Molecular genetics: reading the book of life -- Part 6: Tools of molecular biology: harnessing the power of DNA -- Part 7: Part of tens -- Icons used in this book -- Where to go from here -- Part I: World Of The Cell -- Chapter 1: Exploring the world of the cell -- Cells and viruses: discovering the inhabitants of the microscopic world -- You: on the cellular level -- Them: bacteria and viruses -- Life of a cell: how cells get what they need to survive and reproduce -- Sexual reproduction: shuffling the genetic deck for the next generation -- DNA to protein: following the instructions in the genetic code -- DNA technology: tackling the world's problems -- Chapter 2: Take a tour inside the cell -- Admiring the unity and diversity of cells -- Finding common ground: structures in all cells -- Customs: plasma membrane -- Happenin' place: the cytoplasm -- Library: DNA-containing region -- Workbenches: ribosomes -- Your body, your cells: eukaryotic cells -- Home office: the nucleus -- Post office: the endomembrane system -- Fireplace: mitochondria -- In the kitchen: chloroplasts -- Scaffolding and railroad tracks: the cytoskeleton -- Rebar and concrete: cell walls and extracellular matrices -- Tiny but mighty: prokaryotic cells -- Castle walls: the cell wall -- Ooze, slime, and grappling hooks: capsules, pili, and fimbriae -- Outboard motors: bacterial flagella -- Chapter 3: Dead or alive: viruses -- Viruses: hijackers of the cellular world -- Just the basics: the structure of viruses -- Knock, knock, virus calling: how viruses get into cells -- War on a microcosmic scale: viruses of bacteria -- Seek and destroy: the lytic cycle -- I think I'll take a little nap: the lysogenic cycle -- I've got a cold: viruses of eurkaryotes -- Same story, different players -- Come in and take your coat off -- There's more than one way to copy a virus -- Leaving it all behind -- Putting it all together -- HIV and AIDS: viruses in the real world -- Part 2: Molecules: The Stuff Of Life -- Chapter 4: Better living through chemistry -- Life really matters -- It's elemental!: atoms that make up living things -- Exploring subatomic particles -- Defining elements -- Comparing isotopes -- Let's bond: how atoms are attracted to each other -- Feeling fulfilled by arranging your electrons just right -- Holding on: electronegativity -- Give and take: oxidation and reduction -- Opposites attract: ionic bonds -- Sharing is caring: covalent bonds -- Molecule by any other picture -- Don't hog the toys! Polar covalent bonds -- Molecular velcro: hydrogen bonds -- Molecular cliques: hydrophobic interactions -- Blue planet: the ocean inside your cells -- Splitting water -- Measuring pH -- Changing pH -- Maintaining pH -- Chain, chain, chain: building and breaking polymers -- Identifying the parts and the whole -- Getting together and breaking up again -- Chapter 5: Carbohydrates: how sweet they are -- CH2O: structure of carbohydrates -- Keeping it simple: monosaccharides -- Making it complex: polysaccharides -- Sticky and sweet: functions of carbohydrates -- Chapter 6: Proteins: workers in the cellular factory -- Get into shape: levels of protein structure -- Get in line: primary structure -- Long and winding road: secondary structure -- 3D: tertiary structure -- Sometimes one is not enough: quaternary structure -- Jack of all trades: the many functions of proteins -- Get "er done: enzymes make things happen -- Made for each other: enzymes and substrates -- Listening to others: inhibiting enzymes -- Gatekeepers: membrane proteins -- I'm in charge: DNA-binding proteins -- Chapter 7: DNA and RNA: instructions for life -- It's puzzling: structure of nucleic acids -- Navigating nucleotides -- Naming the nucleotide bases -- Recognizing nucleotides -- Making DNA and RNA -- Double helix of DNA -- Shaping up RNA molecules -- Breaking the code: the function of DNA and RNA -- Chapter 8: Lipids: waterproof and energy rich -- Hydrocarbons: structure of lipids -- Saturating fatty acids -- Forming fats and oils -- Looking at other types of lipids -- You say fat like it's a bad thing: functions of lipids -- Part 3: Working Cell -- Chapter 9: Hello, neighbor: how