Introduction

1. Introduction.- 1.1 What is biophysics.- 1.2 The fundamental principles of biology.- 2. Biological structures.- 2.1 The structures of life.- 2.2 The morphology of cells.- 2.3 The biological macromolecules.- 2.4 Membranes.- 2.5 Cell evolution.- 3. Physical principles and methods in biology.- 3.1 The electronic structure of atoms.- 3.2 The structure of molecules and molecular complexes.- 3.3 Absorption and emission spectroscopy.- 3.4 Infrared and Raman spectroscopy.- 3.5 Magnetic resonances.- 3.6 Size and shape of biological macromolecules.- 3.7 X-ray crystal structure analysis.- 4. Structure and function of proteins and nucleic acids.- 4.1 The structure of proteins.- 4.2 Enzymes.- 4.3 Recognition proteins.- 4.4 The genetic systyem.- 4.5 Regulation and control.- 4.6 Recombinant DNA.- 5. Biological energy conversion.- 5.1 The biological energy flow.- 5.2 Adenosine triphosphate in coupled reactions; pyridine nucleotides.- 5.3 Fermentation and glycolysis.- 5.4 The citric acid cycle.- 5.5 Respiration.- 6. Photosynthesis.- 6.1 Photosynthetic structures.- 6.2 Transfer and trapping of excitation energy.- 6.3 Photosynthetic electron transport in higher plants and algae.- 6.4 Photosynthetic electron transport in prokaryotes.- 6.5 Reaction centers.- 6.6 Carbon fixation.- 7. Biological transport processes.- 7.1 Passive and active transport.- 7.2 Osmotic equilibrium.- 7.3 Ionic equilibrium.- 7.4 Flow across membranes.- 7.5 Transport mechanisms.- 8. Membrane-bound energy transduction.- 8.1 The high-energy intermediate.- 8.2 The chemiosmotic model.- 8.3 Proton translocation.- 8.4 pH gradient and membrane potential.- 8.5 The proton-translocating ATPase.- 9. Biophysics of nerves.- 9.1 Nerves.- 9.2 The action potential.- 9.3 Synapses.- 9.4 Information processing in neuronal systems.- 10. Biophysics of contractility.- 10.1 Intracellular motion.- 10.2 Cellular motion.- 10.3 Muscular contraction.- 10.4 The energetics of contraction.- 11. Biophysics of sensory systems.- 11.1 The transmission of information.- 11.2 The visual receptor.- 11.3 The otic receptors.- 11.4 The chemical, somatic, and visceral receptors.- 12. Theoretical biology.- 12.1 Physical concepts and biology.- 12.2 Nonequilibrium thermodynamics.- 12.3 Modeling.- 12.4 Cybernetics.- 12.5 Generalizations in biology.- Appendix I. Some elements of quantum mechanics.- AI.1 The principle of quantization and the uncertainty principle.- Appendix II. Elements of equilibrium thermodynamics.- AII.l Definitions.- AII.2 First and second laws of thermodynamics.- AII.3 Entropy.- AII.4 Thermodynamic potentials.- AII.5 The chemical and the electrochemical potentials.- AII.6 The standard free energy of a chemical reaction.- AII.7 Oxidation-reduction potentials.