Fundamentals of Biochemistry - Filippovich, Yu. B. 1999

Protein Metabolism
The Significance of Protein Metabolism

Protein METABOLISM is a central process among the diverse transformations of substances characteristic of living matter. From the standpoint of materialistic dialectics, The phenomenon of life itself is, to a certain extent, "the mode of existence of protein bodies" that are continuously self-renewing and constantly building themselves from environmental substances. Therefore, in the living world, the entire course of metabolism is subordinated to a primary goal: the reproduction of protein bodies.

All other Types of Metabolism—carbohydrate, lipid, nucleic, mineral, and others—serve protein metabolism and specific Protein Biosynthesis. Some groups of processes, such as Carbohydrate Metabolism, primarily serve as a source of carbon skeletons for the BIOSYNTHESIS OF AMINO Acids, which are the starting compounds for the de novo synthesis of Proteins. Others, such as fat metabolism, mainly supply substances whose oxidation in ATP high-energy bonds stores the energy required for peptide bond formation. Still others (NUCLEIC ACID METABOLISM) ensure the storage and transmission of information regarding the arrangement of amino acid residues in newly synthesized protein molecules, thus supporting the specific reproduction of unique protein structures. Mineral Metabolism promotes the assembly or disassembly of enzyme systems through which Protein Synthesis occurs, as well as the creation and degradation of subcellular particles and structures where this synthesis takes place. Thus, the numerous, diverse, and often highly complex processes of substance transformation and energy conversion in living matter primarily serve the metabolism of protein bodies. The latter, in turn, regulates these transformations in such a way as to create optimal conditions for its own continuation.

A critical issue in The Study of protein metabolism is elucidating the mechanism underlying the specific reproduction of the Introduction/19.html">Primary Structure of Proteins during their biosynthesis. As noted earlier, the primary structure of a protein predetermines The Nature of its tertiary structure, upon which its specific functional activity depends. This particular aspect of protein metabolism is of exceptional importance for the vital activity of organisms; it governs the metabolic Specificity of organisms at varying levels of complexity or evolutionary development, and it is primarily with the Specificity of protein bodies that the species specificity of organisms is associated. Thus, the specific reproduction of protein bodies in nature forms the foundation of the entire metabolic process characteristic of any given plant or animal species.

Gaining insight into the finest details of protein metabolism—especially uncovering the regularities governing the de novo Synthesis of specific proteins (such as Enzymes, protein and Peptide Hormones, etc.)—provides researchers with the key to unraveling many secrets of nature. It opens up new avenues for regulating metabolism and, consequently, finding ways to control Organism development, heredity, pathological processes, and more. All of this indicates that there is no more important or complex problem in biochemistry and biology as a whole than The problem of protein metabolism.