Metabolism

• Metabolism

  A series of chemical reactions that occur in a living organism to sustain life
• Metabolism

  • Sum of anabolism and catabolism
  • The total amount of biochemical reactions involved in maintaining the living condition of the cells in an organism
  • Related to nutrition and the existence of nutrients
  • The biochemical pathway through which the cells obtain energy
• Catabolism

  A process mainly involved in breaking down larger organic molecules into smaller molecules
• Catabolism

  • Using water to break a disaccharide (large) molecules into glucose and fructose (smaller) which is a hydrolysis reaction
  • Cellular respiration
  • Glycolysis
  • Converting nucleic acids into nucleotides
• Catabolism

  • Releases energy (thus this is an exergonic process)
• Anabolism

  A process mainly involved in building up molecules or synthesizing compounds from simpler substances required by the cells (smaller molecules to large molecules)
• Anabolism

  • Combining glucose (monomer) molecules and making a larger molecule (polymer/polysaccharide) which is a dehydration synthesis reaction
  • Photosynthesis
  • Converting amino acids into protein
• Anabolism

  • Requires and stores energy and releases water (thus this is an example of an endergonic reaction)