What is Metabolism?

Degradation is the act of lowering something or someone to a less respected state. A president resigning
from office is a degradation.
• Metabolism is a network of metabolic /biochemical
reactions.
• Carried out in living cells.
• In a well organized, integrated and regulated manner.
• Related to various biomolecules viz
• Carbohydrates
• Lipids
• Proteins
• Nucleoproteins
•Metabolism involves
interconversions of chemical
compounds in the body.

• Metabolite precursors are

transformed to end products via
many specific intermediates.
• Metabolism is the sum of the
chemical changes that convert:
• Nutrients into energy.
• Chemically complex substances of
cells into simpler forms.
• Chemically simple substances into
functional complex biomolecules.
 The Sun is Energy for Life

●Phototrophs (Plants) use light to

drive synthesis of organic
molecules.
●Heterotrophs (Animals) use
these as building blocks.
●CO2,O2 and H2O are recycled.
 Importance Of Metabolism

•Normal Metabolism is vital for

health, growth, reproduction
and good survival of human
beings.
 Metabolite
•Metabolite is a substrate or a
reactant undergoing a
biochemical/metabolic reaction.
Bioenergetics is the branch of biochemistry that focuses on how cells transform
energy, often by producing, storing or consuming adenosine triphosphate
(ATP). Bioenergetic processes, such as cellular respiration or photosynthesis,
are essential to most aspects of cellular metabolism, therefore to life itself.
Glycogenesis is the
process of storing
excess glucose for
use by the body at a
later time.
Gluconeogenesis
 First step (Conversion of Pyruvate to Phosphoenolpyruvate

1.This reaction cannot occur by reversal of the pyruvate kinase

reaction of glycolysis.

2. Pyruvate is first transported from the cytosol into

mitochondria or is generated from alanine within
mitochondria by transamination, in which the -amino group is
removed from alanine (leaving pyruvate) and added to an
-keto carboxylic acid (transamination reactions).

3. Conversion of Pyruvate to Phosphoenolpyruvate occurs is a

two step process.
 First step is to convert pyruvate to Oxaloacetate acid
1. Pyruvate carboxylase, a mitochondrial enzyme converts the pyruvate to oxaloacetate.
2. It requires the coenzyme biotin.
3. The reaction involves biotin as a carrier of activated HCO3 .
Second step involves (Conversion of OAA to Phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)

1. Because the mitochondrial membrane has no transporter for oxaloacetate, before export to the
cytosol the oxaloacetate formed from pyruvate must be reduced to malate by mitochondrial malate
dehydrogenase, at the expense of NADH.

2. Mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase functions in both gluconeogenesis and the citric

acid cycle
3. Malate leaves the mitochondrion through a specific transporter in the inner
mitochondrial membrane and in the cytosol it is reoxidized to oxaloacetate, with the
production of cytosolic NADH
 Conversion of OAA to PEP continued……….
1. Theoxaloacetate is then converted to PEP by phosphoenolpyruvate
carboxykinase .
2. This Mg2-dependent reaction requires GTP as the phosphoryl group
donor
Conversion of Fructose 1,6-Bisphosphate to Fructose 6-Phosphate Is the Second Bypass

1. The second glycolytic reaction that cannot participate in gluconeogenesis is the phosphorylation of
fructose 6-
phosphate by PFK-1.
2. Because this reaction is highly exergonic and therefore irreversible in intact cells, the generation of
fructose 6-phosphate from fructose 1,6-bisphosphate is catalyzed by a different enzyme, Mg2-
dependent fructose 1,6-
bisphosphatase (FBPase-1).
 Conversion of Glucose 6-Phosphate to Glucose Is the Third Bypass

1.The third bypass is the final reaction of gluconeogenesis, the dephosphorylation of

glucose 6-phosphate to
yield glucose.
2. The reaction catalyzed by glucose 6-phosphatase does not require synthesis of
ATP;
3. It is a simple hydrolysis of a phosphate ester:

Note Gluconeogenesis Is Energetically Expensive, but Essential

 Gluconeogenesis Is Energetically Expensive, but Essential

1. The sum of the biosynthetic reactions leading from pyruvate to free

blood glucose.