This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
The internet is full of re-jigged tunes where people force a narrative of scientific concepts into a recognizable song. We all know many of these can be painful to listen to (or watch if it is in video format).
But today, I have one so well done, I can watch it over and over. I'll admit it is more enjoyable in that I've taken my fair share of biochemistry.
Ben needed to prove he knew about enzymatic inhibition which he couldn't do on his midterm exam, so he wrote clever, catchy lyrics to the "Popular" song from the musical "Wicked". To top it off, he can actually sing!
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By the way, I get asked a lot by students which courses to take to be a great biologist. One of my top suggestions is biochemistry. Eminently worthwhile.
My favorite verse:
"Now I must begin
Competitive Inhibition
Substrate and inhibitor fight
For the active site
Apparent Km turns out high
Now we know we can kiss that free energy change goodbye."
Singing begins 2 minutes in, with lyrics provided below!
Lyrics provided by Ben himself:
[Inhibition! ...To the tune of Popular]
When I studied for the midterm I'd forgotten to address
The topic that I skimmed through and bombed it on the test
I see it and my tender heart still cries
Then Professor Villa said there'd be
An extra opportunity
To show we'd learn that topic if we tried
Now this I must admit
I'd underestimated it a bit
That topic that I'd failed so to define
I've opened my mind to learn the
Nature of In-
Hibitors! Enzymatic inhibitors
Counted there're three different kinds
That reversibly bind
And the irreversables
Resemblance of most substrates
React at slower rates
Some don't even react at all
Now I must begin
Competitive Inhibition
Substrate and inhibitor fight
For the active site
Apparent Km turns out high
Now we know we can kiss that free energy change goodbye
But also know apparent Vmax doesn't change
Substrate concentrations overcome at higher range
Unlike the uncompetatives that come out strange
Because it's slower, Apparent Km's lower
Now let us see mechanisms
For uncompetitive inhibitions
Inhibitor never wins
If substrate's not in
The E-S complex like we hear, well, heard
Km over Alpha prime goes
Up through rule Le Chatlier, er
La la, It works great, La la, With more substrate
Which makes the product fail to make
Inhibition mixed you'll see ones
Move in either or directions
Binds to enzyme-substrate complex
Or free enzymes, Raising up apparent Kms
While apparent Vmax drops happen to them
Is that not suicidal
That can't be right
That's irreversible! Please!
Irreversible inhibitors
They never come out the same
Cause they chemically change
Never changing back you'll see
Forever it inhibits the enzyme activity-
Because irreversible inhibitors permanently bind to or damage essential functional groups and may also form a stable noncovalent complex with the enzyme, inhibition cannot therefore be reversed inhibiting most or all binding of the substrate so that the final product will never form which I won't go into because there was only one slide on irreversible inhibitors and I just said everything that was on there.
It was so much fun
Learning inhibition
I know now not to cram
I'm gonna mind and grind it
When comes the final day's exam
La la la la, Biochemistry
Just got way less complicated to me!