药学英语第五版第三单元.docxVIP

Biochemistry Seeks to Explain Life in Chemical Terms The molecules of which living organisms are composed conform to all the familiar laws of chemistry, but they also interact with each other in accordance with another set of principles, which we shall refer to collectively as the molecular logic of life. These principles do not involve new or yet undiscovered physical laws or forces. Instead, they are a set of relationships characterizing the nature, function, and interactions of biomolecules. If living organisms are composed of molecules that are intrinsically inanimate, how do these molecules confer the remarkable combination of characteristics we call life? How is it that a living organism appears to be more than the sum of its inanimate parts? Philosophers once answered that living organisms are endowed with a mysterious and divine life force, but this doctrine (vitalism) has been firmly rejected by modern science. The basic goal of the science of biochemistry is to determine how the collections of inanimate molecules that constitute living organisms interact with each other to maintain and perpetuate life. Although biochemistry yields important insights and practical applications in medicine, agriculture, nutrition, and industry, it is ultimately concerned with the wonder of life itself. All Macromolecules Are Constructed from a Few Simple Compounds Most of the molecular constituents of living systems are composed of carbon atoms covalently joined with other carbon atoms and with hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen. The special bonding properties of carbon permit the formation of a great variety of molecules. Organic compounds of molecular weight less than about 500, such as amino acids, nucleotidase, and monosaccharide, serve as monomeric subunits of proteins, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides, respectively. A single protein molecule may have 1,000 or more amino acids, and deoxyribonucleic acid has millions of nucleotides. Eac