Introduction to Metabolism

Lecture Outcomes
● Define and understand metabolism, metabolic pathways, anabolic
and catabolic pathways
● Describe some of the forms of energy
● Understand the first and second law of thermodynamics
● In particular, why some processes are spontaneous and others are
not
● Describe how living beings change the entropy in their system and
the surroundings
● Understand the concept of free energy and how systems move
towards equilibrium
Introduction to Metabolism
● The cell is a busy place where thousands of chemical reactions take
place
● E.g. Sugars can be converted to amino acids, amino acids can be
converted into sugars, proteins are made, proteins can be broken
down, etc.
● All these chemical reactions=metabolism
● Metabolism is the collection of all chemical reactions in a cell
Metabolic Pathways

● A molecule in the cell may be converted to another molecule (reaction

1) and that molecule converted to another molecule (reaction 2) and
that molecule converted to another molecule (reaction 3) and so on
● This series of reactions is called a pathway
Types of Metabolic Pathways
● Metabolic pathways can either create a new molecule by combining
other molecules together, or break a molecule to create new
molecules
● Anabolic pathways: reactions that produce a new molecule by
combining other molecules
● Catabolic pathways: reactions that break down a molecule to create
new molecules
Anabolic Pathways
● Anabolic pathways build larger complex
molecules out of simpler smaller molecules
● These reactions use up energy to create
new bonds between the molecules
Catabolic Pathways
● Catabolic pathways break down larger
complex molecules to release smaller
simpler molecules
● The breaking of bonds in the larger
molecules releases energy
Energy
● Energy released from catabolic reactions can be used to drive
anabolic reactions
● Energy = the capacity to cause change
● Living beings need to be able to transform energy from one form to
another to stay alive
Forms of Energy
● Kinetic energy = Energy associated with movement
● Heat (also called thermal energy) = Kinetic energy associated with
molecules
● Light energy
Forms of Energy
● Chemical energy = Energy stored in the bonds in molecules
● Potential energy = Energy held by in object because of its position
○ E.g. Kinetic energy used to go up the hill is stored as potential
energy. When you go down the hill it is released again as kinetic
energy
○ E.g. Energy used to pump Na+ outside the cell is stored as potential
energy that can be used for cotransport

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Thermodynamics
● Thermodynamics = the study of energy transformations
● In thermodynamics, we look at a system and its surroundings
○ System = the matter being studied
○ Surroundings = everything else outside the system
Types of Systems
● Open system = energy and matter can be exchanged with its
surroundings
● Isolated = energy and matter cannot be exhacanged with its
surroundings
Living Beings Are Open Systems
First Law of Thermodynamics
● The total number of energy in the universe does not change
● Energy is not created or destroyed
● It only changed from one form to another
Second Law of Thermodynamics
● Every energy transfer or transformation increases the entropy of the
universe
● Entropy = disorder
● E.g. the chemical energy in food is transformed into kinetic energy
when we move. However, some of that energy is wasted as heat that
we release into the surroundings. This release of heat is “wasteful”
and increases the disorder of our surroundings
● Processes that increase the entropy of the universe happen
spontaneously (=all by themselves, without input energy)
● This is why diffusion is spontaneous, and passive transport doesn’t
require any energy from the cell
Non-Spontaneous Processes
● Is the opposite to spontaneous process
● Requires input of energy
● E.g.
○ Pumping water uphill against gravity
○ Active transport of molecules against their concentration gradient
Biological Order
● Living beings as a system create ordered
structures from less organised materials,
decreasing the entropy in their system
● However, they release waste products like
heat, and CO2, which increase the entropy
of their surroundings (=make less
organised)
Why Does this Matter for Biology?
● As biologists, we want to understand the chemical reactions in living
organisms
● For example, we want to know which reactions happen
spontaneously, and which require input of energy
● To do that, we look at free energy change
Free-Energy Change: ΔG
● Free energy is the portion of a
system’s energy that can
perform work when
temperature and pressure are
uniform throughout the system,
as in a living cell
Free Energy
● The symbol Δ means change
● ΔG = ΔH – TΔS
● ΔH : change in the system’s enthalpy (in biological systems = total
energy)
● ΔS is the change in the system’s entropy
● T is the absolute temperature in Kelvin (K) units (K= °C+273)
● Another way to explain ΔG is the difference between free energy in the
final state (of the system) and free energy in the initial state of the
system:

● Only processes with a negative ΔG are spontaneous

● Every spontaneous process decreases the system’s free energy, and
processes that have a positive or zero ΔG are never spontaneous
● Loss of energy makes a system more stable
● Systems always move towards a more stable state; therefore reactions
where energy is lost from the system are more likely to happen
Equilibrium
● When a system reaches maximum stability, we call this equilibrium
● Equilibrium = state of maximum stability

● For e.g. in the reaction above, A + B can give us C and D

● But the opposite can also happen: C + D can give us A and B
● If the A + B reaction releases more energy than C + D, then more A +
B reactions will happen, producing a lot of C and D. The opposite
reaction will not happen as often
● Some of the energy released by A + B reaction will be used to
promote C + D reaction
● Over time, most of A + B will have reacted to give us a lot of C and D
● All this energy released will be used to promote the reverse reaction
of C + D
● Over time, most of A + B will have reacted to give us a lot of C and D
● All this energy released will be used to promote the reverse reaction
of C + D
● There will reach a point where few A and B are left in the system, and
the energy released is allowing enough C + D reactions to replace the
few A and B
● So as A and B are used up in the A + B reaction, C + D are also able
to react and make new A and B
● Both reactions happen in equal rate
● Equilibrium is achieved