Questions tagged [energy-metabolism]
Energy metabolism is the set of defined biochemical transformations by which living organisms generate energy (in the form of ATP) from nutrients.
59
questions
-1
votes
0answers
64 views
Is there a species (or sub-species if one needs further precision) of a plant, that can thrive in total darkness?
I would like to buy indoor plants to put them in a room which usually have a very low amount of natural and/or artificial light.
I understand that such indoor plants are usually low-height (up to 1 ...
0
votes
0answers
19 views
Can heterotrophs use anabolism to obtain energy?
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 ...
0
votes
1answer
100 views
Is molecular oxygen (O₂) consumed in any process (in humans) other than acting as an electron acceptor for the ETC? [duplicate]
I know that molecular oxygen (O2) serves as the electron acceptor in Complex IV of the electron transport chain, which maintains the proton gradient that produces ATP for, as far as I know, every cell ...
1
vote
0answers
23 views
About the mechanism of coupled reaction/metabolism with ATP
I am not in the field of biochemistry so this may be a rookie question or misconception.
I heard occasionally about the energy "released" from ATP hydrolysis fueling (endergonic) biological reactions....
1
vote
2answers
87 views
Understanding entropy and the second law of thermodynamics as involved in metabolic processes
My AP biology textbook, (the 10th edition of Campbell Biology) states entropy as being the disorder or randomness of the atoms involved in any matter, but Khan Academy says that this example isn't ...
29
votes
1answer
6k views
What is the human energy consumption by organ?
The human brain uses about 25% of the human body's metabolic energy. How are the other 75% spent, in terms of portioning to its various systems?
I thought this could be answered by a simple search, ...
1
vote
0answers
12 views
How to calculate grams of fat used during hibernation?
In Humphries et al. 2002. Nature, the authors report number of grams of fat bats use during hibernation. However, their equations results in values in mlO2/g.
How can one convert the energy ...
0
votes
0answers
25 views
Why do plants do Photosynthesis and then Aerobic Respiration? [duplicate]
Plants do Photosynthesis in order to convert sunlight energy into chemical energy. They first store energy in ATP + NADPH and then use those two compounds in order to create Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate ...
0
votes
0answers
14 views
Adipose Cellularity and Energy Intake
Is it plausible to consider increasing adipocyte size as a causal factor predicting less energy intake in humans in conditions of energy balance. It is well known that higher fat mass (FM) predicts ...
3
votes
2answers
144 views
About the definition of ketogenic amino acid
I am studying biochemistry and have been looking at metabolic network diagrams showing the different intermediates of glycolysis and the citric acid cycle that amino acids can be converted to.
I have ...
1
vote
2answers
81 views
Does food lose some of its mass in form of energy during metabolism?
I had an argument with someone.
I argued that when a cat eats 1 kg of food, the sum of subsequent output (poo + pee + sweat + change of body mass) must be equal to 1 kg.
My opponent argued that the ...
5
votes
1answer
93 views
Why have plants evolved to photosynthesize glucose instead of another molecular compound?
I think this question can be broken down into two sub-questions:
Why do plants produce $C_6H_{12}O_6$ as opposed to another molecule following the formula of $C_nH_{2n}O_n$? Why not $C_8H_{16}O_8$, $...
0
votes
0answers
23 views
How many calories does a person consume when sitting at a computer per hour, depending on body weight?
Suppose a person weighing 75 kilograms does three activities:
Sleeps
Sits working at the computer
Going home from work.
I need to know how many calories his body will consume in each of these cases ...
0
votes
3answers
3k views
What are the bare minimum nutrients required to survive as a human?
I am trying to determine the bare minimum nutritional requirements to survive as a human, ignoring energy (caloric) requirements. Another way to ask this question is: What elements can humans not live ...
4
votes
1answer
177 views
How does the human body extract energy from ethanol?
I was talking about alcohol and obesity with a colleague. I always thought the only cause of that is the sugar that is found in most alcoholic beverages. But my colleague pointed out that ethanol ...
1
vote
0answers
47 views
Is there a link between brain's energy consumption and human experience?
I was read the article (in Scientific American Mind) about energy consumption of brain. There are:
Say you are learning a new skill—how to juggle or speak Spanish.
