BIOCHEMICAL METABOLISM

Introduction
What’s going on in your body right now? Your first answer might
be that you’re hungry, or that your muscles are sore from a run, or
that you feel tired. But let’s go even deeper, moving past the layer of
your consciousness and looking at what’s going in your cells.
If you could peek inside of any cell in your body, you’d find that it
was a remarkable hub of activity, more like a busy open-air market
than a quiet room. Whether you are awake or sleeping, running or
watching TV, energy is being transformed inside your cells,
changing forms as molecules undergo the connected chemical
reactions that keep you alive and functional.

Overview of metabolism
Cells are constantly carrying out thousands of chemical reactions
needed to keep the cell, and your body as a whole, alive and healthy.
These chemical reactions are often linked together in chains, or
pathways. All of the chemical reactions that take place inside of a
cell are collectively called the cell’s metabolism.
To get a sense of the complexity of metabolism, let's take a look at
the metabolic diagram below. To me, this mess of lines looks like a
map of a very large subway system, or possibly a fancy circuit
board. In fact, it's a diagram of the core metabolic pathways in a
eukaryotic cell, such as the cells that make up the human body. Each
line is a reaction, and each circle is a reactant or product.

Abstract diagram representing core eukaryotic metabolic

networks.
main point of the diagram is to indicate that metabolism is complex
and highly interconnected, with many different pathways that feed
into one another.
In the metabolic web of the cell, some of the chemical reactions
release energy and can happen spontaneously (without energy
input). However, others need added energy in order to take place.
Just as you must continually eat food to replace what your body
uses, so cells need a continual inflow of energy to power their
energy-requiring chemical reactions. In fact, the food you eat is the
source of the energy used by your cells!
To make the idea of metabolism more concrete, let's look at two
metabolic processes that are crucial to life on earth: those that build
sugars, and those that break them down.

Breaking down glucose: Cellular respiration

As an example of an energy-releasing pathway, let’s see how one of
your cells might break down a sugar molecule (say, from that candy
you had for dessert).
Many cells, including most of the cells in your body, get energy
from glucose in a process called cellular respiration.
Breaking down glucose releases energy, which is captured by the
cell in the form of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. ATP is a small
molecule that gives cells a convenient way to briefly store energy.
Once it's made, ATP can be used by other reactions in the cell as an
energy source. Much as we humans use money because it’s easier
than bartering each time we need something, so the cell uses ATP to
have a standardized way to transfer energy. Because of this, ATP is
sometimes described as the “energy currency” of the cell.

Building up glucose: Photosynthesis

As an example of an energy-requiring metabolic pathway, let's flip
that last example around and see how a sugar molecule is built.
Sugars like glucose are made by plants in a process
called photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, plants use the energy of
sunlight to convert carbon dioxide gas into sugar molecules.
Like us, plants need energy to power their cellular processes, so
some of the sugars are used by the plant itself. They can also
provide a food source for animals that eat the plant, like the squirrel
below. In both cases, the glucose will be broken down through
cellular respiration, generating ATP to keep cells running.

Anabolic and catabolic pathways

The processes of making and breaking down glucose molecules are
both examples of metabolic pathways. A metabolic pathway is a
series of connected chemical reactions that feed one another. The
pathway takes in one or more starting molecules and, through a
series of intermediates, converts them into products.
Metabolic pathways can be broadly divided into two categories
based on their effects. Photosynthesis, which builds sugars out of
smaller molecules, is a "building up," or anabolic, pathway. In
contrast, cellular respiration breaks sugar down into smaller
molecules and is a "breaking down," or catabolic, pathway.
Anabolic pathway: small molecules are assembled into larger ones.
Energy is typically required.
Catabolic pathway: large molecules are broken down into small
ones. Energy is typically released.

Anabolic pathways build complex molecules from simpler ones

and typically need an input of energy. Building glucose from carbon
dioxide is one example. Other examples include the synthesis of
proteins from amino acids, or of DNA strands from nucleic acid
building blocks (nucleotides). These biosynthetic processes are
critical to the life of the cell, take place constantly, and use energy
carried by ATP and other short-term energy storage molecules.
Catabolic pathways involve the breakdown of complex molecules
into simpler ones and typically release energy. Energy stored in the
bonds of complex molecules, such as glucose and fats, is released in
catabolic pathways. It's then harvested in forms that can power the
work of the cell (for instance, through the synthesis of ATP).
One final but important note: the chemical reactions in metabolic
pathways don’t take place automatically, without guidance. Instead,
each reaction step in a pathway is facilitated, or catalyzed, by a
protein called an enzyme.

