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- Overview
- Historical background
biochemistry, study of the chemical substances and processes that occur in plants, animals, and microorganisms and of the changes they undergo during development and life. It deals with the chemistry of life, and as such it draws on the techniques of analytical, organic, and physical chemistry, as well as those of physiologists concerned with the molecular basis of vital processes. All chemical changes within the organism—either the degradation of substances, generally to gain necessary energy, or the buildup of complex molecules necessary for life processes—are collectively called metabolism. These chemical changes depend on the action of organic catalysts known as enzymes, and enzymes, in turn, depend for their existence on the genetic apparatus of the cell. It is not surprising, therefore, that biochemistry enters into the investigation of chemical changes in disease, drug action, and other aspects of medicine, as well as in nutrition, genetics, and agriculture.
The term biochemistry is synonymous with two somewhat older terms: physiological chemistry and biological chemistry. Those aspects of biochemistry that deal with the chemistry and function of very large molecules (e.g., proteins and nucleic acids) are often grouped under the term molecular biology. Biochemistry is a young science, having been known under that term only since about 1900. Its origins, however, can be traced much further back; its early history is part of the early history of both physiology and chemistry.
The particularly significant past events in biochemistry have been concerned with placing biological phenomena on firm chemical foundations.
Before chemistry could contribute adequately to medicine and agriculture, however, it had to free itself from immediate practical demands in order to become a pure science. This happened in the period from about 1650 to 1780, starting with the work of Robert Boyle and culminating in that of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry. Boyle questioned the basis of the chemical theory of his day and taught that the proper object of chemistry was to determine the composition of substances. His contemporary John Mayow observed the fundamental analogy between the respiration of an animal and the burning, or oxidation, of organic matter in air. Then, when Lavoisier carried out his fundamental studies on chemical oxidation, grasping the true nature of the process, he also showed, quantitatively, the similarity between chemical oxidation and the respiratory process. Photosynthesis was another biological phenomenon that occupied the attention of the chemists of the late 18th century. The demonstration, through the combined work of Joseph Priestley, Jan Ingenhousz, and Jean Senebier, that photosynthesis is essentially the reverse of respiration was a milestone in the development of biochemical thought.
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In spite of these early fundamental discoveries, rapid progress in biochemistry had to wait upon the development of structural organic chemistry, one of the great achievements of 19th-century science. A living organism contains many thousands of different chemical compounds. The elucidation of the chemical transformations undergone by these compounds within the living cell is a central problem of biochemistry. Clearly, the determination of the molecular structure of the organic substances present in living cells had to precede the study of the cellular mechanisms, whereby these substances are synthesized and degraded.
There are few sharp boundaries in science, and the boundaries between organic and physical chemistry, on the one hand, and biochemistry, on the other, have always shown much overlap. Biochemistry has borrowed the methods and theories of organic and physical chemistry and applied them to physiological problems. Progress in this path was at first impeded by a stubborn misconception in scientific thinking—the error of supposing that the transformations undergone by matter in the living organism were not subject to the chemical and physical laws that applied to inanimate substances and that consequently these “vital” phenomena could not be described in ordinary chemical or physical terms. Such an attitude was taken by the vitalists, who maintained that natural products formed by living organisms could never be synthesized by ordinary chemical means. The first laboratory synthesis of an organic compound, urea, by Friedrich Wöhler in 1828, was a blow to the vitalists but not a decisive one. They retreated to new lines of defense, arguing that urea was only an excretory substance—a product of breakdown and not of synthesis. The success of the organic chemists in synthesizing many natural products forced further retreats of the vitalists. It is axiomatic in modern biochemistry that the chemical laws that apply to inanimate materials are equally valid within the living cell.
Biology is the science that studies living organisms and their interactions with one another and their environments. Science attempts to describe and understand the nature of the universe in whole or in part.
In both cases, the "final" condition is still equilibrium; we are just changing starting points. One can extend this idea and calculate the free energy difference between two non-equilibrium states, provided they are properly defined, but that's for your chemistry instructor to bother you with.
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Jun 20, 2023 · Although we now know of many exceptions to the “one gene, one enzyme (or protein)” principle, it is generally true that each different gene produces a protein that has a distinct catalytic, regulatory, or structural function.
