Human organism needs energy to carry out vital processes, to play sports, or simply to sleep ... And food is the only source of energy for the human organism.

In this course,students will learn the metabolic processes that occur with nutrients after eating them until the body uses them to get energy. In addition,students will learn that all these processes are regulated, so they occur at the time and extent and in the place when and where they are required.

To understand metabolic regulation, it is necessary to know how enzymes (proteins) are synthesized, how their synthesis is regulated, how their activity is adjusted to the needs of each organ and tissue, and how all this is coordinated in order to satisfy the needs of the organism, as a whole, at any time of the day. That is, you will understand how the metabolism adapts throughout the day, in the cycles of feeding and fasting; and, in the longer term, how metabolism adapts to different physiological and pathophysiological situations (eg, diets to lose weight or prolonged fasting).

-Know different mechamism for metabolic regulation.

-Understand the structure and metabolism of macromolecules that are the basis of genetic information.

-Understand the relationship between gene expression and the metabolic condition of the cell, and, by the way, understand how this expression affects the state of the organism and its nutritional needs.

-Know the metabolic function of each human organ and tissue.

-Predict metabolic changes and adaptations of the organism to different nutritional state.

-To be able to analyze the genetic material and the results of its expression and to interpret the results obtained in the analyses.

-Have the ability to search, critique and explain information on any subject related to the regulation, control and integration of metabolism.

-Understand how food components, through changes in gene expression, can control metabolism.

-Know the mechanims by which food controls the metabolic processes by changes in gene expression.

1.Introduction to the course:Planning. Programme. Evaluation system. Tasks. Bibliography.



PART 1. METABOLISM OF NUCLEIC ACIDS AND PROTEINS

2. STRUCTURE OF NUCLEIC ACIDS. Primary structure. DNA secondary structure.

DNA supercoiling. Nucleosomes. Chromatin. Human Genome organization.

3. METABOLISM OF AMINOACIDS AND NUCLEOTIDES. Routes of synthesis and degradation.

4. DNA REPLICATION. General characteristics. Enzymes and phases. Replication in eukaryotic cells.

5. ESTRUCTURE OF RNA. RNA types and functions.

6. TRANSCRIPTION. General characteristics. Structure of genes. Transcription enzymes and phases.

7. MATURATION OF THE RNA. Primary transcripts. Maturation of mRNA precursors in eukaryotic cells. tRNA and rRNA processing.

8. TRANSLATION. Genetic code. General characteristics. Amino acids activation.

9. SYNTHESIS OF PROTEINS II. Initiation, elongation and termination.

10. MATURATION, FATE AND DEGRADATION OF PROTEINS. Protein processing. Polypeptide chain folding. Protein destination. Degradation.

11. MUTATION AND DNA REPAIR MECHANISMS. DNA molecules modifications: types causes and consequences. Methods to repair the DNA. Physiologic polymorphisms. Mutations and pathologic polymorphisms.



PART 2. REGULATION OF GENE EXPRESSION

12. REGULATION OF GENE EXPRESSION I. General concepts. Transcription factors. Negative and positive models for gene regulation. Regulation in prokaryotes. Operon model.

13. REGULATION OF GENE EXPRESSION IN EUKARYOTES. Eukaryotic promotors and enhancers. Epigenetic regulation, chromatin restructuration and gene silencing. Regulators RNA.



PART 3. METABOLIC CONTROL

14. METABOLIC REGULATION. AN OVERVIEW. Systems and levels for metabolic regulation.

15. METABOLIC SPECIALIZATION OF HUMAN ORGAN AND TISSUES. Circulatory system. Liver. Brain. Adipose tissue. Muscle.

16. HORMONAL METABOLIC REGULATION. Hormones that control the metabolism. Types. Hormonal receptors. Secondary messengers. Short term and long term regulation mechanisms.

17. ADAPTATIONS OF THE ENERGETIC METABOLISM. Feeding-fasting cycles. Stress conditions. Diets.



PART 4. NUTRIGENOMIC

18. NUTRIGENOMIC AND NUTRIGENETIC. Definitions and objectives.

19. Nutritional factors and gene expression regulation. Gene-nutrient interactions.

20. Applications of nutrigenomic. Advances. Public Health. Applications in medicine. Applications in food industry. Legal aspects.



PRACTICAL PROGRAMME

LABORATORY PRACTICES

1. DNA extraction, characterization and quantification.

2. STR polymorphism analysis by PCR.

3. Analysis of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isozymes.



COMPUTER PRACTICES

Nutrigenomic applications.

The theoretical contents of the course will be developed in master classes. During these classes, lecturers or professors will raise questions or exercises that the students will have to solve within the period established by teachers.

The laboratory practices will consist of three practical sessions of four hours each.

