Biochemistry

In 1828, German chemist Friedrich Wohler synthesized urea from cyanic acid and ammonia, as well as from carbon dioxide and ammonia. Thus, for the first time, it was proved that the chemicals of a living organism can be synthesized artificially, outside the living organism. Subsequent powerful impulses in this direction of chemistry were laboratory syntheses of lipids by the French chemist Marcellin Berthelot (1854) and carbohydrates from formaldehyde by the Russian chemist Alexander Butlerov (1861). Later there were works on the study of fermentation, initiated by the French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur. In 1897, the German biochemist Eduard Buchner proved that sugar fermentation can take place in the presence of a cell- free yeast extract, and this process is not so much biological as chemical. At the beginning of the 20th century, the German biochemist Hermann Fischer formulated the main provisions of the peptide theory of the structure of proteins, established the structure and properties of almost all amino acids included in their composition. In 1926, American biochemist James Sumner obtained the first pure urease enzyme and proved that the enzyme is a protein. Since then, biochemistry has advanced, especially since the middle XX century, with the development of new techniques such as chromatography, X-ray diffraction, double polarization interferometry, NMR spectroscopy, radioisotope labeling, electron microscopy, and molecular dynamics modeling. These methods allowed the discovery and detailed analysis of many molecules and metabolic pathways of the cell, such as glycolysis and the Krebs cycle (tricarboxylic acid cycle), and led to an understanding of biochemistry at the molecular level. Another important historical event in biochemistry is the discovery of the gene and its role in the transmission of information in the cell. In the 1950s, James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins were instrumental in deciphering the structure of DNA and proposing its relationship to genetic information transfer. In 1958, George Beadle and Edward Tatum received the Nobel Prize for their work in fungi showing that one gene produces one enzyme. More recently, Andrew Fire and Craig Mello received the 2006 Nobel Prize for their discovery of the role of RNA interference in suppressing gene expression. The Kazakhstan scientists have made a significant contribution to the development of world biochemistry. With the discovery of vegetable protein and its biochemical properties, ways of increasing the protein content in wheat and valuable food crops were identified (T.Darkanbaev and others), the biochemistry of medicinal and auxiliary substances in herbs was studied (L.Kylyshev, R.Kunaeva). By studying the chemistry of plants, medicines, food products, aromatic substances and special preparations were obtained (M.Goryaev, T.Shombalov, etc.). The problems of histochemistry, biochemistry of myoglobin, hemoglobin proteins, enzymes participating in redox processes (Z.Kaipova, 4