医学英语综合教程第三单元.docVIP

Unit3.Biochemistry and Human Development Biochemistry is the application of chemistry to the study of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level. It emerged as a distinct discipline around the beginning of the 20th century when scientists combined chemistry, physiology and biology to investigate the chemistry of living systems. In a sense, biochemistry is both a life science and a chemical science. It uses the methods of chemistry, physics; molecular biology and immunology to study the structure and behavior of the complex molecules found in biological material and the ways those molecules interact to form cells, tissues and whole organism. It covers a broad range of cellular functions from gene transcription to the structure and function of macromolecules. 生物化学是在细胞和分子水平上运用化学技术研究生物过程的科学。在20世纪初，当科学家联合化学,生理学和生物化学研究的生命系统时，开始出现这门独立学科。在某种意义上说，生物化学既是生命科学又是化学科学，它使用化学、物理学、分子生物学和免疫学方法研究在生物物质中发现的复杂分子结构与行为以及这些分子相互作用构成细胞、组织和整个生物体的方法。它涉及从基因移录到高分子结构和功能的广阔的细胞功能范围。 Biochemistry has become the foundation for understanding all biological processes; it has provided explanations for the causes of many diseases in humans, animals, and plants. Our understanding of biochemistry has had and will continue to have extensive effects on many aspects of human endeavor. First, biochemistry is an intrinsically beautiful and fascinating body of knowledge. We now know the essence and many of the details the most fundamental processes in biochemistry, such as how a single molecule of DNA replicate to generate two identical copies of itself and how the sequence of the bases in a DNA molecule determines the sequence of amino acids in an encoded protein. Our ability to describe these processes in detailed, mechanistic terms places a firm chemical foundation under other biological sciences. Moreover, the realization that we can understand essential life processes, such as the transmission of heredity information as chemical structures and their reactions has significant philosophical impl