Neuroscientists have made the ...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
How does shortage of oxygen halt the NADH dehydrogenase complex?
I understand that in the absence of oxygen the functioning of cytochrome c oxidase stops because it is its substrate. However I don’t understand how stopping cytochrome c oxidase also stops the ...
1
vote
1answer
62 views
What triggers the switch between aerobic and anaerobic respiration?
I understand that when there is a shortage of oxygen cells convert the pyruvic acid from glycolysis to lactic acid to regenerate NAD+. What I don’t understand is how they switch to anaerobic ...
4
votes
1answer
79 views
Which complexes physically pump protons in photosynthesis?
The cytochrome b6f complex is often drawn as pumping protons, but then someone told me that actually there is no pumping, rather the Q cycle.
According to this view, what actually moves the protons ...
0
votes
1answer
61 views
Is it possible to stop more/extra fat from being stored in the body?
I don't mean simply by restricting eating or upping the activities, but a way to basically stop the body from adding more fat on itself down on the bio level. For example, I'm not too knowledgeable on ...
3
votes
1answer
47 views
How are electrons entering the electron transport chain in cellular respiration energised (excited)?
In photosynthesis, electrons are excited by light energy from the sun (photoactivated).
How do they become excited in human cellular respiration?
I believe it has something to do with NADH and ...
3
votes
1answer
43 views
Can muscles work as brakes?
When I walk downhill I lose potential energy. If I descend 100m in, say, 10 minutes I lose potential energy at a rate of about 114J/s (114W). Where does the energy go? Not into kinetic energy ...
0
votes
0answers
87 views
Does our brain use up more ATP after smoking cannabis?
kind of an amateur here.
If the firing of the neurons' signals uses up some ATP, and smoking cannabis makes them fire off more quickly, do our brains use up more ATP to sustain that rapid firing?
0
votes
1answer
244 views
Where do Red Blood Cells use energy?
I know that RBCs use glycolysis of glucose to lactate to produce most of their energy, but, if they are just carrier cells, where do they use the energy?
10
votes
1answer
142 views
+200
How much energy does a small spider expend per day just waiting for its web to vibrate?
Roughly speaking, a small, complex electronic circuit or IC might sit in "sleep mode" using a current of roughly 1 µA (e.g. 1, 2), thereby using roughly $3\times 10^{-6}$ Watts, and that ...
1
vote
0answers
44 views
Is intelligence correlated with neural calorie usage?
The human brain uses a lot of calories in comparison to other species, that is usually explained by referencing the intelligence disparity between Humans and other Animals. My question is how far does ...
3
votes
3answers
824 views
Why is ATP hydrolysis to ADP, rather than ADP hydrolysis to AMP, used to drive biochemical reactions?
ADP has two phosphate groups, and can be hydrolysed to AMP in a reaction which involves a similar free energy change to that of hydrolysing ATP to ADP.
Why is the latter reaction, rather than the ...
1
vote
1answer
264 views
How are Mono and Diglycerides metabolized without the Free Fatty Acids of Triglycerides?
Having difficulty figuring out what the body does with ingested mono and diglycerides if the usual process of TAG metabolism includes the FFA released from the TAG returning to the MAG to recreate a ...
3
votes
1answer
92 views
How is ATP converted to adenosine?
I am familiar with adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), how one relates to the other, and how each is formed in cellular respiration and photosynthesis, but I am confused as ...
1
vote
1answer
243 views
Can E. coli make pyruvate from acetate?
What pathway would E. coli use to make pyruvate from acetate? I have found several papers that refer to a possible mechanism that could move acetate to pyruvate via a three-step process:
Step 1: ...
0
votes
1answer
30 views
Can plants yield two more molecules of ATP from glycolysis?
Since 2 ATP are used to convert glucose to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate in glycolysis, can plants bypass this step of ATP investment since they produce glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate directly from the ...
2
votes
1answer
227 views
advantages of shivering in cold environments
When we feel cold, our the muscle tries to generate heat by shivering and the brown adipose tissue tries to generate heat by non-shivering methods. The muscle generates heat but also spends energy on ...
1
vote
2answers
63 views
Why is the separation of biochemical synthesis pathways safer and more economical?
During our first lecture of plant physiology, our teacher told us that the separation of biochemical synthesis pathways was advantageous because it was safer and more economical. The problem I got, ...
