This undergraduate textbook describes the structure and function of the major classes of cellular constituents, and explains the physical, chemical, and biological context in which each biomolecule, reaction, and pathway operates.

MAJOR RECENT ADVANCES IN BIOCHEMISTRY
Thoroughly revised throughout, the new edition incorporates new research on the
expanded role of RNA in biology, hormonal regulation of metabolism and its relation to obesity and diabetes, new methods in bioinformatics, and the application of biochemistry to medicine, forensics, and agriculture. New discussions include:
--Introduction to proteomes and proteomics (Chapter 1)
--Amyloid diseases in the context of protein folding (Chapter 4)
--Pharmaceuticals developed from an understanding of enzyme mechanism, using penicillin and HIV protease inhibitors as examples (Chapter 6)
--Sugar analogs as drugs that target viral neuraminidase (Chapter 7)
--Green fluorescent protein (Chapter 9)
--Lipidomics (Chapter 10)
--Volatile lipids used as signals by plants, and pigments of bird feathers derived from colored lipids in plant foods (Chapter 10)
--Lipid rafts and caveolae (Chapter 11)
--The emerging role of ribulose 5-phosphate as central regulator of glycolysis and gluconeogenesis (Chapter 15)
--Moonlighting Enzymes: Proteins with More Than One Job (Box 16-1)
--The role of transcription factors (PPARs) in regulation of lipid catabolism (Chapter 17)
--Fatty acid synthase, including new structural information on FAS I (Chapter 21)
--Epigenetics, Nucleosome Structure, and Histone Variants, on the role of histone modification and nucleosome deposition in the transmission of epigenetic information in heredity (Box 24-2)
--Initiation of replication and the dynamics at the replication fork, introducing AAA+ ATPases and their functions in replication and other aspects of DNA metabolism (Chapter 25)
--The roles of RNA in cells (Chapter 26)
--The roles of RNA in protein biosynthesis (Chapter 27)
--Riboswitches (Chapter 28)
--Of Fins, Wings, Beaks, and Things, on the connections between evolution and development (Box 28-1)