Related topics: type 2 diabetes , insulin resistance , diabetes , obesity , fat cells
Metabolism
hideMetabolism 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.
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News tagged with cell metabolism
Dessert on your mind? Your muscles may be getting the message
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Even the anticipation of sweets may cause our muscles to start taking up more blood sugar, say researchers reporting in the December issue of Cell Metabolism. That message is delivered via neurons in the brain's hypothalamus contai ...
To keep muscles strong, the 'garbage' has to go
Dec 01, 2009 |
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In order to maintain muscle strength with age, cells must rid themselves of the garbage that accumulates in them over time, just as it does in any household, according to a new study in the December issue of Cell Metabolism. In the ...
Molecule discovered that makes obese people develop diabetes
Nov 24, 2009 |
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Many people who are overweight or obese develop insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes at some stage in their lives. A European research team has now discovered that obese people have large amounts of the ...
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Appetite, consumption controlled by clockwork genes at cross-purposes in flies
Dec 06, 2009 |
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One of the pioneers in research on sleep:wake circadian genes, Amita Sehgal, Ph.D., has discovered that fruit flies' appetite and consumption are controlled by two rival sets of clocks, one in neurons and the other in the ...
Watermelon: Fruit on the Fast Track
Dec 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are studying how watermelons grow from tiny flowers to plus-size, market-ready produce in only five weeks. Their findings have resulted in the ...
Low-density lipoprotein receptor reduces damage in Alzheimer's brain
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 09, 2009 |
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The low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) has received a lot of attention because of its connection with coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis, but now it appears as if it may have a beneficial influence in degenerative ...
Cancer metabolism discovery uncovers new role of IDH1 gene mutation in brain cancer
Nov 22, 2009 |
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Agios Pharmaceuticals today announced that its scientists have established, for the first time, that the mutated IDH1 gene has a novel enzyme activity consistent with a cancer-causing gene, or oncogene. This breakthrough ...
Shallow Origins
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
2 hours ago |
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In finding answers to the mystery of the origin of life, scientists may not have to dig too deep. New research is shedding light on shallower waters as a possible location for where life on Earth began.
Latest epidemic? High cholesterol, obesity in fruit flies
Dec 02, 2009 |
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How do fruit flies get high cholesterol and become obese? The same way as people do - by eating a diet that's too rich in fats.
First-ever blueprint of a minimal cell is more complex than expected
Nov 26, 2009 |
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What are the bare essentials of life, the indispensable ingredients required to produce a cell that can survive on its own? Can we describe the molecular anatomy of a cell, and understand how an entire organism ...
Parasite evades death by promoting host cell survival
Dec 08, 2009 |
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Researchers have discovered how the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas' disease, prolongs its survival in infected cells. A protein on the parasite activates the enzyme Akt, which blocks cell ...
Systems biology approach provides insulin resistance insights
Nov 23, 2009 |
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Researchers from the University of California, San Diego recently offered the sharpest-yet picture of how core biochemical pathways in skeletal muscle cells and fat cells are altered in people who suffer from ...
Research sheds light on workings of anti-cancer drug
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Nov 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The copper sequestering drug tetrathiomolybdate (TM) has been shown in studies to be effective in the treatment of Wilson disease, a disease caused by an overload of copper, and certain metastatic cancers. ...
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