2008م - 1444هـ
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Among the sciences that showed the most rapid growth rate during the second half

of the twentieth century, biochemistry occupies one of the foremost positions. Up to

this time, the isolation of enzymes and the investigation of their reactions were the

main focus of studies. But in 1953, the structure of DNA was published and a complete new field of research was entered. The function of genetic information storage

and recovery could be elucidated. Consecutive studies in this direction dealt with

the regulation of protein synthesis, which determines the quantity of proteins present and thus, in the case of enzymes, their activity. However, the turnover rate of

enzymatic reactions is also controlled by activators, inhibitors, conformation

changes, degradation or chemical modification of enzymes, and by other means.

A whole network of regulatory mechanisms could be elucidated, which became

an overlay over the network of enzymatic pathways.

All these activities resulted in a tremendous flood of data. Only the application

of computers and advancement in informatics permitted the completion of many

tasks in biochemistry, for example, the sequencing of the human genome with its

billions of base pairs. Data management is developing in two directions: on the one

hand to achieve the solution of detailed problems, and on the other hand to obtain a

general survey of metabolism and regulation in a larger unit, up to a complete living

being. The latter aspect includes the presentation of the network of metabolic pathways, the mechanisms of their regulation and the compounds involved in it, the

flow rates of metabolites under various external conditions, etc. Analogously to

the term ‘‘genome’’ known for a long time, their various components are named

‘‘transcriptome,’’ ‘‘proteome,’’ ‘‘regulome,’’ ‘‘metabolome,’’ etc