Judith G. Voet

Time flies when you're having fun

It is hard to believe that this is the beginning of the 10th year that we are editing Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (BAMBED). It seems like only yesterday that we took over from Ed Wood, who at that time had been the Editor for 22 years. This seems an appropriate time to look back over those years and account for what has happened since then in the biochemistry/molecular biology (BMB) education community, and to look at where the field might be headed in the future. In 1999, as we were considering taking over from Ed, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) sponsored a satellite session on BMB Education at the San Francisco ASBMB/International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology joint meeting. This session was so successful that it stimulated rapid growth in this community generating a burst of new scholarship in teaching and learning in this area. BAMBED increased in size from a quarterly to a bimonthly journal in response to this growth. During the past 10 years there has been an enormous shift in the style of laboratory education. In this issue of BAMBED, we have a special feature section, Innovative Laboratory Exercises, put together by Rodney Boyer and Adele Wolfson, with a commentary written by these editors [1]. Last year, we began a series of articles on Bridging the Gap Between Science Education Research and Teaching Practice, by Trevor Anderson. He has been focusing on assessment. The most recent article in this series, ‘‘Conceptual understanding, Part 2: Assessing and developing student knowledge’’ by Konrad Schönborn and Trevor Anderson, was published in this past Sept/Oct issue [2]. We have published a series of Metabolic Minimaps by Donald Nicholson as well as Miniseries on Modern Metabolic Concepts and Pathways to Discovery with the enormous help of Richard Hanson. One of our historical reviews is ‘‘The wandering pathway to determining N to C synthesis of proteins: Some recollections concerning protein structure and biosynthesis’’ by Howard M. Dintzis [3]. We often publish topical reviews by experts in the field that contain information of interest to educators that is unlikely to be in text books. Such a review is in this issue: ‘‘DNATopology and Topoisomerases: Teaching a ‘Knotty’ Subject,’’ by JosephDeweese,Michael Osheroff, andNeil Osheroff [4]. We have added a new section called The Lighter Side, a place for songs, poems, and other whimsical forms of biochemistry and molecular biology content. A major portion of this section so far has been contributed by Kevin Ahern with his Metabolic Melodies., e.g. ‘‘Central Dogma Zen (To the tune of ‘Those Were the Days’)’’ by Indira Rajagopal and Kevin Ahern, which appears in this issue. Hal White has been the Problem-based Learning (PBL) Feature Editor since 2000. He has written a wonderful series of commentaries and has been a great guide to PBL. He has worked tirelessly with Jozsef Szeberenyi, who contributes a problem-based test for every issue. In this issue, check out his test on The Mechanism of Protein Synthesis. Graham Parslow continues to write a commentary for every issue that focuses on our feature of Multimedia in BMB Education. He also compiles a set of Websites of Note for each issue, providing a review of each site to assist us in our searches. Our feature on Biotechnology Education is edited by Sheldon Schuster, President of the Keck Graduate Institute. Several times a year he provides a commentary on this important subject. What future initiatives should the Journal undertake? We hope to develop a community-based website where interested readers can post comments to the published articles and where peer-reviewed multimedia materials can be accessed freely. We also think it is important to expand the coverage of innovative forms of BMB Education by changing the feature section on Problem-Based Learning to include many other forms of education. We have already published a comparison of many of these techniques [5]. We welcome ideas from our readers on new directions.

The Mercury Resistance (Mer) Operon In A Marine Gliding Flavobacterium, Tenacibaculum Discolor 9a5

Genes conferring mercury resistance have been investigated in a variety of bacteria and archaea but not in bacteria of the phylum Bacteroidetes, despite their importance in many environments. We found, however, that a marine gliding Bacteroidetes species, Tenacibaculum discolor, was the predominant mercury-resistant bacterial taxon cultured from a salt marsh fertilized with mercury-contaminated sewage sludge. Here we report characterization of the mercuric reductase and the narrow-spectrum mercury resistance (mer) operon from one of these strains - T. discolor 9A5. This mer operon, which confers mercury resistance when cloned into Flavobacterium johnsoniae, encodes a novel mercury-responsive ArsR/SmtB family transcriptional regulator that appears to have evolved independently from other mercury-responsive regulators, a novel putative transport protein consisting of a fusion between the integral membrane Hg(II) transporter MerT and the periplasmic Hg(II)-binding protein MerP, an additional MerP protein, and a mercuric reductase that is phylogenetically distinct from other known mercuric reductases.

Electrostatic control of enzyme reactions: The mechanism of inhibition of glucose oxidase by putrescine☆

The interaction of putrescine dihydrochloride with glucose oxidase is reported. At pH 7.65 glucose oxidase is strongly anionic (Z = -80). The pKa of an essential acidic group on the reduced form of the enzyme is extremely sensitive to ionic strength, as predicted by simple electrostatic theory [J. G. Voet, J. Coe, J. Epstein, V. Matossian, and T. Shipley (1981) Biochemistry 20, 7182-7185]. Putrescine dihydrochloride was found to inhibit glucose oxidase at pH 7.65 at a constant ionic strength of 0.05. The kinetics do not obey simple competitive inhibition, however. The data can best be explained by a model in which change in the electrostatic potential of the enzyme on putrescine binding changes the observed pKa of the essential acidic group. The pH dependence of putrescine inhibition supports this interpretation. At I = 0.05, 5 mM putrescine was found to change the pKa of the essential acidic group from 7.6 to 7.1. The shift in the pKa as a function of putrescine concentration at pH 7.7 and I = 0.05 also supports the model presented. The Ka for putrescine to the active form of the enzyme was calculated to be 4.2 mM.

Student centered education.

Children are able to achieve sophisticated learning without teachers. Such is the main message of the “hole in the wall” tests that have led to the concept of “self-organized learning environments” (SOLEs) [1]. “Hole in the wall” refers to “computers set up in public places such as streets and playgrounds for unsupervised use by children.” There have been numerous trials developed in remote places in countries such as India, Bhutan, and the Republic of Central Africa, in which “kiosks” with computers connected to the internet have been set up for whoever wishes to use them. In a number of experiments, this “minimally invasive education” has been demonstrated to result in surprising learning achievements in children, in subjects such as English language, computer processing, and molecular biology [2]. What is fascinating about the concept is that all learning happens with no teaching by teachers. Remarkably, test performances of students who have learned in SOLE may match those of students who have learned in schools, suggesting that schools and SOLEs can result in identical learning [3]. Sugata Mitra, the author of the experiments provides several lines of argument to the benefit of SOLE that also apply to higher education. He considers that schools are obsolete as they prepare citizens to fulfill certain specific and defined professional roles. Given the fast pace in which professions change nowadays, even the most dynamic schools may be preparing graduates to work in the past. Another strong argument is that nowadays, students access learning materials not from what teachers select as study materials, but too often through individual browsing with mobile devices and tablets. Students are often excited with what “the cloud” has to offer, and relatively unexcited with what the school has programmed for them. There is a social networking explosion happening today. Students are often learning online with one another, as members of educational communities. Dr. Mitra’s last argument is that we may be running into a future in which one who knows the information is not as well prepared to succeed as one who is proficient in accessing and quickly incorporating reliable information into pre-exiting knowledge: “knowing is obsolete.” Learning, according to Dr. Mitra, is a product of a selforganizational educational process. “It is not about making learning happen, it is about letting it happen.” Within a SOLE paradigm, power would shift decisively to students, as all choices—study resources, examples that might be used in class, criteria to be applied to measure a certain course proficiency—would be made by students. What may the SOLE paradigm offer to paradigms of student-centered education? Student-centered education is about teachers investing in the development of the learners’ potential rather than in selecting the absolute chunks of content to pass on to students. It is about using teaching strategies that consider the students’ needs and interests, confer more power to students, assign new roles for the teacher and, last but not least, make students take responsibility for their own learning. The student-centered paradigm emerged as an alternative to the so called “traditional” or “teacher-centered” instruction. Even though the two paradigms are fundamentally different, they share important characteristics. Both paradigms depend on a physical infrastructure—the school, the university—where teachers and students meet in classrooms, rely on teachers to define the course’s program— outcomes, objectives, content, curriculum, and so forth— and assessments. Even though the two paradigms see the teachers and students very differently, the existence of the two roles is quintessential for both: teachers must teach somehow so students can learn. This is true for any of the established student-centered educational approaches—such as Team Based Learning, Peer Instruction, or Problem Based Learning. None considers the possibility of no teaching delivered by teachers or that of no teachers at all. The SOLE projects and derived research show that children who were not educated with computers may learn by themselves, if they are given access to the world wide web. If this is possible for children in remote countries, what can *Address for correspondence to: Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), ICVS/3B’s—PT Government Associate Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Gualtar Campus, Braga, Portugal. E-mail: mmcosta@ecsaude.uminho.pt. Received 17 January 2014; Accepted 20 January 2014 DOI 10.1002/bmb.20781 Published online 12 February 2014 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) Self-organized Learning Environments and the Future of Student-centered Education

