Time is my enemy right now but I wanted to share the article how Abnormal metabolism is at the heart of some serious health problems (such as obesity, diabetes and cancer) as a reference others will find useful.

My intention is to review this seminal article but I just haven’t had the time. It is also behind a pay wall which is common for many scientific articles so my apologies if you can’t reach it.

For reference the title of the research paper is ‘Circadian topology of metabolism’ by Joseph bass published in the journal Nature.

Metabolism

We refer to metabolism all the time but rarely think about what it actually is and in fact it is a really complicated topic covering hundreds if not thousands of process regarding the energy cycles of the body and how energy flows in the body.

If you want to dive in a learn about metabolism in a structure way or have a quality reference to consult then the Openstax biology course has a study level chapter on metabolism which will give you an excellent grounding.

Respiration

The Krebs/Citric acid cycle

The Krebs cycle, also known as the citric acid cycle, is an essential process in all mammal cells as part the energy cycles involved in life. The Krebs cycle is the key intermediary between fats and carbohydrates from our diets and energy our body can use such which is primarily ATP or adenosine triphosphate. It is not the only process involved but a well known and and critical one which if not working properly can lead to all sorts of disease.

As part of an introduction into metabolism and the energy cycle that powers out bodies here are some resources from excellent educators that explain the cycle in more depth and how it powers life.

Open stax have a wonderful biology course that is and open educational resource. In Oxidation of Pyruvate and the Citric acid cycle you will find a a clear explanation of two of the fundamental cycles that process energy in cells.

If you are interested in a more detailed account then the following talk in the royal institution collection is by Nick lane explaining how the krebs cycle powers life and death.

It is a very in-depth high quality talk so it is for body nerds like me. I will find a simpler version in time but if you are interested in how energy flows through your body you will find this fascinating

The electron transport chain

The electron transport chain is the last stage of the respiration pathway. It is the stage that produces the most ATP molecules. The electron transport chain is a collection of carrier proteins found on the inner membrane of mitochondria.

In summary the electron transport chain is a cluster of proteins that transfer electrons through a membrane within mitochondria to form a gradient of protons that drives the creation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is used by the cell as the energy for metabolic processes for cellular functions.

The following video describes the electron transport chain in more detail.

Further reading

The effects of metabolism and the things that can affect metabolism are varied as explored by these following articles.

• Why are some people mosquito magnets and others unbothered? A medical entomologist points to metabolism, body odor and mindset This article explores the complex interaction between metabolism, exercise, scent and other aspects that attract mosquitos to us. Showing how complex any analysis can be.
• Nature: Focus on exercise metabolism and health 2020: revisiting foundational topics and highlighting new paradigms in exercise and muscle metabolism
  • Skeletal muscle energy metabolism during exercise: Here, we provide an overview of exercise metabolism and the key regulatory mechanisms ensuring that ATP resynthesis is closely matched to the ATP demand of exercise. We also summarize various interventions that target muscle metabolism for ergogenic benefit in athletic events. Hargreaves, M., Spriet, L.L. Skeletal muscle energy metabolism during exercise. Nat Metab 2, 817–828 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-020-0251-4
  • Skeletal muscle inefficiency protects against obesity: Obesity is the result of an imbalance between caloric intake from the diet and energy expenditure. A new study provides evidence that alterations in calcium transport efficiency in muscle lead to an increased metabolic rate and protect mice against diet-induced obesity. Li, F., Periasamy, M. Skeletal muscle inefficiency protects against obesity. Nat Metab 1, 849–850 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-019-0116-x
  • Phospholipid methylation regulates muscle metabolic rate through Ca²⁺ transport efficiency: Supporting the previous article which is an interesting concept that inefficiency in metabolism can be a good thing if it means allowing use to waste the extra energy we now eat and not put on weight.
  • Metabolic communication during exercise: Quorum sensing is a common term for how cells and bacteria communicate and monitor their environment. This literature review explores the specific communication pathways in action during exercise and the molecules coordinating this behaviour.
  • Scientists Solve an Origin of Life Mystery Argues that Phosphate may be the missing link and early earth seas may have provided it.
    • “Marine phosphate availability and the chemical origins of life on Earth” by Matthew P. Brady, Rosalie Tostevin, and Nicholas J. Tosca, 2 September 2022, Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32815-x
  • Scientists Discover a Link Between Mitochondria and Cancer Reports the first time a dysfunctional mitochondria gene signature linked to cancer has been shown to be related to mitochondrial reprogramming. 
• New Human Metabolism Research Upends Conventional Wisdom about How We Burn Calories. Our hyperproductive foraging isn’t cheap. People in hunter-gatherer communities expend more than twice as much energy to acquire food as apes in the wild
• The mitochondrial cycle. Stressed tissue and cellular burn-out? Enter the Mitochondrial Cycle It turns out that when it comes to mitochondrial replication, sometimes slow and steady really does win the longevity race.
• Exposure to a mixture of chemicals known as PFAS results in changes in biological processes that are linked to a diverse array of diseases: processes include the metabolism of fats and amino acids. The disruption of these biological processes increases the likelihood of various diseases, including developmental disorders, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and several forms of cancer.
• New Study Reveals How Nanoplastics Can Impact Metabolism
• HOMEBIOLOGY NEWS
• “Surprising” Findings – Scientists Identify Complete Respiratory Supercomplex: For the first time ever, we have shown that complex II can also form part of a super complex, which shows an incredible optimization of the process for ATP formation”, says Rasmus Kock Flygaard. “Furthermore, with our structure, we can see that supercomplexes do not follow a simple plan for construction, but on the contrary, there is a surprising variety, which was not previously thought possible”
• A new organelle has been found in cells Found in fruit fly guts, the organelle is the first found that stores phosphate
• Plants perform quantum mechanics feats that scientists can only do at ultra-cold temperatures: Plants at room temperature show properties we had only seen near absolute zero. An example of how nature is far ahead of ehat humans have achieved 
• Sex differences in energy metabolism: natural selection, mechanisms and consequences
  • An over view of current research added for reference