Study of chemical processes in living organisms

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biochemistry</span>

Biochemistry

<p><b>Biochemistry</b> or <b>biological chemistry</b> is the study of <a href="/en/Chemical_process" title="Chemical process" class="wl">chemical processes</a> within and relating to living <a href="/en/Organism" title="Organism" class="wl">organisms</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span>  A sub-discipline of both <a href="/en/Chemistry" title="Chemistry" class="wl">chemistry</a> and <a href="/en/Biology" title="Biology" class="wl">biology</a>, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: <a href="/en/Structural_biology" title="Structural biology" class="wl">structural biology</a>, <a href="/en/Enzymology" title="Enzymology" class="mw-redirect wl">enzymology</a> and <a href="/en/Metabolism" title="Metabolism" class="wl">metabolism</a>.  Over the last decades of the 20th century, biochemistry has become successful at explaining living processes through these three disciplines.  Almost all <a href="/en/List_of_life_sciences" title="List of life sciences" class="wl">areas of the life sciences</a> are being uncovered and developed through biochemical methodology and research.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Voet_2005_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-Voet_2005-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span>  Biochemistry focuses on understanding the chemical basis which allows <a href="/en/Biomolecule" title="Biomolecule" class="wl">biological molecules</a> to give rise to the processes that occur within living <a href="/en/Cell_(biology)" title="Cell (biology)" class="wl">cells</a> and between cells,<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Karp2009_3-0"><a href="#cite_note-Karp2009-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span> in turn relating greatly to the understanding of <a href="/en/Tissue_(biology)" title="Tissue (biology)" class="wl">tissues</a> and <a href="/en/Organ_(anatomy)" title="Organ (anatomy)" class="mw-redirect wl">organs</a>, as well as organism structure and function.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-MillerSpoolman2012_4-0"><a href="#cite_note-MillerSpoolman2012-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span> Biochemistry is closely related to <a href="/en/Molecular_biology" title="Molecular biology" class="wl">molecular biology</a>, which is the study of the <a href="/en/Molecule" title="Molecule" class="wl">molecular</a> mechanisms of biological phenomena.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-fn_1_5-0"><a href="#cite_note-fn_1-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[5]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Study of chemical processes in living organisms</div>
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padding:0.2em; font-size:175%; font-weight:bold;"><a href="/en/Biochemistry" title="Biochemistry" class="wl">Biochemistry</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span><a href="/en/File:Myoglobin.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Myoglobin.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Myoglobin.png/220px-Myoglobin.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="1159" data-file-height="1173" data-file-type="bitmap" height="223" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Myoglobin.png/330px-Myoglobin.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Myoglobin.png/440px-Myoglobin.png 2x" alt="Myoglobin.png"></a></span><div class="sidebar-caption" style="padding:0 0 0.8em;"><b>Chemistry of life</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-above notheme" style="padding:0.15em 0.15em 0.25em; display:block; background-color: transparent; border-color: #A2B8BF">
<div class="hlist ">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Index_of_biochemistry_articles" title="Index of biochemistry articles" class="wl">Index</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Outline_of_biochemistry" title="Outline of biochemistry" class="wl">Outline</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/History_of_biochemistry" title="History of biochemistry" class="wl">History</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding:0.2em; border-bottom:1px solid #A2B8BF">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center;font-size:100%;font-weight:bold;">Key components</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Biomolecule" title="Biomolecule" class="wl">Biomolecules</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Enzyme" title="Enzyme" class="wl">Enzymes</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Gene_expression" title="Gene expression" class="wl">Gene expression</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Metabolism" title="Metabolism" class="wl">Metabolism</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding:0.2em; border-bottom:1px solid #A2B8BF">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center;font-size:100%;font-weight:bold;">List of biochemists</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Biochemist" title="Biochemist" class="wl">Biochemist</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/List_of_biochemists" title="List of biochemists" class="wl">List of biochemists</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding:0.2em; border-bottom:1px solid #A2B8BF">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="text-align:center;font-size:100%;font-weight:bold;">Glossaries</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Glossary_of_biology" title="Glossary of biology" class="wl">Glossary of biology</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Glossary_of_chemistry_terms" title="Glossary of chemistry terms" class="wl">Glossary of chemistry</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
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<ul><li><span class="nowrap"><span class="noviewer"><span><img loading="lazy" alt="Symbol_category_class.svg" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/16px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="180" data-file-height="185" data-file-type="drawing" height="16" width="16" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/23px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/31px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 2x"></span></span><span>&nbsp;</span><a href="/en/Category:Biochemistry" title="Category:Biochemistry" class="wl">Category</a></span></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1063604349" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/en/Template:Biochemistry_sidebar" title="Template:Biochemistry sidebar" class="wl"><abbr>v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/en/Template_talk:Biochemistry_sidebar" title="Template talk:Biochemistry sidebar" class="wl"><abbr>t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a rel="mw:ExtLink" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Biochemistry_sidebar&amp;action=edit" class="external text" target="_blank"><abbr>e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table>