Comparison of Stopped Flow and Steady State Kinetics in the Reaction of D-Amino-Acid Oxidase with β-Chloroalanine

We describe anaerobic stopped-flow monitored interactions of D-B-chloroalanine with D-amino acid oxidase and show that the kinetics of absorbance changes at 550 nm due to enzyme-bound intermediates can not be correlated with steady state turnover behavior unless it is assumed that only a small fraction of the enzyme directly participates in the α-β elimination process.

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (BAMBEd).

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (BAMBED is a journal that is a publication of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) and is published by the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB). BAMBED, as its name indicates, publishes articles of interest to educators in biochemistry and molecular biology. These include invited reviews on subjects not yet in textbooks, discussions of curricular development, new laboratory exercises, and articles on educational research. BAMBED also publishes Features on Problem-Based Learning (PBL), Biotechnology Education, and Multimedia in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education. An important aspect of these articles is that their educational effectiveness must be assessed. I shall discuss in greater detail the types of articles that BAMBED publishes and the criteria used for accepting them for publication. Conference attendees are encouraged to submit articles to BAMBED.

Good news for BAMBED readers and authors: Medline, wiley early view, and author services

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (BAMBED) has been published by John Wiley and Sons for the past five years. During that time, we have been integrated into the Wiley publication system and have had articles become freely available online after a twoyear hold. We have also digitized the entire BAMBED archive, back to its original publication as a newsletter in 1972 and have it freely accessible in searchable format on the BAMBED website (www.bambed.org). Now, we have three even more exciting pieces of news to report:

Communication through illustration: The work of David Goodsell

Communication in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology requires enormous amounts of visualization. Our primary literature and textbooks are filled with graphs, figures, schemes, models, and illustrations attempting to convey an understanding of what the biological world looks like and how it works. The teaching and learning of biochemistry and molecular biology require use of these illustrative techniques. Creating good illustrations requires a special talent in both science and art. This issue of BAMBED begins with the first installment of a series of articles by David S. Goodsell entitled ‘‘Illustrating the Machinery of Life’’. D. S. Goodsell, an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, whose research interests include computer-aided drug design and symmetry in protein function, is the author of Bionanotechnology: Lessons From Nature (J. Wiley and Sons, 2004), Our Molecular Nature: The Body’s Motors, Machines, and Messages (Springer-Verlag, 1996), and The Machinery of Life (Springer, 1993), which has just appeared in its second edition (Springer, April 21, 2009). His recent biomolecular artwork can be viewed at http://mgl.scripps.edu/people/goodsell/illustration. His illustrations also grace the RCSB* Protein Data Bank website (http://www.pdb.org), where he is the author of the Molecule of the Month. One of us (J. G. V.) remembers being awestruck many years ago on first sight of Goodsell’s illustration of the cross section of an Escherichia coli cell. His illustrative style is unique in trying to represent the cell’s three-dimensional environment in all its space-filling detail in a two-dimensional image. It communicated in no uncertain terms how packed the cytoplasm of a cell is with molecules of different shapes and functions. The illustrations presented in the new edition of The Machinery of Life represent an enormous amount of scientific research, in establishing the information necessary to understand the structure as well as in collecting this information and distilling and explaining it in visual form. Goodsell has volunteered to write a series of articles for BAMBED in which he describes the research that he has collected and integrated into several of his illustrations, showing how his work illuminates the junction between science and art. In this issue of BAMBED, we begin with the neuromuscular synapse. We will continue the series in coming issues with more of his remarkable work. We hope these articles will demonstrate the importance of scientific as well as artistic talent in the production of such illustrations and will encourage others with such talents to realize that scholarship takes many forms. Good illustrations are an extremely valuable means of communication and provide an enormous aid to the teaching and learning of biochemistry and molecular biology.

