Biochemistry

Citation

Miesfeld, R. L., & McEvoy, M. M. (2021). Biochemistry (2nd ed.). W. W. Norton.

Chapter Summary

The second edition has 23 chapters in five parts and runs to about 1,400 pages. The authors, who teach at the University of Arizona and the University of California, Los Angeles, present the book as organized around three big themes: structure-function relationships, the interdependence of energy conversion processes, and the role of signal transduction in metabolic regulation. The publisher also says the text uses "everyday biochemistry" examples to show why topics matter.

Part 1: Principles of Biochemistry (Chapters 1–3)

Chapter 1, "Principles of Biochemistry", is followed by "Physical Biochemistry: Energy Conversion, Water, and Membranes" (Chapter 2) and "Nucleic Acid Structure and Function" (Chapter 3). Energy conversion, water and membranes therefore come together in one early chapter, and nucleic acids are introduced before proteins.

Part 2: Protein Biochemistry (Chapters 4–8)

The part moves from "Protein Structure" (4) to "Methods in Protein Biochemistry" (5), "Protein Function" (6) and "Enzyme Mechanisms" (7). It ends with "Cell Signaling Systems" (8), so signaling is introduced before metabolism rather than after it.

Part 3: Energy Conversion Pathways (Chapters 9–12)

Four chapters follow the flow of energy: "Glycolysis: A Paradigm of Metabolic Regulation" (9), "The Citrate Cycle" (10), "Oxidative Phosphorylation" (11) and "Photosynthesis" (12). The title of Chapter 9 shows that glycolysis is used to introduce how a pathway is regulated, and not only what its steps are.

Part 4: Metabolic Regulation (Chapters 13–19)

The part covers "Carbohydrate Structure and Function" (13) and "Carbohydrate Metabolism" (14), "Lipid Structure and Function" (15) and "Lipid Metabolism" (16), "Amino Acid Metabolism" (17) and "Nucleotide Metabolism" (18), and ends with "Metabolic Integration" (19). Carbohydrates and lipids are each taken as a structure chapter followed by a metabolism chapter, amino acids and nucleotides get a metabolism chapter each (their structures appear earlier, in Chapters 3 and 4), and the final chapter draws the pathways together.

Part 5: Genomic Regulation (Chapters 20–23)

The book closes with the biochemistry of information flow: "DNA Replication, Repair, and Recombination" (20), "RNA Synthesis, Processing, and Gene Silencing" (21), "Protein Synthesis, Posttranslational Modification, and Transport" (22) and "Gene Regulation" (23).

Key Concepts

Parts 1–2: Principles and Protein Biochemistry

• Structure-function relationships: one of the three big themes the publisher names, developed through Chapters 4 to 7.
• Enzyme mechanisms: how enzymes catalyze reactions (Chapter 7); the publisher says the second edition places new emphasis on the chemical mechanisms underlying biological processes.
• Cell signaling systems: the pathways of Chapter 8, introduced ahead of metabolism.

Parts 3–4: Energy Conversion and Metabolic Regulation

• Metabolic regulation: the control of pathways, which Chapter 9 introduces through glycolysis.
• Energy conversion: the coupling of glycolysis, the citrate cycle, oxidative phosphorylation and photosynthesis (Chapters 9 to 12).
• Metabolic integration: how carbohydrate, lipid, amino acid and nucleotide metabolism are coordinated (Chapter 19).

Part 5: Genomic Regulation

• Gene silencing: placed in Chapter 21 beside RNA synthesis and processing.
• Posttranslational modification and transport: part of the protein synthesis chapter (22).
• Gene regulation: the book's final chapter (23).

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Stated focus on teaching, not reference. The publisher says that the authors wrote for an undergraduate audience, in contrast to textbooks it describes as encyclopedias for instructors, and that the book emphasizes big themes rather than exhaustive coverage. This is the publisher's own framing.
• Mechanism and context in one text. The publisher's description combines "everyday biochemistry" examples with a balance of biology and chemistry, and the second edition adds "Your Turn" critical-thinking exercises and coverage of CRISPR and cryo-EM. The contents match this: Part 2 gives enzyme mechanisms a chapter, and cell signaling and metabolic integration have chapters of their own.
• A recognizable structure for review. Carbohydrates and lipids in Part 4 each have a pair of chapters (structure and function, then metabolism), and the energy pathways in Part 3 are grouped, which makes it easy to review one pathway family at a time.
• Digital extras. The ebook includes animated 3D molecules and the Smartwork course has molecular viewer questions, which help with the structure-function theme.

Limitations

• Very long. About 1,400 pages across 23 chapters is more than a one-semester course will cover in full, and the contents mark no chapters as optional, so instructors and self-study readers must decide what to omit.
• Prerequisites are not stated on the publisher page. The emphasis on chemical mechanisms suggests that general chemistry is needed and that organic chemistry will help, but this is an inference from the contents and the description of expanded chemistry-focused questions, not a stated requirement.
• Quality claims are the publisher's. The descriptions of readability and visual quality come from the publisher; check a sample chapter before adopting the book.
• Signaling comes early. Putting cell signaling in Chapter 8, before metabolism, helps the regulation theme, but readers will meet signal transduction before the pathways it regulates.

Where It Fits in the Course

Miesfeld and McEvoy is a main text for an undergraduate biochemistry course that wants chemistry and biology balanced. Within this list, the closest alternatives are Fundamentals of Biochemistry by Voet, Voet and Pratt, which treats the subject with chemical rigor and uses thermodynamics and reaction mechanisms throughout, and Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, a comprehensive treatment. Miesfeld and McEvoy puts its weight on the publisher's themes of structure-function, energy conversion and signaling, and on everyday examples.

For a lighter starting point, Trudy McKee and James McKee's Biochemistry: The Molecular Basis of Life is written for students with a limited chemistry background, and Pratt and Cornely's Essential Biochemistry is a concise text designed for a one-semester first course. The Molecules of Life by Kuriyan, Konforti and Wemmer explains biochemistry through the physical chemistry of macromolecules and suits readers who want the thermodynamic and kinetic side after a first course.

How to Use This Book

The book is for undergraduates in biology, biochemistry, chemistry and pre-health programmes taking a one- or two-semester biochemistry course. Readers should have general chemistry; the emphasis on mechanism makes organic chemistry useful.

A practical plan is to take Parts 1 and 2 as the foundation, giving the most time to Chapters 4, 6 and 7 (protein structure, function and enzyme mechanisms) and treating Chapter 5 as a methods reference. Part 3 and the metabolism chapters of Part 4 (9 to 12, 14, 16 to 19) form the metabolic core of a typical course; the structure chapters 13 and 15 can be read as a lead-in to each metabolism chapter. Part 5 can be taught with a molecular biology course, or used as a consolidation of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis.

When studying, redraw each pathway and mark its control points, using the regulation theme of Chapter 9 as a template for the rest. Work the "Your Turn" exercises, and if the ebook is available, use the 3D molecule views alongside Chapters 4, 6 and 7.