Importance of Biochemistry

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

The functions of living organisms are possible due to a constant transformation of substances, chemical reactions that go and come non-stop, through which functions that go from the generation of the energy necessary for the survival of each of the cells that make up the individual, until the production of the molecules that make up their own structures. This complex world of molecular transformations are studied by biochemistry, a science through which the essential knowledge that they support all the other fields of modern biology, through the transdisciplinarity generated by having incorporated the analysis of the facts biological through the bases of chemistry and physics as research areas for understanding the deeper phenomena that make life possible at an organic level.

The molecules of life

The very evolution of the species is a consequence of the constant modification of the chemical processes of the organisms in response to the both physical and chemical variations to which the environment may subject them, then serving the substances in a first instance as entities reactive and communication, so that all organisms are vulnerable, in one way or another, to the transformations that occur outside of his own body.

This molecular capacity to perceive and react to phenomena has been the key to the development of increasingly complex species and with an increasing number. of chemical substances generated by its own cells, as the cell's own specialization and the availability of elemental resources have left it allowing.

Basis for medicine

Understanding how the chemicals that make up metabolisms play their various roles provides ongoing inputs toward factor investigation. involved in the processes and circumstances of diseases, the development of drugs to combat them and all other phenomena that govern health in general. Hence, biochemistry has allowed the immersion of medicine and pharmacology into ever deeper waters, among which it points towards being able to find definitive answers that allow the approach, both preventive and therapeutic, of the diseases of greatest relevance for the humanity, at the same time achieving the least possible impact on the organism as a consequence of the adverse chemical reactions generated by the treatments.

Research on the mechanisms operating in the immune system is the essential basis for discovering how a living being can defend itself against potential attacks from other species. This complex defense system is governed in its entirety by a wide variety of chemical substances that become key indicators, even when it comes to to be able to assess whether an individual has been exposed to the presence of a particular pathogen, so the bioanalysis of these substances, as well as the others present in the body, has become the starting point for the vast majority of diagnostic processes implemented by all specialists in the health.

Interests and interactions

Other fields for which biochemistry has been very useful are areas such as: 1) evolution, allowing the discovery in the orders of the evolutionary systematics existing among the species; 2) genetics, in all its subareas of applicability; 3) paleontology, through the discovery of residual substances in fossil remains and obtainable genetic material; 4) anthropology; as the basis of the evolutionary changes of the human species itself 5) ecology, with an increasing relevance that starts from relationships and reactions existing chemistry between species and their environment, to environmental alterations caused by human actions and what can be implemented to reverse them; 6) chemical engineering through the study and development of biopolymers; and 7) neuroscience, through a growing understanding of the functioning of brain substances that have made possible the complexity of all mental factors.

Even in seemingly simple areas such as sports, biochemistry is taking on increasingly important roles as research on substances advances. chemicals that make life possible, making this part of science one of the sources of work with the greatest potential and longevity among the study areas of the present and the future. future.

References

Salvat Library (1973). The evolution of the spices. Barcelona, ​​Spain. Salvat Editors.

Du Praw, E. (1971). Cellular and molecular biology. HE. Barcelona, ​​Spain. Omega Editions, S.A.

Lehninger, A. (1977). Biochemistry. 2nd Edition. Havana City, Cuba. Editorial People and Education.

Mathews, C. et al. (2005). Biochemistry. 3rd Edition. Madrid Spain. Pearson–Addison Wesley.

Villa, C. (1996). Biology. 8th Edition. Mexico. McGraw-Hill.