References:
Berg, J. M., Tymoczko, J. L., and Stryer, L. (2002). Metabolism is
composed of many coupled, interconnecting reactions.
In Biochemistry (5th ed., section 14.1). New York, NY: W. H.
Freeman. Retrieved
from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22439/.
Carter, P. (n.d.). Catabolic and anabolic reactions. In Microbial
metabolism. Retrieved
from http://classes.midlandstech.edu/carterp/courses/bio225/chap05/
lecture1.htm.
Reece, J. B., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky,
P. V., and Jackson, R. B. (2011). An introduction to metabolism.
In Campbell biology (10th ed., pp. 141-161). San Francisco, CA:
Pearson.
 FLOWER COLOR CHANGING
EXPERIMENT

MATERIALS NEEDED:
 Flower (preferably color white)
 Clear bottle or tube
 Water
 Food Color
1. Part A
Before placing any of the flowers in water, have an adult trim about 4” (10 cm) off of
each stem. Use a knife and cut at an angle. Keep all the flower stems in plain water for
now. (Many gardeners and florists even cut stems under water so no air bubbles can
get in to break the tube of water and cause wilting. It’s important that the stem tubes
always be filled with water. If air gets into the tube, water may not be able to move up
the stem to the flower.)

Part B
Have an adult use a sharp knife to slit the stems of three of the flowers straight down
the middle. Keep them in the plain water for now.

2. Fill five of the cups with different colors of water. Fill the other two with uncolored
water.

3. Part A
This step is often called “Split Ends.” Place each half of a stem into a cup of different
colored water. For example, position the red and blue cups next to each other and put a
stem half into each color. Use a color with one of the cups of uncolored water, too.
Make a few predictions: Which color will be soaked up? Will the colors mix to make a
new color in the petals or will the color in the flower be divided in half?

Part B
Place the last white carnation into the remaining cup of uncolored water. This one is
your control flower. Let all the flowers sit and soak for several days. As you wait to see
the results, make some more predictions: How will the carnation in the plain water
compare to the carnations in the colored water? Which color will be soaked up first?
How long will it take? Which color will create the darkest shade in a flower? Which color
will create the lightest shade in a flower? Which color might not be absorbed?
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Most plants “drink” water from the ground through their roots. The water travels up the stem of
the plant into the leaves and flowers where it makes food and helps keep the plant rigid. When a
flower is cut off the plant, it no longer has its roots but the stem of the flower still “drinks” up the
water and provides it to the leaves and flowers. How does this happen?

Water evaporating from the leaves, buds, and petals (There are two things that combine to
move water through plants —

transpiration and cohesion.

transpiration) pulls water up the stem of the plant. This works sort of like you sucking on a straw.
Water that evaporates from the leaves “pulls up” other water molecules behind it to fill the space
it left. Instead of a mouth providing the suction, it is due to the evaporating water. This can
happen because water sticks to itself (cohesion) and because the tubes in the plant stem are
very tiny. This water movement process through tiny tubes is called capillary action. Coloring
the water with food coloring does not harm the plant but it allows you to see the movement of
water into the flower. Splitting the stem simply proves that the tiny tubes in the stem run all the
way through the stem from the water to the petals of the flowers. Our unofficial tests indicated
that the blue food color went up the carnations the fastest, followed by the red and then the
green food colors.

Reference:

https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/colorful-carnations/
RESEARCH
IN
BIOCHEMICAL
METABOLISM
Prepared by:
Jessela D. Estrella

Submitted to:
Miss Pechie V. Yee
EXPERIMENT
IN
BIOCHEMISTRY
Prepared by:

Ria Ann Lo
Jellie Rose Mendoza
Mark Ezekiel Engcot
Jessela Estrella
Abegail Portillano

Submitted to:
Miss Pechie V. Yee