Chapter 6 -Life Processes

Key learnings:
1) The ability to perform the basic life processes distinguishes a living organism from a non-living
one.
2) Life processes are the vital processes carried out by living organisms in order to maintain and
sustain life. Molecular movements are essential to carry out the various life processes.
3) Specialised body parts perform the various life processes in multicellular organisms. No such
organs are present in unicellular organisms.
4) Energy required to carry out the different life processes, is obtained from carbon-based food
sources through nutrition.
5) Depending on the mode of obtaining nutrition, organisms are classified as autotrophs or
heterotrophs.
i) Autotrophs can prepare their own food from simple inorganic sources like carbon dioxide and
water. (eg- green plants, some bacteria)
ii) Heterotrophs cannot synthesize their own food and is dependent on the autotrophs for obtaining
complex organic substances for nutrition. (eg. – animals)
6) Green plants prepare their food by the process of photosynthesis. Here, they utilize CO2, H2O
and sunlight, with the help of chlorophyll, giving out O2 as a byproduct.
7) In the light reaction of photosynthesis, light energy is absorbed and converted to chemical
energy in the form of ATP. Also water molecules are split into hydrogen and oxygen.
8) Carbon dioxide is reduced to carbohydrates in the dark phase of photosynthesis.
9) Plants carry out gaseous exchange with surrounding through stomata.
10) Heterotrophs may be herbivores, carnivores, parasites or saprophytes.
11) In Amoeba, digestion occurs in the food vacuole, formed by the engulfing of food by its
pseudopodia.
12) In humans, digestion of food takes place in the alimentary canal, made up of various organs
and glands.
13) In mouth, food is crushed into small particles through chewing and mixed with saliva, which
contains amylase for digesting starch.
14) On swallowing, food passes through pharynx and oesophagus to reach stomach. The gastric
juice contains pepsin (for digesting proteins), HCl and mucus.
15) Liver secretes bile which emulsifies fat.
16) Pancreatic juice contains enzymes amylase, trypsin and lipase for digesting starch, proteins
and fats respectively. 17) In the small intestine, carbohydrates, proteins and fats are
completely digested into glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids and glycerol respectively.
18) The villi of small intestine absorb the digested food and supply it to every cell of the body.
19) The undigested food is egested from the body through anus.

Life processes - The processes that are necessary for an organism to stay alive. Eg. Nutrition,
respiration, etc.
Criteria of life- (i) Growth (ii) Movement
Nutrition- The process in which an organism takes in food, utilizes it to get energy, for growth,
repair and maintenance, etc. and excretes the waste materials from the body
Types of nutrition
1. Autotrophic nutrition (Auto =self: trophos = nourishment) E.g. Plants, Algae, blue green
bacteria.
o Process Photosynthesis (Photo=light; Synthesis= to combine)
o Raw materials- (i) Carbon dioxide (ii)Water
o Equation-
o Energy conversion- Light/Solar energy to Chemical energy
o Role of Chlorophyll- To trap the suns energy for photosynthe

Factors for Autotrophic nutrition -

(i) Carbon dioxide (ii) Water (iii) Light (iv) Temperature
Events/ Steps of photosynthesis-
(i) Absorption of light energy by chlorophyll
(ii) Conversion of light energy to chemical energy & Splitting of water molecule into H & O2
(iii) Reduction of Carbon dioxide to Carbohydrate
Gaseous exchange-
(i) Gas used- Carbon dioxide (ii) By product - Oxygen
Source of raw materials-
(i) Carbon dioxide Land plants- Air, Aquatic plants- Water
(ii) Water & Minerals - Soil
2. Heterotrophic nutrition (Hetero =others: trophos =nourishment) Eg. Animals, plants lacking
chlorophyll like fungi.
(a) Saprophytic nutrition: Organisms feeds on dead decaying plants or animal’s material. E.g.
Fungi, Bacteria
(b) Parasitic nutrition: Organisms obtain food from the body of another living (host)
Endoparasite: Parasite lives inside the body of the host e.g. tapeworm, roundworm.
Exoparasite: Parasite lives on the body of the host. E.g. lice, leech.
Note- The parasite benefits while the host is usually harmed e.g. Cuscuta-plant parasite (Amar
bel), plasmodium (malarial parasite).
(c) Holozoic nutrition: Organism (mostly animals) take in whole food and then digest it into
smaller particles with enzyme. Eg. Amoeba, Paramecium. Animals, human beings.
Steps in Holozoic nutrition
(i) Ingestion: taking in of food.
(ii) Digestion: breaking down of
complex food into simpler, absorbable
form.
(iii) Absorption: diffusion of the
absorbable food.
(iv) Assimilation: Utilization of digested
food from the body.
(v) Egestion: Removing undigested
food from the body

