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However, to obtain energy from its outside environment, cells must not only retrieve molecules from their surroundings but also break them down. [1] This process is known as intracellular digestion. [1] In its broadest sense, intracellular digestion is the breakdown of substances within the cytoplasm of a cell.
Catabolism is the breaking-down aspect of metabolism, whereas anabolism is the building-up aspect. Cells use the monomers released from breaking down polymers to either construct new polymer molecules or degrade the monomers further to simple waste products, releasing energy.
Metabolism (/ m ə ˈ t æ b ə l ɪ z ə m /, from Greek: μεταβολή metabolē, "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms.The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the conversion of food to building blocks of proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates; and the ...
However, side products are considered waste and removed from the cell. [2] Different metabolic pathways function in the position within a eukaryotic cell and the significance of the pathway in the given compartment of the cell. [3] For instance, the electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation all take place in the mitochondrial membrane.
The reactions involved in respiration are catabolic reactions, which break large molecules into smaller ones, producing large amounts of energy (ATP). Respiration is one of the key ways a cell releases chemical energy to fuel cellular activity. The overall reaction occurs in a series of biochemical steps, some of which are redox reactions.
Lysosomes contain a variety of enzymes, enabling the cell to break down various biomolecules it engulfs, including peptides, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids (lysosomal lipase). The enzymes responsible for this hydrolysis require an acidic environment for optimal activity.
An exoenzyme, or extracellular enzyme, is an enzyme that is secreted by a cell and functions outside that cell. Exoenzymes are produced by both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and have been shown to be a crucial component of many biological processes. Most often these enzymes are involved in the breakdown of larger macromolecules.
Chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis may involve the release of lysosomal enzymes into extracellular space that break down surrounding tissues. Abnormal proteolysis may result in many age-related neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's due to the generation and ineffective removal of peptides that aggregate in cells. [21]