News tagged with metabolism
Cyborg snail produces electricity
(PhysOrg.com) -- First it was grapes, then cockroaches, and now snails have become the latest organism to generate electricity through an implanted biofuel cell. The process works similarly in all three situations: ...
Mar 15, 2012 |
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Scientists reveal how females store sperm for decades
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have discovered that all sorts of females – from birds to reptiles to insects – have a nifty trick to prolong the lifespan of sperm, letting them store it for weeks, months ...
Jan 26, 2012 |
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Avalanche of reactions at the origin of life
The origin of life is seen as the formation of the first biomolecules which may be subject to multiplication and further development. Hitherto it was unclear, which reactions could have triggered the evolution of this ur-metabolism. ...
Jan 19, 2012 |
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Genome-scale model of cyanobacterium developed
(Phys.org) -- In an important step toward engineering bacteria to produce biofuel, scientists have developed one of the first global models for the nitrogen-fixing photosynthetic cyanobacterium Cyanothece ...
Apr 11, 2012 |
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Researchers develop CAD-Type tools for engineering RNA control systems
The computer assisted design (CAD) tools that made it possible to fabricate integrated circuits with millions of transistors may soon be coming to the biological sciences. Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy ...
Dec 22, 2011 |
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Plant enzyme's origins traced to non-enzyme ancestors
(Phys.org) -- As plants began to transition from aquatic habitats to dry land some 500 million years ago, their needs changed. Those primitive ancestors of modern plants were ill-equipped to survive in a dry, sunlight-blasted ...
May 13, 2012 |
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Aging-related degeneration caused by defects of energy metabolism in tissue stem cells?
Aging-related tissue degeneration can be caused by mitochondrial dysfunction in tissue stem cells. The research group of Professor Anu Suomalainen Wartiovaara in Helsinki University, with their collaborators in Max Planck ...
Jan 03, 2012 |
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Energy requirements make Antarctic fur seal pups vulnerable to climate change
A new study suggests that climate change could pose a risk for Antarctic fur seals in their first few months of life.
Mar 21, 2012 |
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Lactating tsetse flies models for lactating mammals?
An unprecedented study of intra-uterine lactation in the tsetse fly, published 18 April 2012 in Biology of Reproduction's Papers-in-Press, reveals that an enzyme found in the fly's milk functions similarly in ...
Apr 18, 2012 |
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Study finds that mild winters are detrimental to butterflies
The recent mild winter throughout much of the United States was a cause for celebration for many. However, butterfly aficionados shouldn't be joining in the celebration.
Apr 20, 2012 |
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Tuatara iconic New Zealand reptile shows chewing is not just for mammals
The tuatara, an iconic New Zealand reptile, chews its food in a way unlike any other animal on the planet – challenging the widespread perception that complex chewing ability is closely linked to high ...
May 29, 2012 |
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Acquired traits can be inherited via small RNAs
Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have found the first direct evidence that an acquired trait can be inherited without any DNA involvement. The findings suggest that Lamarck, whose theory of evolution ...
Dec 05, 2011 |
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Scientists elevate little-studied cellular mechanism to potential drug target
For years, science has generally considered the phosphorylation of proteins -- the insertion of a phosphorous group into a protein that turns it on or off -- as perhaps the factor regulating a range of cellular processes ...
Dec 11, 2011 |
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Decades-old conclusion about energy-making pathway of cyanobacteria is corrected
A generally accepted 44-year-old assumption about how certain kinds of bacteria make energy and synthesize cell materials has been shown to be incorrect by a team of scientists led by Donald Bryant, the Ernest ...
Dec 15, 2011 |
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How work tells muscles to grow
We take it for granted, but the fact that our muscles grow when we work them makes them rather unique. Now, researchers have identified a key ingredient needed for that bulking up to take place. A factor produced in working ...
Jan 03, 2012 |
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Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories. Catabolism breaks down organic matter, for example to harvest energy in cellular respiration. Anabolism, on the other hand, uses energy to construct components of cells such as proteins and nucleic acids.
The chemical reactions of metabolism are organized into metabolic pathways, in which one chemical is transformed into another by a sequence of enzymes. Enzymes are crucial to metabolism because they allow organisms to drive desirable but thermodynamically unfavorable reactions by coupling them to favorable ones, and because they act as catalysts to allow these reactions to proceed quickly and efficiently. Enzymes also allow the regulation of metabolic pathways in response to changes in the cell's environment or signals from other cells.
The metabolism of an organism determines which substances it will find nutritious and which it will find poisonous. For example, some prokaryotes use hydrogen sulfide as a nutrient, yet this gas is poisonous to animals. The speed of metabolism, the metabolic rate, also influences how much food an organism will require.
A striking feature of metabolism is the similarity of the basic metabolic pathways between even vastly different species. For example, the set of carboxylic acids that are best known as the intermediates in the citric acid cycle are present in all organisms, being found in species as diverse as the unicellular bacteria Escherichia coli and huge multicellular organisms like elephants. These striking similarities in metabolism are most likely the result of the high efficiency of these pathways, and of their early appearance in evolutionary history.
For more information about Metabolism, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