cells communicate -- Shipping and receiving: transport across membranes -- Getting past the bouncer -- Which way should I go? -- Crossing the border -- Going with the flow -- It's an uphill battle -- Chatting through cellular connections -- Shaking hands through cell-cell attachments -- Sticking together through thick and thin -- Jumping the cell-cell gap -- Sending and receiving signals -- Satellite dishes: receptors -- Relaying the message: signal transduction -- Amplifying the signal -- Calming down: deactivating the signal -- Chapter 10: Metabolism: transferring energy and matter -- Revving up you metabolism -- Stayin' alive: cellular work and the laws of thermodynamics -- First law of thermodynamics -- Second law of thermodynamics -- Going to work in the cellular factory -- One step at a time: metabolic pathways -- Taking baby steps during chemical reactions -- Helping hands from enzymes -- Giving and taking electrons in redox reactions -- Shuttling electrons with electron carriers -- Getting what you need at the cellular level -- Chapter 11: Cellular respiration: every breath you take -- Cellular respiration: an overview -- Controlling the burn -- Transferring energy to ATP -- Moving electrons to oxygen -- Taking things one step at a time -- Gimme a break: glycolysis -- Everybody's doing it -- Fine print: the steps of glycolysis -- Making ATP by substrate-level phosphorylation -- Living by glycolysis alone: fermentation -- Wheel of fire: Krebs cycle -- Linking glycolysis and Krebs cycle -- Fine print: the steps of the Krebs cycle -- More is better: taking advantage of the Krebs cycle -- Taking it to the bank: chemiosmosis and oxidative -- Phosphorylation -- Transferring electrons along an electron transport chain -- Transferring energy from food to ATP -- Steps of the chemiosmotic theory of oxidative phosphorylation -- Doing the math: how many ATP can you make from the energy in a glucose molecule? -- Breaking down complex carbohydrates, proteins, and fats -- Finding an on-ramp to the superhighway -- Feeding complex carbohydrates into the system -- Burning fat -- Breaking down proteins -- It's a two-way street: connections between metabolic pathways -- Reversing the flow of matter and energy -- Packing on the fat -- Building muscle -- Cellular respiration in the real world -- Chapter 12: Photosynthesis: makin' food in the kitchen of life -- Photosynthesis: an overview -- Getting what plants need -- Examining the role of soil -- Basking in the sun -- Capturing the sun's energy with pigments -- Yin and yang: the light reactions and the Calvin cycle -- Shine on me: the light reactions -- Transferring light energy to chemical energy -- Steps of photophosphorylation -- Circle of life: Calvin cycle -- Steps of the Calvin cycle -- Got food? Photosynthesis in the real world -- Chapter 13: Splitsville: the cell cycle and cell division -- Reproducing the cell -- Drifting apart: binary fission -- Red light, green light: the cell cycle -- Pausing during gap 1 -- S phase and gap 2 -- Dance of the chromosome: mitosis -- Breaking up is hard to do: cytokinesis -- Keeping it under control -- Part 5: Genetics: From One Generation To The Next -- Chapter 14: Meiosis: getting ready for baby -- Let's talk about sex, baby: reproduction -- Riding the life cycle -- Counting chromosomes -- Homologous chromosomes -- Going separate ways: meiosis -- Following the plan -- Overview of meiosis -- Shuffling the genetic deck: crossing over -- Why two divisions are better than one -- It was all a mistake: nondisjunction -- Chapter 15: Mendelian genetics: talkin' 'bout the generations -- Pass the peas, please: Mendel and segregation of single gene traits -- Living like a monk -- Speaking the lingo -- Round pea meets wrinkled pea -- Odds are 3:1 -- Making a prediction -- Testing an idea -- Remembering meiosis -- Playing by the rules -- Tracing a trait: pedigrees -- I can go my own way: independent assortment -- Round yellow pea meets wrinkled green pea -- Puzzling over the punnett -- Remembering meiosis -- Chapter 16: Expect the unexpected: non-Mendelian patterns of inheritance -- It's news to Mendel: inheritance beyond simple dominance -- Mixing it up: incomplete dominance -- Sharing the power: codominance -- Making an impact: pleiotropic genes -- It's not that simple: polygenic traits -- Almost inseparable: linked genes -- Traveling together because of linkage -- Slipping away through recombination -- Building a map of a chromosome -- Mama's boy: sex-linked inheritance -- Analyzing the pedigree -- Explaining the differences -- Part 5: Molecular Genetics: Reading The Book Of Life -- Chapter 17: DNA synthesis: doubling your genetic stuff -- DNA replication: an overview -- Everybody lend a hand: enzymes involved in DNA replication -- It takes a village: events at the replication fork -- Start at the very beginning: origins of replication -- Learning to unwind with helicase -- Putting down some primer -- Rolling down the line -- Replacing some tiles -- Tying up loose ends -- Finishing the job -- Keeping it together: leading and lagging strands -- Chapter 18: Transcription and translation: what's in a gene? -- File it under genes: the blueprints for RNA and proteins -- Defining a gene -- Going with the flow -- Make a copy, please: transcription -- Locating the file -- Hiring a worker -- Marking the end -- Finishing touches: RNA processing in eukaryotes -- Making a protein: translation -- Reading the code -- Decoder: tRNA -- Master craftsman: the ribosome -- Steps of translation -- Don't drink and drive: mutation -- Everybody makes mistakes -- Dealing with the consequences -- Chapter 19: Control of gene expression: it's how you play your cards that counts -- Controlling the situation: gene regulation and information flow -- Becoming a specialist -- Keeping house -- I can be flexible: gene expression in bacteria -- Organizing bacterial genes -- Taking E coli to dinner -- Looking at lac -- Feeling repressed -- Game on: inducing the lac operon -- Game over: repressing the lac operon -- Advancing to the next level: catabolite repression of the lac operon -- Master plan: gene expression in eukaryotes -- Seizing the opportunity -- Unpacking the plan -- Controlling transcription -- Controlling events between transcription and translation -- Controlling translation and beyond -- Part 6: Tools Of Molecular Biology: Harnessing The Power Of DNA -- Chapter 20: Recombinant DNA technology: power tools at the cellular level -- Piecing it together: recombinant DNA technology -- Cutting DNA with restriction enzymes -- Sorting molecules using gel electrophoresis -- Making cDNA with reverse transcriptase -- Cloning genes into a library -- Finding a gene with DNA probes -- Copying a gene with PCR -- Reading a gene with DNA sequencing -- Changing the plan: using molecular biology to solve problems -- Making useful proteins through genetic engineering -- Searching for disease genes -- Building a "better" plant with genetic engineering -- Fixing a broken gene with gene therapy -- Chapter 21: Genomics: the big picture -- I read the whole thing: sequencing genomes -- Unleashing the power of genomics -- Reading the book of life with shotgun sequencing -- Looking within the human genome -- We have a lot in common: comparative genomics -- What's your function?: functional genomics -- Looking for open reading frames -- Comparing gene expression with DNA microarrays -- Reaping the rewards: pharmacogenomics -- I've got a system: systems biology -- Part 7: Part Of Tens -- Chapter 22: Ten important rules for cells to live by -- Cell theory -- First law of thermodynamics -- Second law of thermodynamics -- Theory of evolution by natural selection -- Law of conservation of matter -- Nucleic acids pair in antiparallel strands -- Central dogma -- Protein shape is essential to their function -- Law of segregation -- Law of independent assortment -- Chapter 23: Ten ways to improve your grade -- Keep your mind alive during lecture -- Schedule your study time -- Be active, not passive -- Give your brain a well-round workout during study sessions -- Get creative with memory tricks -- Recognize the difference between levels of understanding -- Remember the supporting material -- Test yourself often -- Use your first test as a diagnostic tool -- Get help sooner rather than later -- Index.