Principles of Biochemistry

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1.1.2 History of Biochemisry

1.1.2 History of Biochemisry

Important foundations were laid in many fields of biology during 17^th and 18^th centuries. The development of very crucial concepts, which include the cell theory by Schleiden and Schwann in 1833, Mendel’s study of inheritance in 1866 and Darwin’s theory of evolution were observed during 19^th century. The real boon to biochemistry was given in 1828 when total synthesis of urea from ammonia and lead cyanate was successfully achieved by Wohler who thus demonstrated that organic compound can be synthesized from inorganic compound. During 1857, Louis Pasteur did a great deal of work on fermentation and pointed out categorically the importance of enzymes in this process. In 1897, Edward Buchanner extracted enzymes from yeast cells in crude form which could a sugar molecule to alcohol and thus enzyme research was initiated. Neuberg first introduced the term, ‘biochemistry’ during 1903. In 1905, Knoop deduced the β-Oxidation reactions for fatty acid degradation.In 1972, Jon Singer and Garth Nicolson proposed the fluid mosaic model of membrane structure.

The early part of 20^th century witnessed a sudden increase in knowledge related to chemical analysis, separation methods and instrumentation for biological studies (X-ray diffraction, electron microscope etc.) which led to the understanding in structure and function of important molecules such as proteins, enzymes, DNA and RNA. In 1926 James Sumner established the protein nature of enzymes. The first metabolic pathway, glycolysis, was elucidated by Embden and Meyerhof.in1933. Otto Warberg, Cori and Parnas also made important contributions relating to glycolytic pathway. Citric acid and urea cycles were established by Krebs during 1930-40. The central role of ATP in biological systems was described by Lipmann in 1940. The The double-helical model of DNA was established by Watson and Crick in 1953. DNA polymerase was discovered by Kornberg in 1956. Frederick Sanger’s contributions in sequencing of protein in 1953 and nucleic acid in 1977 were responsible for further developments in the fields of protein and nucleic acids. The development of recombinant DNA research by Snell in 1980 led to the growth in the field of genetic engineering. Thus there is progressive evolution of biology to, biochemistry to molecular biology, genetic engineering and biotechnology. The research still grows.