KIVO Med
Amino-acid metabolism
Follow amino-acid nitrogen and carbon skeletons through catabolism, synthesis, and representative aminoacidopathies.
- 84 explained questions
- 33 flashcards
- 295 estimated course minutes
Updated
What you will learn
- Relate protein digestion and absorption to amino-acid catabolism.
- Explain transamination, deamination, ammonia transport, and the urea cycle.
- Classify amino acids by the fate of their carbon skeleton.
- Describe biosynthetic families and representative inherited disorders.
Course outline
Orienting amino-acid metabolism
An overview places nitrogen catabolism, carbon-skeleton fates, and amino-acid synthesis on one map.
8 min
Protein digestion and absorption
Gastric and intestinal proteases reduce proteins to absorbable amino acids and small peptides.
18 min
Removal of the amino group
Transamination, deamination, and deamidation funnel amino-acid nitrogen toward ammonia.
24 min
Ammonia transport and disposal
Glutamine, alanine, urea, and ammonium move and detoxify neurotoxic ammonia.
20 min
The urea cycle
Hepatic ureogenesis converts ammonia to urea through five mitochondrial and cytosolic reactions.
25 min
Urea-cycle regulation and deficiencies
Substrate supply, hormones, N-acetylglutamate, and enzyme deficiencies modulate ureogenesis.
34 min
Carbon-skeleton fates
After nitrogen removal, carbon skeletons converge on seven glucogenic, ketogenic, or mixed intermediates.
34 min
Decarboxylation and bioactive amines
PLP-dependent decarboxylases release CO₂ and form amines with distinct physiological roles.
12 min
Synthesis and biosynthetic families
Central-metabolism precursors organise amino acids into six families, after which specific reactions build each member.
42 min
Glutamine: nitrogen shuttle and cellular fuel
Glutamine connects peripheral production, blood transport, nitrogen disposal, and carbon use across several organs.
36 min
Aminoacidopathies: reasoning from the metabolic block to the patient
Understand separately the enzyme deficiencies and transport defects that cause amino acids or their derivatives to accumulate.
42 min
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In the same subject
Amino acids: structure, properties, and study methods
From the units of proteins to their reactions and analytical separation, this course establishes the framework needed to reason about amino acids.
Peptides: bonds, properties and analysis
Build, represent and analyse a peptide, from its amide bond to its biological roles.
Proteins
From amino-acid sequence to purification and sequencing, linking protein structure to physicochemical properties and function.