Metabolic Melodies

I wrote the following three songs for the BB 451/551 class I teach at Oregon State University. At end of the quarter, I sing the songs to the class as a study aid. The parts sung by the instructor and by the class are shown below. Try them out on your classes and let me know how they work for you. Copyright 1999 Kevin Ahern

The Battle Hymn of Biochemistry

To the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Instructor Sings
By now you know the story of the respiratory stew
Where the fatty acids get chopped up in units two by two
And electrons pass through coenzymes referred to here as Q
Electrons flow along
Class Sings
Glory to electron transport
Glory to electron transport
Glory to electron transport
Electrons flow along
Instructor Sings
Eee - lectron transport complexes are working dusk to dawn
Managing electron energy they just keep passing on
And for handling the energy they get to pump protons
As the gradient marches on
Class Sings
Glory to the proton gradient
Make the mitochondry - radiant
Glory to the proton gradient
The gradient marches on
Instructor Sings
If you need a lot of energy your cells have got a way
To break fatty acids down to yield some acetyl-CoA
Going on inside peroxisomes and mitochondri "ay"
Fatty acids oxidized
Chorus
Glory, glory oxidation
It's the heart of respiration
Learn it without consternation
Fatty acids oxidized
Instructor Sings
HMG-CoA reductase leads to bits of isoprene
That link up together in the cell to synthesize terpenes
Don't forget before cholesterol you've got to make squalene
As the lipids march along
Chorus
Glory, glory to the lipids
Glory, glory to the lipids
Glory, glory to the lipids
As the lipids march along
Instructor Sings
If a bee decides to sting you when you're sitting in a daze
You had better take some aspirin for PGH synthase
Otherwise arachidonate goes to cyclic path-a-ways
And you'll start to feel the pain
Chorus
Oh, don't make the prostaglandins
Causing pain with great abandon
No, don't make the prostaglandins
You are going to feel the pain

We All Need Just a Little ATP

To the Tune of Yellow Submarine

Instructor Sings

In the cells, inside of us, there's a ribose on adenine
Which is linked, to phosphate groups, and you know it as ATP

Class Sings

If we build up a lot of ATP, we've too much energy, metabolically
If we build up a lot of ATP, we've too much energy, metabolically

Instructor Sings

And the cellular decree, calls for storing up the energy
So we save, it chemically, building acids onto ACP

Class Sings

Making fat stores a lot of energy, creates NADP, and uses ATP
Making fat stores a lot of energy, creates NADP, and uses ATP

Instructor Sings

When we need, some energy, we burn fats in little cell machines
Acids all, get shuttled in, on the backs of little carnitines

Class Sings:

We break acids every hour today, in mitochnodri-ay, to acetyl-CoA
We break acids every hour today, in mitochnodri-ay, to acetyl-CoA

Instructor Sings

One more thing, about this tune, should be remembered by, all of you
Burning fat, converts a few, FADs to FADH2s

Class Sings:

NADH is a product too, that you can surely use, when NAD's reduced
NADH is a product too, that you can surely use, when NAD's reduced

From the Labs of Biochemistry

## To the Tune of "From the Halls of Montezuma"

Everyone sings this song together.
From the fatty acids in our cells
To the lipids in our brains
We are made of biochemicals
Built in metabolic chains
Using glycolytic energy
In the form of ATP
We can synthesize most everything
With the help of Delta G
A cell will tend to pump out sodium
But potassium it imports
It accomplishes this magic with
ATPase antiports
Our bilayer lipid membranes
Protect the cells' insides
Partly made of sphingolipids
We know as gangliosides
When it comes to regulation
The little cell has got it made
It phosphorylates most everything
With its own kinase cascade
Stimulated by a hormone site
Metabolic yang and yin
It's turned on by epinephrine
And turned off by insulin

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