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With that question I mean: directly.

Please bear with me, as I don't know much about Biology or Chemistry (those are my main difficulties while studying).

I know that energy that biological beings use can be stocked in molecular bindings so that they can have it available later, when needed.

But in that process, if anabolic, it is not obtaining energy, but 'spending', stocking some energy in chemical bindings, so that it, through catabolism, can be liberated and used.

Wouldn't heterotrophs, then, obtain energy exclusively through catabolism?

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  • $\begingroup$ @John — Please follow the instructions in the comment box and do not use comments to answer questions. Your answer is incorrect imho, but I cannot vote it down or comment on it. $\endgroup$ – David Feb 17 '20 at 9:08
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Biology.SE! Please take the tour and then go through the help pages starting with How to Ask questions effectively on this site and edit your question accordingly. We encourage you to do some research on your own and then, informed by what you have learned, ask any questions you still have (ideally with references to reliable sources). For this question, you should make sure you understand the terms you are using such as anabolism, which I think should make the answer self-evident. (See study suggestions in next comment.) Thanks! 😊 $\endgroup$ – tyersome Feb 17 '20 at 21:09
  • $\begingroup$ I have found that learning about a subject is easier if you start with a relatively accessible and reliable source like Khan Academy. Wikipedia is also generally a good starting point and you can then check their references. Online platforms called MOOCs offer free (or very low cost) courses on a wide variety of subjects — two I am familiar with are Coursera and edX. Finally, textbooks with a good level of detail are also freely available online e.g. from NCBI. $\endgroup$ – tyersome Feb 17 '20 at 21:12
  • $\begingroup$ @tyersme Thank you so much for your replies and your help. I'm afraid I did some research on the topic. I started studying metabolism for a test and there it was given the definitions on both anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism would be the constructive part of the metabolism, in which we have the storage of energy and the catabolism we'd have the release of energy. But later I came across a question in which the correct answer was : 'heterotrophs use both catabolism and anabolism to obtain energy". And I wondered why. (Continues in next comment) --> $\endgroup$ – Matheus Bezerra Soares Apr 5 '20 at 19:09
  • $\begingroup$ I wondered why because if the energy is stored in anabolism, if anything, I would think the organism wouldn't be able to 'obtain' energy if it was spending it so it could be stored and used when needed. Later I came to think that if an organism synthetizes, for exemple, enzymes so that it can be more efficient in obtaining energy. Maybe the positive balance of energy would allow us to state that a heterotroph would use both anabolism and catabolism to obtain energy. Please let me know if that reasoning make sense. $\endgroup$ – Matheus Bezerra Soares Apr 5 '20 at 19:14

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