生物化学Biochemistry

静态生物化学研究生物分子的结构与功能；动态生物化学研究代谢途径及其调控，如糖酵解、三羧酸循环、氧化磷酸化、脂肪酸和氨基酸代谢；分子生物学研究基因的复制、转录、翻译与调控。酶学、生物能学、结构生物学和化学生物学都是重要分支。

Static biochemistry studies the structure and function of biomolecules; dynamic biochemistry studies metabolic pathways and their regulation, such as glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid and amino acid metabolism; molecular biology studies the replication, transcription, translation and control of genes. Enzymology, bioenergetics, structural biology and chemical biology are major branches.

1828 年维勒由无机物氰酸铵合成尿素，动摇了“生命力论”。1833 年佩扬发现淀粉酶；1897 年布赫纳证明无细胞酵母汁也能发酵，表明生命过程可以用化学来研究。1903 年诺伊贝格提出 Biochemie 一词。1926 年萨姆纳结晶出脲酶，证明酶是蛋白质。

In 1828 Wöhler synthesised urea from inorganic ammonium cyanate, shaking the doctrine of vitalism. Payen discovered amylase in 1833, and in 1897 Buchner showed that cell-free yeast juice ferments sugar, proving life's processes can be studied chemically. Neuberg used the term Biochemie in 1903, and in 1926 Sumner crystallised urease, showing enzymes are proteins.

二十世纪中叶，代谢途径陆续阐明，1953 年 DNA 双螺旋结构的发现开启了分子生物学时代。此后蛋白质测序、重组 DNA、PCR、X 射线晶体学、冷冻电镜（2017 年诺贝尔化学奖）和基因组学使生物化学飞速发展，深刻影响了医学、药物研发、农业和生物技术产业。

In the mid-twentieth century metabolic pathways were worked out one after another, and the 1953 discovery of the DNA double helix opened the era of molecular biology. Protein sequencing, recombinant DNA, PCR, X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017) and genomics then drove rapid progress, transforming medicine, drug discovery, agriculture and biotechnology.