Biochemistry

From EvoWiki

Biochemistry is particularly concerned with the molecules found in living organisms. Biochemistry takes all such molecules as its object of study while molecular biology is more restricted, concerned with the study of molecular processes, particularly related to genetics and enzyme processes. Biochemists categorize many molecules of living organisms into four groups:

nucleic acids (DNA, RNA)
proteins (enzymes, structural proteins, ion channels, storage proteins, etc.)
carbohydrates (sugars, sugar polymers, etc.)
lipids (fats, oils, phospholipids, steroids)

The structure of nucleic acid molecules is particularly important for molecular evolution. Molecular fossils are increasingly important in the study of biological evolution. DNA is quite chemically stable and it has been possible to isolate DNA molecules from ancient fossils. Petroleum contains oils of particular molecular characteristics that suggest an ancient biological origin of Petroleum.