De Guzman, John Michael C.

07072, MWF (10:00-11:00 am)

Biochemistry

Biochemistry is the study of the chemical reactions that take place inside organisms.

It combines elements from both biology and chemistry. Biochemistry became a separate

discipline in the early 20th Century. Biochemists study relatively large molecules like

proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates, which are important in metabolism and other cellular

activities. This branches also study molecules like enzymes and DNA. Now that scientists

had seen cells for the first time, they were eager to study them and discover more about

the processes that occurred inside them.

Biochemistry has been started for around the past 400 years, although the term

biochemistry itself was only made in 1903 by the Carl Neuberg of Germany. The study of

biochemistry essentially began with the invention of the microscope in 1665 by Robert

Hooke, he was the first person to observe cells under a microscope, but they were dead

cells. Later on, the live plant cells under a microscope was saw by Anton van Leeuwenhoek.

For the 18th Century, Antoine Lavoisier of France proposed a reaction mechanism

for photosynthesis, which is the process by which plants make their own food out of carbon

dioxide, water, and sunlight, releasing oxygen in the process. Lavoisier also was the first

human to investigate the process of cell respiration, the process of making the energy

molecule adenosine triphosphate or ATP in the mitochondria of the cell. When it comes to

the 19th Century, a prevailing belief was that protoplasm, the jelly-like inside of the cell,
carried out all of the processes involved with breaking down food molecules. It was believed

that the chemistry of living organisms was inherently different from that of non-living ones.

The next scientist is Eduard Buchner, he was performed an experiment that would change

this view. He prepared an extract from yeast that he called zymase. Although zymase did

not contain any living yeast cells, it could still ferment glucose to produce carbon dioxide

and ethanol. Following Buchner’s convention, enzymes began to be named for the reaction

they carried out; for example, DNA polymerase polymerizes DNA.

In the modern times, further advancements were made. Hans Krebs discovered the

citric acid cycle which is also known as the Krebs cycle, a series of chemical reactions during

cellular respiration where glucose and oxygen are converted to ATP, carbon dioxide, and

water. Also, DNA became known as the genetic material of the cell and its structure was

identified by James Watson and Francis Crick from previous research done by Rosalind

Franklin. Presently, newer technology such as recombinant DNA, gene splicing, radioisotopic

labelling, and electron microscopy are advancing scientific knowledge further than ever

before.

The major discoveries and researchs in biochemistry include enzyme mechanisms and

kinetics, the making of proteins from DNA, RNA, and amino acids through the processes of

transcription and translation, and the metabolic processes of cells. Biochemistry is closely

related now to molecular biology, whcih is the study of biological molecules such as DNA,

proteins, and other macromolecules. Molecular biology techniques are often used to study

biochemistry, along with techniques from other fields like immunology and physics. Since all
life can be broken down into small molecules and chemical reactions, biochemistry is a broad

science that is used in studying all types of biology, from botany to molecular genetics to

pharmacology. Chemical reactions in cells are emphasized, but specific research topics can

vary widely. In present situation, many biochemists now interested in researching the

chemical reactions that occur in the brain, how cells divide and differentiate, cell

communication, the chemical basis of genetic inheritance, or how diseases such as cancer

spread.