Biochemistry

Biochemistry is a science that studies the chemical nature of vital processes, the totality of which is commonly called metabolism, and the connection of these processes with the activities of organs and tissues of living organisms. Modern biochemistry developed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when the achievements and methods of organic chemistry, physiology and some other sciences that study various aspects of organic life merged.

In particular, organic chemistry, the subject of study of which is carbon compounds in general, as well as the analysis and synthesis of substances that form living tissues, formed the basis of the so-called static, or structural, biochemistry (i.e., the branch of biochemistry that deals with the study of natural organic substances, their analysis and synthesis). The study of the chemical processes underlying the life activity of the body resulted in the formation of dynamic biochemistry. Dynamic biochemistry is much closer to medicine and physiology than to organic chemistry. That is why biochemistry was initially called physiological, or medical, chemistry.

The beginning of the study of living matter from a chemical position dates back to ancient times and is associated with the need to study the components of living organisms (animals and plants), caused by the practical needs of medicine, agriculture and industry (manufacturing medicines and incense, tanning leather and dyeing fabrics, baking and cheese making, winemaking and brewing, etc.).

Over time, extensive observations were collected on the chemical transformations of various substances of biological nature, basic techniques for chemical work with substances were developed, and the first generalizations were made. Medicine had a great impact on the development of chemical research in the field of flora and fauna. At the beginning of the 16th century. Theophrastus Paracelsus substantiated the doctrine according to which the occurrence of diseases is associated with a disruption of the flow of chemical processes in the body of patients and it is necessary to use chemicals to treat them. Subsequently, doctors and pharmacists enriched biochemistry with significant discoveries.

Over time, like any other rapidly developing science, biochemistry began to be divided into a number of separate disciplines, the separation of which was associated with the need for a more in-depth study of certain objects of research. This is how the biochemistry of humans and animals, the biochemistry of plants, the biochemistry of microbes (microorganisms), the biochemistry of viruses, as well as technical biochemistry, which grew out of the need to satisfy the practical demands of human economic activity (processing of animal and plant raw materials, food preparation, production of vitamin and hormonal preparations, antibiotics, etc.).

The division of biochemistry into a number of narrower and specialized disciplines reflected the need to study life processes at different levels of organization of living matter (from organismal to molecular and submolecular) or to study certain types of chemical compounds that play a key role in life processes. Thus, evolutionary and comparative biochemistry (studies the biochemical processes occurring in living organisms at different stages of their development), biochemical genetics and molecular biology (study the structure and function of proteins and nucleic acids, as well as their special role in the process of life), biochemistry of vitamins were formed , hormones, enzymes, radiation biochemistry, quantum biochemistry, etc. The needs of clinical medicine led to the emergence of clinical biochemistry, the main task of which was the early diagnosis of various diseases, as well as the study of the mechanisms of their occurrence.

The 20th century was marked by major achievements in the field of biochemistry, which are closely related to the rapid development of other biological sciences and the penetration of methods of the exact sciences (chemistry, physics, mathematics, crystallography, etc.). It was found that those opened using electronic microscopy

Biochemistry is the science of the chemical composition of living organisms and the use of chemical reactions in the life processes of living organisms. It studies the structure and function of various biological macromolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids and others, as well as their mechanism of action in the body.

Biochemistry is important for understanding many processes in biology, medicine and chemistry. For example, knowledge of the structure and functions of proteins allows us to study the mechanisms of transfer of substances within and between cells, which is the basis of many diseases and various conditions of the body. In addition, understanding the properties of nucleic acids is important to study the mechanisms of heredity and genetic replication.