Abstract:

The 21st century witnesses the most rapid development of life science and computer science. As the core of current scientific research, chemistry forms an integration in close combination with other subjects including biology and information science. With the appearance and development of various interdisciplinary subjects, integrating the methodology of computer science and organic chemistry is becoming one of the main trends to understand biomacromolecules and then to solve problems in life science. Therefore, it is also enterprising and necessary to introduce relative contents to fundamental biochemistry and chemical biology education. An organic experiment has been designed and carried out, right at the time point, for the undergraduate education with chemistry related majors based on a commonly used software named as "PyMOL". The experiment allows students to study the three-dimensional structure of a typical enzyme and with their solid understanding of organic chemistry mechanisms to investigate how the enzyme can catalyze a specific reaction. As a combination of multiple fields as organic chemistry, biochemistry, bioinformatics, protein structural biology, etc., this experimental design can largely enhance the students' understanding of higher-order protein structures, which lays the foundation of the biochemistry education and research. This experiment kills two birds with one stone, since it can also greatly intrigue students in chemistry learning. This is important to train all the promising students of interdisciplinary majors to initiate their innovative study. It's worthy to be introduced to bioorganic experimental design in China.

Key words: PyMOL, Bioinformatics, Decarboxylase, Diphosphomevalonate, Undergraduate experiment