Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes
and transformations in living organisms. This article only discusses
terrestrial biochemistry (carbon- and water-based), as all the life
forms we know are on Earth. Since life forms alive today are known to
have descended from the same common ancestor, they naturally have
similar biochemistries, even for matters that seem to be essentially
arbitrary, such as handedness of various bio molecules. It is unknown
whether alternate biochemistries are possible or practical.
| Biochemistry
is the study of the structure and function of cellular components, such
as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and other
biomolecules. Chemical biology aims to answer many questions arising
from biochemistry by using tools developed within synthetic chemistry.
Although
there are a vast number of different biomolecules, they tend to be
composed of the same repeating subunits (called monomers), in different
orders. Each class of biomolecules has a different set of subunits.
Recently, biochemistry has focused more specifically on the chemistry
of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, and on the properties of proteins.
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The
biochemistry of cell metabolism and the endocrine system has been
extensively described. Other
areas of biochemistry include the genetic code (DNA, RNA), protein
synthesis, cell membrane transport, and signal transduction.
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