Biotechnology as the name suggests includes technology related to living organisms which also specify about genes, chemical reactions, chromosomes, enzymes etc and various other parameters associated with it.
Of all, let us now enlighten with some facts about biochemistry. Biochemistry deals with the chemical changes that occur in living organisms. The reactions may be outside the cell (extracellular) or inside (intracellular).
Reactions involving bond breakage like hydrolytic reactions fall under extracellular reactions and reactions such as oxidative reactions come under intracellular reactions.
Basically biochemical reactions either extracellular or intracellular are temperature dependant. Biochemical reactions in general occur at temperatures between 0°C and 60°C. Depending upon the range of temperature, the organisms have been classified as Cryophilic, Mesophilic and Thermophilic.
Cryophilic organisms thrive at cold temperatures, Mesophilic at room temperature and Thermophilic at high temperatures. At sometimes in order to boost up a reaction certain additional materials are required and they are termed as catalysts. A catalyst typically speeds up the reaction to obtain the final product with out disturbing the existing reaction scenario. These catalysts may be supplied by the living organisms themselves as a part of their life/metabolic processes and they are termed as Enzymes.
Again these enzymes depending on their secretion from outside the cell or inside the cell can be classified as extracellular enzymes and intracellular enzymes respectively. Enzymes are generally proteinaceous by nature.
These enzymes thus play a vital role in maintaining metabolism and the study of these help mankind to take a step forward in the field of biotechnology.
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