Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox

David L. Nelson, born in Fairmont, Minnesota, received his BS in Chemistry and Biology from St. Olaf

College in 1964 and earned his PhD in Biochemistry at Stanford Medical School under Arthur Kornberg. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Medical School with Eugene P. Kennedy, who was one of Albert Lehninger’s first graduate students. Nelson joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1971 and became a full professor of biochemistry in 1982. He is the Director of the Center for Biology Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Nelson’s research has focused on the signal transductions that regulate ciliary motion and exocytosis in the protozoan Paramecium. The enzymes of signal

transductions, including a variety of protein kinases, are primary targets of study. His research group has used enzyme purification, immunological techniques, electron microscopy, genetics, molecular biology, and electrophysiology to study these processes.

Dave Nelson has a distinguished record as a lecturer

and research supervisor. For 36 years he has taught an intensive survey of biochemistry for advanced biochemistry undergraduates in the life sciences. He has also taught a survey of biochemistry for nursing students, and graduate courses on membrane structure and function and on molecular neurobiology. He has sponsored numerous PhD, MS, and undergraduate honors theses, and has received awards for his outstanding teaching, including the Dreyfus Teacher–Scholar Award, the Atwood Distinguished Professorship, and the Unterkofler Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Wisconsin System. In 1991–1992 he was a visiting professor of chemistry and biology at Spelman College. His second love is history, and in his dotage he has begun to teach the history of biochemistry to undergraduates and to collect antique scientific instruments. 

Michael M. Cox was born in Wilmington, Delaware.In his first biochemistry course, Lehninger’s Biochemistry was a major influence in refocusing his fascination with biology and inspiring him to pursue a career in biochemistry. After graduating from the University of Delaware in 1974, Cox went to Brandeis University to do his doctoral work with William P. Jencks, and then to Stanford in 1979 for postdoctoral study with I. Robert Lehman. He moved to the University of Wisconsin– Madison in 1983, and became a full professor of biochemistry in 1992. Cox’s doctoral research was on general acid and base catalysis as a model for enzyme-catalyzed reactions. At Stanford, he began work on the enzymes involved in genetic recombination. The work focused particularly on the RecA protein, designing purification and assay methods that are still in use, and illuminating the process of DNA branch migration. Exploration of the enzymes of genetic recombination has remained the central theme of his research. Mike Cox has coordinated a large and active research team at Wisconsin, investigating the enzymology, topology, and energetics of genetic recombination. A primary focus has been the mechanism of RecA  protein–mediated DNA strand exchange, the role of ATP in the RecA system, and the regulation of recombinational DNA repair. Part of the research program now focuses on organisms that exhibit an especially robust capacity for DNA repair, such as Deinococcus radiodurans, and the applications of those repair systems to biotechnology. For the past 24 years he has taught (with Dave Nelson) the survey of biochemistry to undergraduates and has lectured in graduate courses on DNA structure and topology, protein-DNA interactions, and the biochemistry of recombination. A more recent project has been the organization of a new course on professional responsibility for first-year graduate students. He has received awards for both his teaching and his

research, including the Dreyfus Teacher–Scholar Awardand the 1989 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry. His hobbies include gardening, wine collecting, and assisting in the design of laboratory buildings

David L. Nelson

Professor of Biochemistry

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Michael M. Cox

Professor of Biochemistry

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Content

1 The Foundations of Biochemistry

I STRUCTURE AND CATALYSIS

2 Water

3 Amino Acids,Peptides, and Proteins

4 The Three-Dimensional Structure of Proteins

5 Protein Function

6 Enzymes

7 Carbohydrates and Glycobiology

8 Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids

9 DNA-Based Information Technologies

10 Lipids

11 Biological Membranes and Transport

12 Biosignaling

II BIOENERGETICS AND METABOLISM

13 Bioenergetics and Biochemical Reaction Types

14 Glycolysis, Gluconeogenesis, and the Pentose

Phosphate Pathway

15 Principles of Metabolic Regulation

16 The Citric Acid Cycle

17 Fatty Acid Catabolism

18 Amino Acid Oxidation and the Production of Urea

19 Oxidative Phosphorylation and Photophosphorylation

20 Carbohydrate Biosynthesis in Plants and Bacteria

21 Lipid Biosynthesis

22 Biosynthesis of Amino Acids, Nucleotides, and Related Molecules

23 Hormonal Regulation and Integration of Mammalian Metabolism

III INFORMATION PATHWAYS

24 Genes and Chromosomes

25 DNA Metabolism

26 RNA Metabolism

27 Protein Metabolism

28 Regulation of Gene Expression