| Metabolism consists of anabolism and catabolism. The reactions making up metabolism are all away from equilibrium. This means that they are spontaneous and take place in one direction only. The number of chemical reactions is low, but the specificity of the enzymes catalysing the reactions make control of metabolism possible. All the reactions that are part of metabolism are enzyme catalysed. The enzymes of a particular metabolic pathway are usually genetically linked. The net directionality of metabolic pathways is secured by having enzymes that are very fast for reactions that are near equilibrium, or coupling the reaction to an energetically favourable one such that the overall deltaG is negative. | ||||
| Anabolism The biosynthetic, reductive, energy consuming pathways. Anabolic pathways are divergent. | ||||
| Catabolism The degradative, oxidative, energy yielding pathways. Catabolic pathways are convergent. | ||||
| B22 - Regulation of metabolism | ||||