Fuels Flashcards
What does the basic metabolism of any organism make use of?
Nutrients as fuel to generate energy or as building blocks to generate new cells or cellular material
What metabolites can be used as building blocks/ fuels
All metabolites with only a few exceptions
What are the macro-nutrient in our diet?
Carbohydrates, Fats, and Proteins
What are the micronutrients in our diet?
Vitamins and Mineral
What do all macronutrients contain?
Large amounts of energy
How is energy released from macronutrients?
By hydrolysis - (particularly when polymers are broken down)- and oxidation of the compounds.
How is energy content illustrated?
By the heat generated during the burning of organic matter
What occurs instead of converting energy directly into heat?
Initially converts and stores energy from nutrients
What are the two major forms of storage
- The high energy metabolite ATP
2. NADH (or related NADPH) which stores electrons released during oxidation
What is ATP used for?
To drive reactions which are otherwise thermodynamically unfavorable
What is NADH use for?
To fee electrons into the respiratory chain (to generate ATP)
What is NADPH used for?
To fee electrons unto biosynthetic reactions generating more reduced building blocks
How much energy derived from nutrients is converted to heat?
Eventually all the energy - allowing us to maintain our body temperature
(A small amount is used to generate new body components)
