The speed of metabolism, the metabolic rate, also influences how much food an organism will require.Ī striking feature of metabolism is the similarity of the basic metabolic pathways between even vastly different species. For example, some prokaryotes use hydrogen sulfide as a nutrient, yet this gas is poisonous to animals. The metabolism of an organism determines which substances it will find nutritious and which it will find poisonous. Enzymes also allow the regulation of metabolic pathways in response to changes in the cell's environment or signals from other cells. Enzymes are crucial to metabolism because they allow organisms to drive desirable but thermodynamically unfavorable reactions by coupling them to favorable ones. The chemical reactions of metabolism are organized into metabolic pathways, in which one chemical is transformed into another by a sequence of enzymes. Anabolism, on the other hand, uses energy to construct components of cells such as proteins and nucleic acids. Catabolism breaks down organic matter, for example to harvest energy in cellular respiration. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments.

Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms in order to maintain life. Structure of the coenzyme adenosine triphosphate, a central intermediate in energy metabolism. Most People Research Metabolism for Weight loss:īurn 10 Pounds in 2 Weeks with this Indian Ocean Islander secret File:ATP-3D-vdW.png Please help to improve this page yourself if you can. This article needs rewriting to enhance its relevance to psychologists.

Universal database metabolic reactions