Enzymes of kings

Abstract

Author: Kate O’Toole, Eladio Abreu, Alex Escobar  

Title: Enzymes of Kings 

This activity is designed to introduce the mechanisms underlying enzymatic catalysis and culminates in application of this new content knowledge through exploration of metabolic changes that occur in Gout “the disease of kings”. The authors have used this activity for several years in an introductory biology course and an upper division biochemistry course for undergraduate biology major students. In introductory biology this topic is the introduction to a module on cellular metabolism that is covered near the end of the semester. Process skills include critical thinking as students are asked to apply their knowledge and build upon existing models and interpersonal communication in synthesizing individual answers to come to a group consensus.