Nutrition in human beings

Alimentary canal- Mouth, Oesophagus, Stomach, Small intestine, Large intestine
Digestion:
 The digestion of food commences in the mouth itself.
 The teeth help in grinding the ingested food into small pieces. This process is called
mastication(Physical digestion).
 The tongue helps in rolling of food and mixing of saliva in the food while mastication.
 The salivary glands in our mouth produce saliva (watery liquid) which contains an enzyme
salivary amylase which digests the starch (carbohydrate) present in the food into Maltose, a
simple sugar (Chemical digestion).
 The digestion of food remains incomplete in the mouth. The semi solid form of food in the mouth
is called Bolus.
Oesophagus:
 The slightly digested food in the mouth is swallowed by the tongue and goes down the food pipe
called oesophagus.
 When the food enters the oesophagus, its walls start rhythemic contraction and expansion called
as a peristaltic movement.This peristaltic movement of food pipe pushes the slightly digested
into the stomach.
Stomach:
 The stomach is a J-shaped organ present on the left side of the abdomen.
 The stomach walls contain s three tubular glands in it walls which secrete gastric juice.
 The gastric juice contains three substances: Hydrochloric acid, the enzyme pepsin, and mucus.
 The hydrochloriic creates an acidic medium which activates the enzyme Rennin and Pepsin.
They help in the digestion of proteins. It also kills the bacteria which enters along with the food.
 The mucus helps to protect the stomach wall from its own secretions of hydrochloric acid.
 The partially digested and semi liquid form of food (chyme)then goes from the stomach into the
small intestine.
Small intestine:
 From the stomach, the partially digested food enters the small intestine.
 The small intestine is the largest part (about 6.5 m) of the alimentary canal which can be divided
into three parts- Duodenum the first part, Jejunum the middle part and Ileum the last part.
 The small intestine is arranged in the form of a coil in the abdominal cavity.
 The small intestine in human beings is the site of complete digestion of food (like carbohydrates,
proteins, and fats)
 The small intestine receives the secretion of two glands:
Liver and Pancreas.
 The liver secretes bile (greenish yellow liquid made in the liver and stored in the gallbladder).
 Bile performs two functions:
1. Makes the acidic food coming from the stomach alkaline so that pancreatic enzymes can act
on it.
2. Bile salts break the larger fats present in the food into small globules making it easy for the
enzymes to act and digest them. This process is called Emulsification of fat.
The pancreas secretes pancreatic juice which contains the enzymes pancreatic amylase for
breaking down starch, trypsin for digesting proteins and lipase for breaking down emulsified fats.
 The walls of the small intestine contain glands which produce intestinal juice. The enzymes
present in it finally convert the proteins into amino acids, complex carbohydrates into glucose
and fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
 In this way, the process of digestion converts the sizably voluminous and insoluble aliment
molecules into small water-soluble molecules.

Mouth Salivary Salivary Converts starch into sugar

glands Amylase
Stomach Gastric Gastric juice- (a) Kills harmful bacteria that enters
glands (i) with the food.
Hydrochloric
acid (b) Makes the medium alkaline for the
action of Pepsin
(ii)Pepsin Digests proteins

Protects the inner lining of the

(iii) Mucus stomach from the corrosive action of
Hydrochloric acid.
Small 1) Liver (i) Bile juice (a) Makes the medium acidic
intestine for the action of Pancreatic enzymes.
(Duodenum) (b) Breaks down large fat molecules
into smaller globules so that enzymes
can act upon them.

( ii) Pancreatic
2) Amylase Converts Carbohydrates to glucose
Pancreas
Trypsin Converts Proteins to Amino acids

Lipase Converts Fats into Fatty acids &

Glycerol
Small Intestine Maltase Maltose Glucose and Glucose
(Intestinal Glands =
Succus entericus) Lactase Lactose Glucose and Galactose

Sucrase Sucrose Glucose and Fructose

Lipase Fats Fatty acid and Glycerol