<p>Much of biochemistry deals with the structures, bonding, functions, and interactions of biological <a href="/en/Macromolecule" title="Macromolecule" class="wl">macromolecules</a>, such as <a href="/en/Protein" title="Protein" class="wl">proteins</a>, <a href="/en/Nucleic_acid" title="Nucleic acid" class="wl">nucleic acids</a>, <a href="/en/Carbohydrate" title="Carbohydrate" class="wl">carbohydrates</a>, and <a href="/en/Lipid" title="Lipid" class="wl">lipids</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-6"><a href="#cite_note-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 6;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[6]</span></a></span>  They provide the structure of cells and perform many of the functions associated with life.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Biology_7-0"><a href="#cite_note-Biology-7" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 7;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[7]</span></a></span>  The chemistry of the cell also depends upon the reactions of small <a href="/en/Molecule" title="Molecule" class="wl">molecules</a> and <a href="/en/Ion" title="Ion" class="wl">ions</a>.  These can be <a href="/en/Inorganic" title="Inorganic" class="mw-redirect wl">inorganic</a> (for example, <a href="/en/Water" title="Water" class="wl">water</a> and <a href="/en/Metal" title="Metal" class="wl">metal</a> ions) or <a href="/en/Organic_compound" title="Organic compound" class="wl">organic</a> (for example, the <a href="/en/Amino_acid" title="Amino acid" class="wl">amino acids</a>, which are used to <a href="/en/Protein_biosynthesis" title="Protein biosynthesis" class="wl">synthesize proteins</a>).<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Marks_8-0"><a href="#cite_note-Marks-8" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 8;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[8]</span></a></span>  The mechanisms used by <a href="/en/Cell_energy" title="Cell energy" class="mw-redirect wl">cells to harness energy</a> from their environment via <a href="/en/Chemical_reaction" title="Chemical reaction" class="wl">chemical reactions</a> are known as <a href="/en/Metabolism" title="Metabolism" class="wl">metabolism</a>.  The findings of biochemistry are applied primarily in <a href="/en/Medicine" title="Medicine" class="wl">medicine</a>, <a href="/en/Nutrition" title="Nutrition" class="wl">nutrition</a> and <a href="/en/Agriculture" title="Agriculture" class="wl">agriculture</a>.  In medicine, <a href="/en/Biochemist" title="Biochemist" class="wl">biochemists</a> investigate the causes and <a href="/en/Pharmaceutical_drug" title="Pharmaceutical drug" class="mw-redirect wl">cures</a> of <a href="/en/Disease" title="Disease" class="wl">diseases</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-9"><a href="#cite_note-9" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 9;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[9]</span></a></span>  Nutrition studies how to maintain health and wellness and also the effects of <a href="/en/Nutritional_deficiencies" title="Nutritional deficiencies" class="mw-redirect wl">nutritional deficiencies</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-FFL2010_10-0"><a href="#cite_note-FFL2010-10" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 10;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[10]</span></a></span>  In agriculture, biochemists investigate <a href="/en/Soil" title="Soil" class="wl">soil</a> and <a href="/en/Fertilizer" title="Fertilizer" class="wl">fertilizers</a>. Improving crop cultivation, crop storage, and <a href="/en/Pest_control" title="Pest control" class="wl">pest control</a> are also goals. Biochemistry is extremely important since it helps individuals learn about complicated topics such as <a href="/en/Prion" title="Prion" class="wl">prions</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-11"><a href="#cite_note-11" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 11;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[11]</span></a></span></p>



Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. Much of biochemistry deals with the structures, bonding, functions, and interactions of biological macromolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids. 