The biomass of our planet consists of representatives of all the kingdoms of wildlife: animals, plants, fungi, viruses, bacteria. The number of representatives of each kingdom is so great that one can only wonder how we all fit on Earth. But, despite such diversity, all living things on the planet have several basic features.
The community of all living things
Evidence consists of several basic features of living organisms:
- the need for nutrition (energy consumption and its transformation inside the body);
- respiration requirements (biological oxidation) ;
- ability to reproduce;
- growth and development throughout the life cycle.
Any of these processes is represented in the body by a mass of chemical reactions. Every second, inside any living creature, and even more so a human being, hundreds of reactions of synthesis and decay of organic molecules take place. The structure, characteristics of chemical effects, interaction with each other, synthesis, decay, and construction of new structures of molecules of organic and inorganic structure - all this is the subject of a large, interesting and diverse science. Biochemistry is a young progressive field of knowledge that studies all the chemical processes taking place inside living things.
An object
The object of studying biochemistry is only living organisms and all the processes of life that occur in them. Specifically, chemical reactions that occur during the absorption of food, the allocation of waste products, growth and development. So, the basis of biochemistry is the study of:
- Non-cellular life forms - viruses.
- Prokaryotic bacterial cells.
- Higher and lower plants.
- Animals of all known classes.
- Human body.
At the same time, biochemistry itself is a fairly young science that arose only with the accumulation of a sufficient amount of knowledge about internal processes in living beings. Its emergence and isolation dates back to the second half of the 19th century.
Modern sections of biochemistry
At the present stage of development, biochemistry includes several main sections, which are presented in the table.
Section | Definition | Object of study |
Dynamic biochemistry | It studies the chemical reactions that underlie the interconversion of molecules within the body | Metabolites - simple molecules and their derivatives, resulting from the exchange of energy; monosaccharides, fatty acids, nucleotides, amino acids |
Static Biochemistry | It studies the chemical composition within organisms and the structure of molecules | Vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, amino acids, nucleotides, lipids, hormones |
Bioenergy | Engaged in the study of absorption, accumulation and conversion of energy in living biological systems | One of the sections of dynamic biochemistry |
Functional Biochemistry | It studies the details of all physiological processes of the body | Nutrition and digestion, respiration, regulation of acid-base balance, muscle contractions, nerve impulse conduction, regulation of the liver and kidneys, the action of the immune and lymphatic systems and so on |
Medical biochemistry (human biochemistry) | It studies the processes of metabolism in the human body (in healthy organisms and in diseases) | Animal experiments allow us to develop pure cultures of pathogenic bacteria that cause disease in humans and find ways to combat them |
Thus, we can say that biochemistry is a whole complex of small sciences that encompass the whole variety of complex internal processes of living systems.
Affiliated sciences
Over time, so much different knowledge has accumulated and so many scientific skills have been formed that process research results, remove bacterial colonies, replicate DNA and RNA, integrate known genome sections with desired properties, and so on, that there is a need for additional sciences that are subsidiary to biochemistry . These are such sciences as:
- molecular biology;
- Genetic Engineering;
- gene surgery;
- molecular genetics;
- enzymology;
- immunology;
- molecular biophysics.
Each of these areas of knowledge has a lot of achievements in the study of bioprocesses in living biological systems, therefore it is very important. All of them relate to the sciences of the 20th century.
Reasons for the intensive development of biochemistry and daughter sciences
In 1958, the Koran discovered the gene and its structure, after which the genetic code was deciphered in 1961. Then the structure of the DNA molecule was established — a double-stranded structure capable of reduplication (self-reproduction). All the subtleties of metabolic processes (anabolism and catabolism) were described, the tertiary and quaternary structure of the protein molecule was studied. And this is not a complete list of the 20th century's grandiose discoveries, which form the basis of biochemistry. All these discoveries belong to biochemists and science itself. Therefore, the prerequisites for its development are many. There are several modern reasons for its dynamism and intensity in formation.
- The foundations of most chemical processes occurring in living organisms are revealed.
- The principle of unity in most physiological and energy processes for all living things is formulated (for example, they are the same in bacteria and humans).
- Medical biochemistry provides the key to treating a host of various complex and dangerous diseases.
- With the help of biochemistry, it became possible to get to the solution of the most global issues of biology and medicine.
Hence the conclusion: biochemistry is a progressive, important and very broadly spectral science that allows you to find answers to many questions of humanity.
Biochemistry in Russia
In our country, biochemistry is the same progressive and important science as in the whole world. In Russia, the Institute of Biochemistry named after A. N. Bach RAS, Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms named after G.K. Scriabin RAS, Research Institute of Biochemistry SB RAS. Our scientists play a large role and many merits in the history of the development of science. For example, the method of immunoelectrophoresis, glycolysis mechanisms was discovered, the principle of nucleotide complementarity in the structure of a DNA molecule was formulated, and a number of other important discoveries were made. At the end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX century. basically, not whole institutes were formed, but the department of biochemistry in some of the universities. However, it soon became necessary to expand the space for studying this science in connection with its intensive development.
Biochemical processes of plants
Plant biochemistry is inextricably linked with physiological processes. In general, the subject of biochemistry and plant physiology is:
- vital activity of a plant cell;
- photosynthesis;
- breath;
- water regime of plants;
- mineral nutrition;
- crop quality and physiology of its formation;
- plant resistance to pests and adverse environmental conditions.
Importance for Agriculture
Knowledge of the underlying processes of biochemistry in plant cells and tissues can improve the quality and quantity of crops of cultivated agricultural plants, which are mass producers of important food products for all of humanity. In addition, the physiology and biochemistry of plants can find ways to solve the problems of pest infection, plant resistance to adverse environmental conditions, make it possible to improve the quality of crop production.