General Concepts of Plant Biochemistry

Abstract

Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and the function of cellular components such as: proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules. Although there is a vast number of different biomolecules, many of them are complex and large molecules (called polymers), composed of similar repeating subunits (called monomers). Each class of polymeric biomolecules has a different set of subunit types. For example, a protein is a polymer whose subunits are selected from a set of 22 or more amino acids. Biochemistry studies the chemical properties of important biological molecules, like proteins, in particular the chemistry of enzyme–catalyzed reactions. Other areas of biochemistry include the genetic code (DNA, RNA), protein synthesis, transport cells membranes and signal transduction. Since all known life forms that are still alive today are descended from the same common ancestor, generally they have similar biochemistries. It is unknown whether alternative biochemistries are possible or practical.