"Biochemistry,
sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study
of
chemical processes in living
organisms, including, but not limited to, living
matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms
and living processes. By controlling information
flow through biochemical signalling and the flow of
chemical energy through
metabolism, biochemical processes give rise to
the incredible complexity of life. Much of
biochemistry deals with the structures and functions
of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other
biomolecules —although
increasingly processes rather than individual
molecules are the main focus. Among the vast number
of different biomolecules, many are complex and
large molecules (called biopolymers), which
are composed of similar repeating subunits (called
monomers). Each
class of polymeric biomolecule has a different set
of subunit types. For example, a protein is a polymer
whose subunits are selected from a set of 20 or more
amino acids.
Biochemistry studies the chemical properties of
important biological molecules, like proteins, and
in particular the chemistry of enzyme-catalyzedreactions.
The biochemistry of cellmetabolism and the
endocrine system has
been extensively described. Other areas of
biochemistry include the genetic code (DNA,
RNA), protein synthesis,
cell membranetransport and signal
transduction.
Over the last 40 years biochemistry has become so
successful at explaining living processes that now
almost all areas of the life sciences
from botany
to medicine
are engaged in biochemical research. Today the main
focus of pure biochemistry is in understanding how
biological molecules give rise to the processes that
occur within living cells,
which in turn relates greatly to the study and
understanding of whole organisms."
Source:
Wikipedia
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