Essential Biochemistry, 2nd Edition

Essential Biochemistry describes the chemical basis of life by placing information about molecules in the appropriate biological context. Selective in its coverage, it emphasizes the topics that accurately reflect the current scope of the field. The material in this book, as well as the depth of coverage, has been chosen to reflect the following goals: to understand the major themes of biochemistry, to apply biochemical knowledge in solving problems and evaluating related topics, and to appreciate the challenges and approaches of modern biochemistry. To further achieve these goals, the authors created more focused chapters and added a separate chapter on carbohydrate chemistry.

Within each chapter, the chemistry that underlies biochemical phenomena is presented using examples of actual molecules and reactions, along with explanations of basic chemical principles. In addition, the biological context is provided, in many cases, by focusing on a disease or other familiar issue. Much of this material has been consolidated in new, brief Clinical Notes features. Descriptions of some laboratory methods appear in the new Tools and Techniques sections for appropriate chapters. These sections are brief, but include actual data to illustrate the techniques, rather than a strictly theoretical descripttion of the methods. .Molecular structure and biochemical processes are explored in detail through a set of media exercises that are fully integrated with the text.

This new edition continues to approach biochemistry as a guidebook rather than a catalog, allowing the student to master the material at several levels while minimizing the need for rote memorization.

• Depth of coverage over breadth of coverage - for example, Chapter 6 describes in detail the mechanism of one enzyme - chymotrypsin, rather than presenting many mechanisms superficially.
• Some traditional topics with few applications have been eliminated. For example, amino acid titration, detailed pathways of amino acid and nucleotide metabolism, and carbohydrate nomenclature have been omitted in order to make room for newer material, such as proteomics, genetic disease, and the use of enzyme inhibitors as drugs.
• Each chapter is designed to be self-contained.
• Within each chapter, Sample Calculations show how to use key equations.
• Each chapter ends with a large selection of problems, including many multi-step case-type problems that require students to apply information rather than simply recall memorized details. In this edition, the authors included more problems that provide students with increased opportunities to interpret raw data and apply their knowledge to novel situations. In addition, a new feature, Bioinformatics Exercises require the use of online biological databases and software tools.
• The electronic media (website) are fully integrated with and complement the text. The interactive exercises/animations and the questions based on them do not merely echo material from the text but instead focus on themes such as three-dimensional shape and molecular motions - processes that can be best illustrated via the computer.
• Reminders to explore the web-based animations, guided explorations, and interactive exercises appear at appropriate places within the chapters. The text includes additional cross-references to specific topics in the on line exercises.