Talk:Metabolism

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Article Milestones Date Process Result March 25, 2007 Peer review Reviewed March 30, 2007 Featured article candidate Promoted Current Status: Featured article

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Contents 1 sources 2 Image 3 Fast metabolism 4 Metabolism as design 5 Citric acid cycle 6 Metabolism during Pregnancy 7 Anabolism and catabolism 8 Alcohol tolerance 9 General theory of metabolism 10 Suggested merges 10.1 Total metabolism 11 Plan for expanded article

[edit] sources

am i the only one whos noticed all of this information is based on 1 source, if it isnt more needs to be added.

[edit] Image

What is the relevance of the picture?

It's a drawing of the original doctor to study metabolism. There may be something more relevant, like a fire or a stomach or a person in movement for example. Those would be good to add to or replace the current picture.

[edit] Fast metabolism

In layman's terms, when someone says "I have a fast metabolism", i.e. they can eat a lot and not put on weight, what does that mean?

It means that energy ingested (food) is not stored in the body as fat, but used in other ways or excreted. There is no difference in the "speed" of metabolism, but rather the relative amount and utilisation of metabolic products Onco p53 09:45, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Well, they might still metabolize things faster. Tyciol 19:37, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

fast metabolism needs to be in the article

[edit] Metabolism as design

I know that metabolism is a biological term, but it is also used in defining post-modernism. I know it was a design strategy used in the 1960's, but is there any other information on it?

I haven't actually heard of that... if you do have knowledge of it, it would be a great thing to research to add. Tyciol 19:37, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Citric acid cycle

Anyone object if I move it to the Catabolism section? --Arcadian 20:25, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

It seems like it has it's own article now, which is neat. Tyciol 19:37, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Metabolism during Pregnancy

There is need to describe the metabolic changes that go on in the mother's body during pregnancy.

Belongs to pregnancy.   Andreas   ^(T) 23:27, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Anabolism and catabolism

These are already mentioned in the box at the bottom of the page, so no more links are necessary.  Andreas  ^(T) 03:01, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Alcohol tolerance

How does the metabolism affect alcohol tolerance? For example, will someone with a "fast" metabolism get drunk quicker, or recover quicker, or what? Some guy 09:10, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] General theory of metabolism

This edit by 66.215.123.233 looks like a general theory of metabolism. However, it is not backed by sources. The description of biological systems as Dissipative systems is important. The formulation by 66.215.123.233, although well-meant, looks like original research.  Andreas  ^(T) 23:02, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Suggested merges

I propose merging both cell metabolism and total metabolism with this page and replacing these articles with redirects. TimVickers 23:38, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Total metabolism

(also called metabolism) is all of a certain living organism's chemical processes. The organism's metabolism can be dichotomized into the synthesis of organic molecules (anabolism) and their breakdown (catabolism). This is to be distinguished from cell metabolism which is those processes of metabolism that occur within a single cell. The study of total metabolism is called metabolomics.

Some organisms can reduce their metabolism to almost zero for certain periods of time. Spores of fungi can survive thousands of years in that state. But every lifeform is bound to have metabolism at some point of its life cycle.

Human cells obtain most of their energy from chemical reactions involving oxygen. A starting point in measuring human metabolism is with basal metabolic rate. Some microbes metabolise the wrought iron on shipwrecks, forming structures known as rusticles with the waste compounds they produce.

• Metabolism, Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis - The Virtual Library of Biochemistry and Cell Biology —The preceding unsigned comment was added by TimVickers (talk • contribs) 17:24, 6 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Plan for expanded article

Proposed major sections in new version TimVickers 19:25, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

• Introduction

• Thermodynamics

• First law and redox processes
• Second law and organisms as dissipative systems

• Coenzymes as the critical intermediates in metabolism

• Small molecules as group-transfer intermediates (NAD(P)H, SAM, AcetylCoA, folates)

• Catabolism

• Overview - general types of energy metabolism in animals, plants and microbes
• Extracellular digestion
• Intracellular catabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Shared pathways to CoenzymeA.
• Oxidative phosphorylation
• Inorganic electron donors and acceptors in bacteria and archaea
• Direct ATP generation by photophosphorylation
• Nucleotide catabolism

• Anabolism

• Carbohydrates, lipids and proteins
• Nucleotide synthesis and salvage
• Photosynthesis in plants, bacteria and archaea

