Premium
Computational strategy for visualizing structures and teaching biochemistry
Author(s) -
Abreu Paula Alvarez,
Carvalho Karina de Lima,
Rabelo Vitor WonHeld,
Castro Helena Carla
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
biochemistry and molecular biology education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.34
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1539-3429
pISSN - 1470-8175
DOI - 10.1002/bmb.21199
Subject(s) - contextualization , visualization , function (biology) , computer science , protein data bank , complement (music) , protein data bank (rcsb pdb) , biochemistry , computational biology , mathematics education , bioinformatics , protein structure , biology , psychology , artificial intelligence , genetics , gene , complementation , interpretation (philosophy) , phenotype , programming language
Abstract Computational techniques have great potential to improve the teaching‐learning. In this work, we used a computational strategy to visualize three‐dimensional (3D) structures of proteins and DNA and help the student to comprehend biochemistry concepts such as protein structure and function, substrate, and inhibitors as well as DNA structural features. The practical classes included tutorials to be done in the computer using structures from Protein Data Bank and a free 3D structure visualization software, Swiss PDB Viewer. The activity was done with 76 students from biology and pharmacy undergraduate courses. Questionnaires were administered to evaluate the knowledge regarding specific biochemistry contents before and after the activity and the opinion of the students. An overall increased percentage of correct answers post‐classes (75.91%) were observed in comparison to pre‐classes (35.53%). All the students indicated that it could contribute to the learning of DNA and protein structure contents; approximately 90% stated that it enables structures visualization or makes the learning and understanding easier. Therefore, the strategy has shown to be effective, allowing the contextualization of biochemistry themes and may complement theoretical classes. © 2018 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(1):76–84, 2018.