Living organisms energetics

Table 6.1 Energetics Types Encountered in Living Organisms. 

The last type of CL discussed here is bioluminescence (BL). As the term suggests, BL is an enzyme-catalyzed process found in living organisms [164, 165]. In most BL reactions, luciferin is oxidized with molecular oxygen by lucifer-ase with ATP as a cofactor. In addition, the luciferase activity depends on Ca2+ or Mg2+. The analytically most often employed system is the firefly luciferase/ D-luciferin system shown in Fig. 26. Here, ATP is necessary to form the highly energetic AMP adduct required for further reaction sequence. Subsequent cleavage... 

To make an IE the oxidizer must be combined with a suitable fuel. The majority of fuels available for use in IEs are hydrocarbons (materials containing mostly carbon and hydrogen). These materials are often referred to as organic compounds due to their prevalence in living organisms. Potential fuels can be broken down into three categories hydrocarbons, energetic hydrocarbons, and elementals. ... 

As already known, amino acids are the building units of peptides and proteins and they play an important plastic, energetic, and regulatory role in all living organisms. Almost all foods contain amino acids, either in the bound (partially hydrolyzed or intact proteins) or in the free form. High amounts of free amino acids can be found in some fermented foodstuffs as a consequence of proteolytic processes. 

Living organisms can be considered as physicochemical systems interacting with their surroundings. Thermodynamics is the science of the energetics of such systems. It is a macroscopic theory, being concerned with the bulk properties of matter the link between the thermodynamics and molecular processes is provided by the theory of statistical mechanics. 

One of the enticing consequences of the excited state dynamics of base pairs is the possible role this property may have played in chemistry on the early earth. Prior to the existence of living organisms photosynthesis would have been absent. Consequently there would have been no free oxygen in the atmosphere and no ozone layer would have existed. The earth s surface would have been exposed to deeper (more energetic) UV irradiation than is the case today. Therefore UV photochemistry is part of the set of rules that may have governed the chemistry that could take place at that time. 

Living matter exists only in the dispersed form, i.e. in the form of living organisms, autarchic centres of energetic and physical-chemical processes (Vernadsky, 1965, 128). The solid substance of living organisms (including dispersed particles of the colloid mediums) obey the dissymmetry laws. 

Living organisms can exist only when supported by energy flow [86-92]. Because of the obvious requirement for energetic continuity, the energy flows that... 

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