PART STRUCTURE AND CATALYSIS 2 Water 47 was removed from the cells into the chemists 3 Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins 75 laboratories, to be studied there by the chemists 4 The three-Dimensional structure of proteins 116 methods. It proved, too, that, apart from fermentation 5 Protein Function 157 combustion and respiration, the splitting up of protein substances, fats and carbohydrates, and many other 6 Enzymes 190 similar reactions which characterise the living cell, could 7 Carbohydrates and Glycobiology 238 be imitated in the test tube without any cooperation at all 8 Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids 273 from the cells, and that on the whole the same laws held 9 DNA-Based Information Technologies 306 for these reactions as for ordinary chemical processes 10 Lipids 343 -A. Tiselius, in presentation speech for the award of 11 Biological Membranes and Transport 369 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to James B. Sumner, John H. Northrop, and Wendell M. Stanley, 1946 12 Biosignaling 421 In 1897 Eduard Buchner. the german research worker discovered that sugar can be made to ferment, not only he science of biochemistry can be dated to Eduard with ordinary yeast, but also with the help of the Buchner's pioneering discovery. His finding opened a world of chemistry that has inspired researchers for well expressed juices of yeast which contain none of the cells over a century. Biochemistry is nothing less than the of the Saccharomyces .. Why was this apparently chemistry of life, and, yes, life can be investigated, an- somewhat trivial experiment considered to be of such alyzed, and understood. To begin, every student of bio significance? The answer to this question is self-evident, if chemistry needs both a language and some fundamen the development within the research work directed on the tals; these are provided in Part I elucidation of the chemical nature of (life)is The chapters of Part I are devoted to the structure and function of the major classes of cellular con- followed.. there, more than in most fields, a tendency stituents: water(Chapter 2), amino acids and proteins has showed itself to consider the unexplained as (Chapters 3 through 6), sugars and polysaccharides inexplicable. . Thus ordinary yeast consists of living (Chapter 7, nucleotides and nucleic acids(Chapter 8) cells, and fermentation was considered by the majority of fatty acids and lipids(Chapter 10), and, finally, mem- research workers-among them Pasteur-to be a branes and membrane signaling proteins(Chapters 11 manifestation of life, i.e. to be inextricably associated with and 12). We supplement this discourse on molecules with information about the technologies used to study the vital processes in these cells. Buchner's discovery them. Some of the techniques sections are woven showed that this was not the case. It may be said that throughout the molecular descriptions, although one en thereby, at a blow, an important class of vital processes tire chapter ( Chapter 9) is devoted to ar grated2 Water 47 3 Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins 75 4 The Three-Dimensional Structure of Proteins 116 5 Protein Function 157 6 Enzymes 190 7 Carbohydrates and Glycobiology 238 8 Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids 273 9 DNA-Based Information Technologies 306 10 Lipids 343 11 Biological Membranes and Transport 369 12 Biosignaling 421 In 1897 Eduard Buchner, the German research worker, discovered that sugar can be made to ferment, not only with ordinary yeast, but also with the help of the expressed juices of yeast which contain none of the cells of the Saccharomyces . . . Why was this apparently somewhat trivial experiment considered to be of such significance? The answer to this question is self-evident, if the development within the research work directed on the elucidation of the chemical nature of (life) is followed . . . there, more than in most fields, a tendency has showed itself to consider the unexplained as inexplicable . . . Thus ordinary yeast consists of living cells, and fermentation was considered by the majority of research workers—among them Pasteur—to be a manifestation of life, i.e. to be inextricably associated with the vital processes in these cells. Buchner’s discovery showed that this was not the case. It may be said that thereby, at a blow, an important class of vital processes was removed from the cells into the chemists’ laboratories, to be studied there by the chemists’ methods. It proved, too, that, apart from fermentation, combustion and respiration, the splitting up of protein substances, fats and carbohydrates, and many other similar reactions which characterise the living cell, could be imitated in the test tube without any cooperation at all from the cells, and that on the whole the same laws held for these reactions as for ordinary chemical processes. —A. Tiselius, in presentation speech for the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to James B. Sumner, John H. Northrop, and Wendell M. Stanley, 1946 T he science of biochemistry can be dated to Eduard Buchner’s pioneering discovery. His finding opened a world of chemistry that has inspired researchers for well over a century. Biochemistry is nothing less than the chemistry of life, and, yes, life can be investigated, an￾alyzed, and understood. To begin, every student of bio￾chemistry needs both a language and some fundamen￾tals; these are provided in Part I. The chapters of Part I are devoted to the structure and function of the major classes of cellular con￾stituents: water (Chapter 2), amino acids and proteins (Chapters 3 through 6), sugars and polysaccharides (Chapter 7), nucleotides and nucleic acids (Chapter 8), fatty acids and lipids (Chapter 10), and, finally, mem￾branes and membrane signaling proteins (Chapters 11 and 12). We supplement this discourse on molecules with information about the technologies used to study them. Some of the techniques sections are woven throughout the molecular descriptions, although one en￾tire chapter (Chapter 9) is devoted to an integrated 45 STRUCTURE AND CATALYSIS PART I 8885d_c01_045 12/30/03 6:35 AM Page 45 mac76 mac76:385_reb: