Regarding the Prerequisites --

This course is taught for majors in MCB, and accordingly assumes that all students have an effective, working knowledge of what is taught in the two prerequisite courses.
People occasionally manage the course without one of the two prerequisites behind them, though I've seen very talented science students really struggle in this course when they are were taking Bio 1A concurrently. Organic is even more critical than Bio 1A.

Here are some top-of-the-head thoughts about what you need to have from organic chemistry:

Understanding of the reactions of the carbonyl group. Ability to visualize organic structures in three dimensions. A 'gut-level' feeling for the difference between hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules, or parts of molecules, and a 'brain-level' understanding of how these interact with like and unlike molecules. (See Figure 3-5 for some of the functional groups we will be working with.) An understanding of oxidation/reduction reactions. An instantaneous recognition of partial-positive and partial-negative charges in a polar bond. A perception of rigidity when noting a double bond. Ability to visualize the 3-dimensional bond structure of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen.... and so on. Ability to follow the electrons in a nucleophilic attack. In sum, a working familiarity with organic molecules and their properties and reactions.

Here is a suggestion for a mini-test of your organic chemistry readiness:

In the Lehninger text, look at figure 9-6; can you describe the movement of electrons in the circularization reaction? Also look at figure 8-19, which presents the reaction mechanism of chymotrypsin. It's seven blue bubbles showing seven steps in the mechanism. If you can make sense of that without great difficulty, you're probably in good shape.

Here is a small sample of questions illustrating what is assumed knowledge from introductory Biology:

• What's a protein?
• How are proteins constructed?
• Explain in detail how DNA encodes proteins.
• What does 'antiparallel' mean and how is it relevant to DNA?
• Explain how a cell membrane is structured.
• Explain glycolysis - what's the point?
• Describe the structure and function of the mitochondrion in detail, including the names and natures of the pathways that take place there.
• What is ATP? What is its major purpose in the cell?
• Describe how the ER, Golgi and plasma membrane functionally interconnected.
• Describe the parts, function, and logic of the lac operon.

If you are forced to take MCB102 without a Bio 1A background, here are some brief suggestions for reading from the Bio 1A text, so you can make up the background knowledge you need.