In: Biology
Discuss the mechanisms by which the flux through a metabolic pathway can be controlled. Which mechanisms can rapidly alter flux?
please answer the question in BioChem way, and no handwriting, please type it, thanks! (it will be fine to draw the graph to help explain it, but still type the explanation please)
Metabolite flux, or the rate of substrate conversion per cell, provides the energy for life. Flux is regulated by the enzymes involved in a pathway. Within cells, regulation of flux is vital for all metabolic pathways to regulate the pathway's activity under different conditions. While the basic metabolic currencies remain the same across cells (e.g. ATP; acetyl coenzyme A, AcCoA; NADH; NADPH), the metabolic requirements of each cell type are determined by their tissue function and environment. Metabolic needs can fluctuate on the order of seconds or persist for prolonged periods, no single molecule or system can effectively control fluxes in a way that is adaptive for every situation. For example, ATP is rapidly metabolized and in the heart the ATP pool can turnover more than 6 times per minute. If consumption remains constant, a 10% decrease in ATP production would halve ATP levels in less than one minute.
It is easiest to describe the flux of metabolites through a pathway by considering the reaction steps individually. The flux of the metabolites through each reaction (J) is the rate of the forward reaction (Vf), less that of the reverse reaction (Vr):
At equilibrium, there is no flux. Furthermore, it is observed that throughout a steady state pathway, the flux is usually determined by the rate determining step of the reaction. Control of flux through a metabolic pathway requires that the metabolic flux in the rate determining step varies based on the organisms metabolic needs. The change in flux that occurs due to the above requirement is communicated to the rest of the metabolic pathway in order to maintain a steady state.
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