1
vote
0answers
77 views
Simplest known form of aerobic glycolysis
What is the simplest known way that an organism performs aerobic glycolysis? In other words, what is the simplest known way known to convert glucose into $\ce{H2O}$ and $\ce{CO2}$, other than by ...
2
votes
1answer
81 views
Is it possible to lose weight doing brain exercise?
According to this article human brain consume a comparable amount of energy with skeletal muscle. So is it possible to do some brain exercise (calculate something in mind etc.) instead of physical ...
3
votes
2answers
131 views
How can dehydrogenation steps in some biochemical pathways produce ATP?
Dehydrogenation reaction of alkanes is inherently endothermic as one removes two thermodynamically more stable C-H bonds and replaces it with one less stable C=C. Although the product is conjugated ...
2
votes
1answer
121 views
Evolution of the energy generating system in mitochondria
Both yeast and humans have mitochondria. Given that yeast have a much shorter time between generation I would expect evolution to have had more time to optimize mitochondria of yeast.
The main ...
2
votes
2answers
505 views
What do different fermentation products have in common?
I met with the following question in my masters course:
What do different fermentation products have in common?
Thinking about this, I have difficulty in identifying the similarities between ...
1
vote
1answer
197 views
Does the energy from ATP hydrolysis vary among different cells?
I know that when ATP is hydrolyzed into ADP it gives 7.3 kcal/mol. The question is, does this value vary among different types of cells?
3
votes
1answer
1k views
Why is GTP, rather than ATP, used in nuclear transport?
Why is GTP used for nuclear transport and not ATP, given that ATP hydrolysis is used to drive most cellular energonic reactions?
5
votes
3answers
5k views
Reason for conversion of glucose to fructose in glycolysis
In glycolysis, glucose is converted to glucose 6-phosphate so it can not diffuse out of the membrane. Then it is converted to fructose 6-phosphate.
Why is this? Perhaps it makes it less stable so it ...
2
votes
2answers
76 views
Is it possible to have life that feeds on thermal energy
On earth, as far a we know, there are two main ways that bacteria gain energy.
First, there is Photosynthesis, the transition of light into chemical based energies such as ATP.
Second, there are ...
9
votes
2answers
148 views
How did giant sauropods satisfy their daily energy needs, considering their relatively small mouths?
Gigantic sauropod dinosaurs had relatively small heads (and consequently small mouths) in comparison to their overall body mass.
In the book "Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life" (by ...
2
votes
0answers
50 views
Energy efficiency of muscles and animals as a whole
When human or animal do some work, they use energy from their food. What is known about overall efficiency of this process?
Say a horse is turning a winch and does 10,000 kJ of work. How much more ...
4
votes
3answers
5k views
Breathing faster to lose (more) weight?
I understand that when the human body loses weight, the vast majority of that weight is lost as $CO_2$ (and a small bit is lost as water). I expect the predominant way $CO_2$ exits the body is through ...
4
votes
2answers
110 views
Is it a valid generalization that kinases catalyse reactions involving energy transfer and utilization?
The Wikipedia entry for kinase states that "a kinase is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of phosphate groups from high-energy, phosphate-donating molecules [such as ATP] to specific substrates".
...
5
votes
1answer
198 views
How do plants store energy by potassium battery?
Plants have a so-called potassium battery system for energy storage/conversation. Wikipedia only has a reference to a technical article. Can someone explain it in a layman's language (or refer to a ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
Anabolic reactions and reaction energy
My textbook says,
In general, the formation of a [chemical] bond releases energy
and continues to state,
Anabolic reactions (collectively called anabolism) link simple molecules to form more ...
1
vote
1answer
757 views
What is the fate of NADH produced in the liver during oxidation of lactic acid?
NADH (‘reduced NAD’) is produced during the oxidation of blood lactate in the liver. Glycolysis requires NAD+ (‘oxidised NAD’), whereas gluconeogensis requires NADH. However the NADH is apparently not ...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
Quinone A, Quinone B, Ubiquinone, Plastoquinone: whats the difference?
I am getting very confused about this. My understanding so far is that ubiquinone is used as an electron (and proton) carrier in oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria whereas plastoquinone is ...