• Xenobiotic metabolism and redox metabolism

• Regulation

• Intrinsic

• Allosteric control, flux control coefficients
• Post-translational modifications of enzymes
• Compartmentalization

• Extrinsic

• Hormonal/nervous control

• Evolution

• Origin of metabolism and life
• Evolution of novel pathways
• Parasite metabolism and loss of functions

• Investigation and manipulation

• Biochemical techniques - nutritional studies, radioactive tracers, metabolite analysis, gene knockouts.
• In silico models and metabolic networks
• Metabolic engineering

• History

That looks awesome!!!1!eleven When shall we start? - Zephyris _Talk 23:46, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

The first section has been added, but to get this up to FA level this is going to take a long time. TimVickers 00:28, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

True, but it is a worthy goal for such a central article. - Zephyris _Talk 08:03, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm really glad someone else is interested in this article. I was upset by how weak it's been but felt overwhelmed by the thought of revamping the whole thing alone! Some comments:

• There are a LOT of terrible 'daughter' articles that need work, especially the '..... metabolism' articles.
• ATP deserves its own (sub)section, given how hugely important it is. Same with glucose, in my opinion.
• I'm not sure about the regulation section.. How much can we really talk about this without describing how specific organisms regulate metabolism? It seems we should work on integration first, but don't let me stop you.
• I'm not sure the strict division between catabolism and anabolism is helpful for all the classes of molecules... for example, protein catabolism is a function of digestion & ubiquitination, and serves primarily to provide amino acids for protein synthesis. On the other hand, amino acid catabolism often provides energy.
• We need at least a brief introduction to the classes of biochemical molecules and the roles they play.
• There are several well-wiki'd pathways such as Glycolysis, it would be nice to have prominent links to those instead of half-baked articles like carbohydrate catabolism.
• There's a lot of mixing up between the metabolism of monomer subunits (e.g. glucose) and their polymeric storage forms (e.g. complex carbohydrates). These are very different processes, and mixing them together obscures the important idea that glucose is a central player in many, many pathways. Put another way: nucleotide metabolism and DNA synthesis are very, very different.
• You're editing the page too fast for me to keep up! I'll help out when you take a break.

Robotsintrouble 01:35, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

Argh I thought you were done! Here's my revision of the new 'classes of molecules' section before your recent revisions:

<blockquote>===Amino acids, carbohydrates and lipids=== Most of the structures that make up animals, plants and microbes are made from three basic classes of molecule: [[amino acid]]s (which make up [[protein]]s), [[carbohydrate]]s and [[lipid]]s (often called [[fat]]s). From individual molecules are formed diverse biological [[macromolecules]] such as [[polysaccharide]]s from simple sugars and [[proteins]]s from amino acids; these macromolecules are essential parts of all living organisms and participate in every process within [[cell (biology)|cell]]s. Lipids are not typically polymerized as are carbohydrates and amino acids, instead their hydrophobic nature causes them to self-segregate in the formation of [[micelles]] and the [[plasma membrane]]. As these macromolecules are vital for life, metabolism encompasses numerous processes necessary to build and maintain them: synthesizing the individual "building blocks", linking these monomers into functional macromolecules in the construction of cells and tissues, transforming excess molecules into deficient nutrients, detoxification of waste and toxins, and extracting energy from food to drive all the above processes. ====Amino acids and proteins==== {{main|Protein}} '''Proteins''' are relatively large [[organic compound]]s made of [[amino acid]]s arranged in a linear chain and joined together by [[peptide bond]]s. Many proteins are [[enzyme]]s that [[catalysis|catalyze]] biochemical reactions, and are vital to [[metabolism]]. Other proteins have structural or mechanical functions, such as the proteins in the [[cytoskeleton]], which forms a system of [[scaffolding]] that maintains cell shape. Proteins are also important in [[cell signaling]], [[antibody|immune response]]s, [[cell adhesion]], and the [[cell cycle]]. Protein is also a necessary component in our diet, since animals cannot synthesise all the amino acids and must obtain [[essential amino acid]]s from food. Through the process of [[digestion]], animals break down ingested protein into free amino acids that can be used for [[protein biosynthesis|protein synthesis]]. [[Image:NADH-3D-vdW.png|thumb|right|170px|Space-filling model of the [[coenzyme]] [[nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide]].]]</blockquote>Robotsintrouble 05:25, 9 March 2007 (UTC)