503166 - METAL PROTEIN CHEMISTRY

courses

ID:

503166

Duration (hours):

48

CFU:

SSD:

CHIMICA GENERALE E INORGANICA

Year:

2025

Date/time interval

Primo Semestre (24/09/2025 - 16/01/2026)

Course Objectives

Module 1:
The module aims to describe the structural basis for understanding the mechanisms of action of proteins and enzymes containing metal centers as heme iron, non-heme iron, copper, zinc and calcium, as well as the factors that determine the specific use of the metals.

Module 2 aims at describing advanced aspects of metalloproteins
and metalloenzymes mechanisms of action. The enzymatic mechanism
will be described including a detailed description of how the catalytic center evolves towards active intermediates of the catalytic process.

Course Prerequisites

Knowledge of chemistry provided in the courses of General and Inorganic Chemistry and Organic Chemistry of the bachelor degree in Biotechnology.

Teaching Methods

Interactive lectures carried out by projection of slides and handouts provided to students as teaching material and in-depth analysis on the blackboard. Additional lessons on coordination chemistry and molecular orbitals are provided for students of the Master's Degree in Advanced Biotechnology who have not attended the Bioinorganic Chemistry course in the bachelor degree.
The course does not include practical exercises.

Assessment Methods

There will be a single oral examination relating to the two modules of the course. In particular, as regards Module 1, one or two questions (numerical data or specific chemical reactions used only as examples in the handouts are not required) relating to the topics covered in class; as regards Module 2, the student will have to describe in detail a metalloprotein (chosen by the teacher) for each of the four classes (heme iron, non-heme iron, copper, zinc), paying particular attention to the coordination of the metal site and, in the case of enzymes, to the catalyzed reaction and to the catalytic cycle.

Texts

Le slides e le dispense del corso sono inserite in KIRO.

Module 1 - The main topics covered in the module are as follows: introduction to bioinorganic chemistry, mechanisms of metal transporter, essential metals, structure and function of proteins, metal complexes with amino acids, peptides, and proteins, metal catalysis, processes of insertion of metal cofactors into proteins, biochemistry of alkali and alkaline earthy metals, calcium-proteins; properties and reactivity of oxygen, metal-dioxygen complexes (iron-porphyrins, copper, cobalt).

Module 2 - The course will describe the chemical and biological properties of proteins and enzymes containing heme, non-heme iron, copper and zinc
cofactors. The main focus will be the description of the following biological processes and reactions: oxygen transport (hemoglobin/myoglobin, hemocyanin), cellular respiration (cytochrome c oxidase), hydrolysis reactions (hydrolases containing zinc) and more generally biological oxidations (peroxidases, cytochrome P450 , tyrosinase, etc.).

Course Language

Italian

More information

Up to 2 hours of reception per week (also online) with flexibility according to needs, support through tutoring/supplementary teaching, and video recordings of specific lessons including exam simulations will be guaranteed for students who cannot follow the teaching activities face-to-face because they are in one of the following (certified) conditions: working student, student engaged in the care of his family members, student with civil or specific learning disabilities, parent student, athlete student, student in prison, student in temporary hospitalization or suffering from certified pathologies.