Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, some bacteria, and some protistans use the energy from sunlight to produce sugar, which cellular respiration converts into ATP, the "fuel" used by all living things. The conversion of unusable sunlight energy into usable chemical energy, is associated with the actions of the green pigment chlorophyll. Most of the time, the photosynthetic process uses...

Glycolysis Nine reactions, each catalyzed by a specific enzyme, makeup the process we call glycolysis. ALL organisms have glycolysis occurring in their cytoplasm. At steps 1 and 3 ATP is converted into ADP, inputting energy into the reaction as well as attaching a phosphate to the glucose. At steps 6 and 9 ADP is converted into the higher energy ATP. At step 5 NAD'+ is converted into NADH + H'+....

BINARY FISSION AND MITOSIS The Cell Cycle Despite differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, there are several common features in, their cell division processes. Replication of the DNA must occur. Segregation of the "original" and its "replica" follow. Cytokinesis ends the cell division process. Whether the cell was eukaryotic or prokaryotic, these basic events must occur. Cytokinesis is t...

Water and Solute Movement Cell membranes act as barriers to most, but not all, molecules. Development of a cell membrane that could allow some materials to pass while constraining the movement of other molecules was a major step in the evolution of the cell. Cell membranes are differentially (or semi-) permeable barriers separating the inner cellular environment from the outer celluI'ar (or exter...

Life exhibits varying degrees of organization. Atoms are organized into molecules, molecules into organelles, and organelles into cells, and so on. According to the cell Theory, all living things are composed of one or more cells, and the functions of a multicellular organism are a consequence of the types of cells it has. Cells fall into two broad groups: prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Prokaryotic c...