The American Society for Biochemistry and molecular biology interest in education

This is the centennial year of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB). It was founded as a biochemical research society and has as its motto “Promoting understanding of the molecular nature of life processes.” Scientific research communication is the first order of business of the Society, with the founding of its premier journal, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, actually predating the founding of the Society by one year. The present mission statement of the organization, found at its website (www.asbmb.org), includes a strong educational purpose, stating “The Society’s purpose is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through publication of scientific and educational journals (Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, Journal of Lipid Research, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education), organization of scientific meetings, advocacy for funding of basic research and education, support of science education at all levels, and promoting the diversity of individuals entering the scientific workforce.” A focus on education has always been an interest of ASBMB. During the early years of the Society, students first encountered biochemistry as a graduate course of study. The Committee on Educational Affairs was largely populated by faculty from research-oriented universities and placed a heavy emphasis on graduate education. The study of biochemistry has gradually expanded to become part of undergraduate education, however. In recognition of this fact, during the period from 1981–85, the first funds were made available by the Society to fund fellowships for faculty from predominantly undergraduate institutions to spend the summer doing research in the laboratory of a member of the Society. The ASBMB also reached out to high school teachers. Teachers were paired with ASBMB member-sponsors and spent 10 weeks in a laboratory doing research. After several reorganizations, the present group is called the Education and Professional Development Committee (EPD). This Committee promotes the molecular life sciences through educational and informational activities for the Society’s members, the scientific community, and the general public. As the study of biochemistry has expanded to include undergraduate as well as graduate education, the Society has become more inclusive in its membership. Originally, the only way to become a member of the Society was to have carried out a significant amount of independent research, as indicated by a number of publications in which the applicant was senior author. Membership now includes faculty at predominantly undergraduate institutions as well as student members. During the mid-1990s, the recognition that it was important to emphasize undergraduate educational issues in biochemistry as an important concern of the Society continued to grow. This idea reached fruition with the organization by the EPD of a pre-meeting Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education Satellite Workshop at the 2000 San Francisco ASBMB/International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology joint meeting; the satellite was oversubscribed. Annual meetings now include sessions on education in the biomedical sciences as well as on topics of research interest. Students compete for prizes in a special undergraduate research poster session each year. The EPD Committee supervises a wide variety of meeting activities involving students and education. The EPD Committee has developed a recommended curriculum for undergraduate biochemistry and molecular biology programs and has also created a community for undergraduates interested in biochemistry and molecular biology called The Undergraduate Affiliate Network. Both can be found at www.asbmb.org/asbmb/site. nsf/main/education?Opendocument). The Undergraduate Affiliate Network aims to form scientific and educational communities across the country to help institutions develop the best possible undergraduate curricula and to provide more research and learning opportunities for students by pooling their resources and working together. In 2002, the ASBMB took over the publication of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education. As the Society’s educational goals have evolved, this is a fitting endeavor. If biochemistry research communication is encouraged by the publication of the JBC, surely the publication of BAMBED is the logical source of encouragement of communication in biochemistry education. It is a pleasure to be a part of this endeavor. ‡ Co-Editor-in-Chief, BAMBED. To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jvoet1@swarthmore.edu. 1 The abbreviations used are: ASBMB, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; EPD, Education and Professional Development Committee.