What is Biochemistry?

Biochemistry is the application of chemistry to the study of biological processes at the cellular and molecular
level. It emerged as a distinct discipline around the beginning of the 20th century when scientists combined
chemistry, physiology, and biology to investigate the chemistry of living systems.

The study of life in its chemical processes

Biochemistry is both life science and a chemical science - it explores the chemistry of living organisms and the
molecular basis for the changes occurring in living cells. It uses the methods of chemistry,

"Biochemistry has become the foundation for understanding all biological processes. It has provided explanations
for the causes of many diseases in humans, animals and plants."

physics, molecular biology, and immunology to study the structure and behaviour of the complex molecules found
in biological material and the ways these molecules interact to form cells, tissues, and whole organisms.

Biochemists are interested, for example, in mechanisms of brain function, cellular multiplication and
differentiation, communication within and between cells and organs, and the chemical bases of inheritance and
disease. The biochemist seeks to determine how specific molecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, lipids,
vitamins, and hormones function in such processes. Particular emphasis is placed on the regulation of chemical
reactions in living cells.

An essential science

Biochemistry has become the foundation for understanding all biological processes. It has provided explanations
for the causes of many diseases in humans, animals, and plants. It can frequently suggest ways by which such
diseases may be treated or cured.

A practical science
Because biochemistry seeks to unravel the complex chemical reactions that occur in a wide variety of life forms, it
provides the basis for practical advances in medicine, veterinary medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology. It
underlies and includes such exciting new fields as molecular genetics and bioengineering.
The knowledge and methods developed by biochemists are applied to in all fields of medicine, in agriculture and
in many chemical and health-related industries. Biochemistry is also unique in providing teaching and research in
both protein structure/function and genetic engineering, the two basic components of the rapidly expanding field
of biotechnology.

A varied science
As the broadest of the basic sciences, biochemistry includes many subspecialties such as neurochemistry,
bioorganic chemistry, clinical biochemistry, physical biochemistry, molecular genetics, biochemical
pharmacology, and immunochemistry. Recent advances in these areas have created links among technology,
chemical engineering, and biochemistry.
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living
organisms.[1] Biochemical processes give rise to the complexity of life.

A sub-discipline of both biology and chemistry, biochemistry can be divided in three fields; structural biology,
enzymology and metabolism. Over the last decades of the 20th century, biochemistry has become successful at
explaining living processes through these three disciplines. Almost all areas of the life sciences are being uncovered
and developed by biochemical methodology and research.[2] Biochemistry focuses on understanding the chemical
basis which allows biological molecules to give rise to the processes that occur within living cells and between cells,
which in turn relates greatly to the study and understanding of tissues, organs, and organism structure and function.

Biochemistry is closely related to molecular biology, the study of the molecular mechanisms of biological phenomena.

Much of biochemistry deals with the structures, functions and interactions of biological macromolecules, such as
proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and lipids, which provide the structure of cells and perform many of the
functions associated with life.[6] The chemistry of the cell also depends on the reactions of smaller molecules and
ions. These can be inorganic, for example water and metal ions, or organic, for example the amino acids, which are
used to synthesize proteins.[7] The mechanisms by which cells harness energy from their environment via chemical
reactions are known as metabolism. The findings of biochemistry are applied primarily in medicine, nutrition, and
agriculture. In medicine, biochemists investigate the causes and cures of diseases.[8] In nutrition, they study how to
maintain health wellness and study the effects of nutritional deficiencies.[9] In agriculture, biochemists investigate soil
and fertilizers, and try to discover ways to improve crop cultivation, crop storage and pest control.

Relationship to other biological sciences[edit]

Schematic relationship between biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology

While researches practice techniques specific to molecular biology, it is common to combine these with methods
from genetics and biochemistry. The following list describes a viewpoint on the interdisciplinary relationships
between molecular biology and other related fields. [8]

 Molecular biology is the study of molecular underpinnings of the processes

of replication, transcription, translation, and cell function. The central dogma of molecular biology where
genetic material is transcribed into RNA and then translated into protein, despite being oversimplified, still
provides a good starting point for understanding the field. The picture has been revised in light of emerging
novel roles for RNA.[1]
 Biochemistry is the study of the chemical substances and vital processes occurring in
live organisms. Biochemists focus heavily on the role, function, and structure of biomolecules. The study of
the chemistry behind biological processes and the synthesis of biologically active molecules are examples
of biochemistry.[9]
 Genetics is the study of the effect of genetic differences in organisms. This can often be inferred by the
absence of a normal component (e.g. one gene). The study of "mutants" – organisms which lack one or
more functional components with respect to the so-called "wild type" or normal phenotype. Genetic
interactions (epistasis) can often confound simple interpretations of such "knockout" studies.[10]
Much of molecular biology is quantitative, and recently a significant amount of work has been done using
computer science techniques such as bioinformatics and computational biology. Molecular genetics, the study of
gene structure and function, has been among the most prominent sub-fields of molecular biology since the early
2000s. Other branches of biology are informed by molecular biology, by either directly studying the interactions
of molecules in their own right such as in cell biology and developmental biology, or indirectly, where molecular
techniques are used to infer historical attributes of populations or species, as in fields in evolutionary
biology such as population genetics and phylogenetics. There is also a long tradition of
studying biomolecules "from the ground up" in biophysics.[11]