Previously, the student must read the laboratory protocols and answer a questionnaire.At the end of the laboratory practice period, the student will have to submit a practice report and take an exam.

The computer practices will be carried out in 1 session od three hours. At the end, the students must submit a report on the work done.

• Continuous Assessment System
• Final Assessment System
• Tools and qualification percentages:
  • Written test to be taken (%): 10
  • Multiple-Choice Test (%): 50
  • Realization of Practical Work (exercises, cases or problems) (%): 20
  • Individual works (%): 10
  • Team projects (problem solving, project design)) (%): 10

FINAL THEORY EXAM

It will be about the topics covered in the theoretical classes and will consist in two parts. One part will consist in a multiple choice questions exam. This exam will account for 50% of the final score.

Another part will consist of questions to be short-answered. This will account for 10% of the final score.

To pass the theory exam, it will be necessary to pass both parts. To do this, 60% of the multiple choice questions exam and half of the short-answer questions must be answered correctly.

It will account for 60% of the final grade for the course.

In the case the exam could not be make on-site, it will be done online, using the digital tools and platforms available in UPV/EHU.



EVALUATION OF PRACTICES

The completion of the laboratory practices will be compulsory.

Previous questionnaire: 5% of the final grade; Report: 5% of final grade

Students who do not carry out the laboratory practices must take a laboratory examination.

Practice exam: 10% of the final grade.

Computer practice report: 10% of the final grade.



QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASSROOM AND OUT THE CLASSROOM

The lecturer/professor will periodically raise questions and propose activities to be performed in class or at home. Some of them should be done individually and others in groups.

All these activities will be designed to facilitate understanding and learning of the course topics.

Participating in these activities will account for 15% of the final grade.



All students have the right to obtain 100% of the grade through a single final exam. For that, student have to request it before the 9th week of the semester.

This exam will include theoretical and practical content and will be longer and more complete than the normal exam. In any case, laboratory practices will be mandatory. If they are not done, the final exam will include a laboratory exam.



In any case, not taking the exam on the official date of the call will automatically mean the resignation of the corresponding call and will be classified as "not presented".

In the extraordinary call, the exam and criteria for passing it will be the same as those described for the ordinary call. If in the ordinary call the theoretical or practical part of the exam is passed, in the extraordinary call only the exam corresponding to the suspended part will be carried out

Usual safety equipment for laboratory practices (gown, glasses).

Basic bibliography

-Frayn KN, Frayn KN. Metabolic Regulation : A Human Perspective. 3rd ed. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010.

-Nelson DL, Cox MM, Hoskins AA. Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. 8th ed. New York: Macmillan Learning; 2021.

-Devlin TM, Devlin TM. Textbook of Biochemistry : With Clinical Correlations. 7th ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons; 2011.

-Herraez, A. “Biología Molecular e Ingeniería Genétia. Conceptos, Técnicas y Aplicaciones en Ciencias de la Salud” Elsevier Ed. Barcelona, 2012

- Gil Hernandez, A. “Tratado de Nutrición. Tomo I: Bases fisiológicas y bioquímicas de la Nutrición” (2.edición) 2010 Editorial Médica Panamericana.

In-depth bibliography

-Berg JM, Gatto GJ, Stryer L, Tymoczko JL. Biochemistry. 9th ed. New York: McMillan International; 2019.
-Voet D, Voet JG, Voet JG, Pratt CW, Pratt CW, Voet D. Fundamentals of Biochemistry : Life at the Molecular Level. 5th ed. New York: Wiley; 2016.
-Lodish H, Lodish H. Molecular Cell Biology. 8th ed. New York: W. H. Freeman; 2016.
- Lozano, J.A.; Galindo, J.D.; Garcia-Borrón, J.C.; Martínez-Liarte, J.H.; Peñafiel, R. y Solano, F. Bioquímica y Biología Molecular para las ciencias de la salud. 3ª edición. Editorial MacGraw-Hill Interamericana. Madrid, 2005. http://www.mcgraw-hill.es
- Mataix J. (2009) Nutrición y Alimentación Humana. 2ª Ed. Ergon, Madrid.
- Ordovas JM, Carmena R. Nutrigenética y nutrigenómica. En: Revista Humanitas. Humanidades médicas, monografía nº 9, 2004. ISSN 1696-0327.

Web addresses

http://w3.cnice.mec.es/proyectos/genetica/precarga.swf
http://www.ehu.es/biomoleculas/an/tema12.htm
http://www.edumedia-sciences.com/m218_l2-molecular-biology.html
http://www.biorom.uma.es/contenido/av_bma/apuntes/T15/transpo.htm
http://sebbm.bq.ub.es/privt/ens/apuntes/umhregmetabol.pdf