Metabolism (chemistry)

Metabolism (chemistry), inclusive term for the chemical reactions by which the cells of an organism transform energy, maintain their identity, and reproduce. All life forms—from single-celled algae to mammals—are dependent on many hundreds of simultaneous and precisely regulated metabolic reactions to support them from conception through growth and maturity to the final stages of death. Each of these reactions is triggered, controlled, and terminated by specific cell enzymes or catalysts, and each reaction is coordinated with the numerous other reactions throughout the organism.

All rights reserved.In keeping with the first two laws of thermodynamics, organisms can neither create nor destroy energy but can only transform it from one form to another. Thus, the chlorophyll of plants, at the foundation of almost all food and energy-transfer webs (see Food Web), captures energy from sunlight and uses it to power the synthesis of living plant cells from inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide, water, and ammonia. This energy, in the form of high-energy products (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins), is then ingested by herbivores and secondarily by carnivores, providing these animals with their only source of energy and cell-building chemicals.

Virtually all living organisms, therefore, ultimately derive their energy from the sun. On reproducing, each species member—whether green plant, herbivore, or carnivore—passes on specific genetic instructions on how to intercept, transform, and finally release energy back into the environment during its life span. Metabolism, from a thermodynamic point of view, embraces the processes by which cells chemically intercept and distribute energy as it continuously passes through the organism.