Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the sixth edition
- List of contributors
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Basic principles
- 2 Cell culture techniques
- 3 Centrifugation
- 4 Microscopy
- 5 Molecular biology, bioinformatics and basic techniques
- 6 Recombinant DNA and genetic analysis
- 7 Immunochemical techniques
- 8 Protein structure, purification, characterisation and function analysis
- 9 Mass spectrometric techniques
- 10 Electrophoretic techniques
- 11 Chromatographic techniques
- 12 Spectroscopic techniques: I Atomic and molecular electronic spectroscopy
- 13 Spectroscopic techniques: II Vibrational spectroscopy and electron and nuclear spin orientation in magnetic fields
- 14 Radioisotope techniques
- 15 Enzymes
- 16 Cell membrane receptors
- Index
- Plate sections
1 - Basic principles
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the sixth edition
- List of contributors
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Basic principles
- 2 Cell culture techniques
- 3 Centrifugation
- 4 Microscopy
- 5 Molecular biology, bioinformatics and basic techniques
- 6 Recombinant DNA and genetic analysis
- 7 Immunochemical techniques
- 8 Protein structure, purification, characterisation and function analysis
- 9 Mass spectrometric techniques
- 10 Electrophoretic techniques
- 11 Chromatographic techniques
- 12 Spectroscopic techniques: I Atomic and molecular electronic spectroscopy
- 13 Spectroscopic techniques: II Vibrational spectroscopy and electron and nuclear spin orientation in magnetic fields
- 14 Radioisotope techniques
- 15 Enzymes
- 16 Cell membrane receptors
- Index
- Plate sections
Summary
BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES
The aims of biochemical investigations
Biochemistry is concerned with the study of the chemical processes that occur in living organisms, with the ultimate aim of understanding cell function in molecular terms. Biochemists therefore undertake studies of topics such as:
the structural, kinetic and thermodynamic characteristics of the molecules found in the whole range of living organisms;
the function of these molecules and the mechanisms by which they recognise and interact with each other to produce ordered anabolic, catabolic, signalling, immunological and other pathways that characterise living processes;
the pathways that operate for the synthesis and degradation of these molecules and the mechanisms responsible for errors in the pathways;
the energetics of biological processes, including transport across cell membranes, the generation of cellular energy, energy conversion and exchange of energy with the surrounding environment;
the storage, replication, expression, repair, recombination and control of genetic information and the development of cell specificity.
Pioneering biochemical investigations were carried out mainly on simple prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms such as Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Bacillus subtilis, Neurospora crassa and Chlorella pyrenoidosa. As knowledge of the nature of cellular components and control mechanisms was gained from these studies and shown to have many similarities with comparable data being gained from multicellular organisms, so the whole spectrum of biologically diverse organisms was opened up as model systems for detailed biochemical studies.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005