Editors: Pablo C. Sánchez
Index
Binding: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2007
ISBN: 1-60021-984-5
Status: AV
Book Description:
This book presents new and important research on biopolymers which are a special class of polymers produced by living organisms. Starch, proteins and peptides, DNA, and RNA are all examples of biopolymers, in which the monomer units, respectively, are sugars, amino acids, and nucleic acids.A major but defining difference between polymers and biopolymers can be found in their structures. Polymers, including biopolymers, are made of repetitive units called monomers. Biopolymers inherently have a well defined structure: The exact chemical composition and the sequence in which these units are arranged is called the primary structure. Many biopolymers spontaneously fold into characteristic compact shapes (see also “protein folding” as well as secondary structure and tertiary structure), which determine their biological functions and depend in a complicated way on their primary structures. Structural biology is the study of the structural properties of the biopolymers. In contrast most synthetic polymers have much simpler and more random (or statistic) structures.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Expert Commentary -Na + and CI – Enhanced Polymerization of the Opposite-Charged Amino Acids, pp. 3-10;
(Wang Kong-Jiang, Ren Jie, Xin Liang (Protein & Peptide Pharmaceutical Lab, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China))
Research and Review Studies
Chapter 1 – Rheological and Mechanical Properties of Biologically Inspired Nanocomposites, pp. 13-44;
(A. S. Sarvestani and E. Jabbari (Biomimetic Materials and Tissue Engineering Laboratories, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Univ. of South Carolina, USA))
Chapter 2 – Thermodynamics of a B-hairpin to Coil Transition: Application of Free Energy Decomposition and Constraint Theory, pp. 45-76;
(Donald J. Jacobs and Michael J. Fairchild (Dept. of Physics & Optical Science The Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA))
Chapter 3 – Review: Water Soluble and Insoluble Alkylderivatives of Hyaluronic Acid, pp. 77-105;
(P. Sedova, K. Knotkova, J. Dvorakova (Dolni Dobroue, Czech Republic))
Chapter 4 – Biochemical and Biophysical Basis of Genome Folding Mechanisms, pp. 107-135;
(Toshiro Kobori, Kohji Hizume, Ryosuke L. Ohniwa, Shige H. Yoshimura, Kunio Takeyasu (Laboratory of Plasma Membrane and Nuclear Signaling, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto Univ., Kyoto, Japan))
Chapter 5 – A Statistical Mechanics Designed for Biopolymers, pp. 137-165;
(Giovanni La Penna and Sara Furlan (National Research Council, Institute for Chemistry of Organo-Metallic Compounds, via Madonna del Piano, Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), Italy))
Chaper 6 – Ca-Polygalacturonate as a Useful Model to Study the Interaction of Ions at the Soil-Root Interface: Aluminium as a Case Study, pp. 167-194;
(Tanja Mimmo, Claudio Marzadori, Carlo E. Gessa (Dept. of Agroenvironmental Sciences and Technologies, Univ. of Bologna, Italy))
Chapter 7 – Chemically Modified Silk Fibroins for Biomedical Applications. Vibrational Studies, pp. 195-224;
(Paola Taddei, Patrizia Monti (Dipartimento di Biochimica “G. Moruzzi”, Sezione di Chimica e Propedeutica Biochimica, Univ. of Bologna, via Belmeloro, Bologna, Italy), Alessandra Boschi, Guiliano Freddi (Stazione Sperimentale per la Seta, via G. Colombo, Milano, Italy), Takaiuki Arai, Masuhiro Tsukada (Organization of National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Oowashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan))
Chapter 8 – Application of Principles of Optical Anisotropies and Image Analysis to the Investigation of Molecular Packing, Crystallinity, Spatial Organization and Three-Dimensional Topography in Collagen Fibers from Porcine Cornea, pp. 225-242;
(Marcela Aldrovani and Benedicto de Campos Vidal (Dept. of Cell Biology, Institute of Biology, Univ. Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brasil))
Chapter 9 – Optical Anisotrophy Properties and Structural Characteristics of Wrap-Around Chicken Tendons, pp. 243-260;
(Flavia de Paoli and Benedicto de Campos Vidal (Dept. of Cell Biology, Biology Institute, Campinas State Univ.-UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil))
