What are metabolic processes? State their importance.

(N/A) $\rightarrow$ All living organisms (bacteria,protozoa,plants,animals) contain thousands of organic compounds.
$\rightarrow$ These compounds or biomolecules are present in certain concentrations (mols/cell or mols/litre,etc.).
$\rightarrow$ These biomolecules have a turnover; they are constantly being changed into other biomolecules and are also synthesized from other biomolecules.
$\rightarrow$ In living organisms,the breaking and making of bonds through chemical reactions occur constantly. Collectively,all these chemical reactions are called metabolism.
$(i)$ Examples of such metabolic transformations include the removal of $CO_2$ from amino acids to transform them into amines.
$(ii)$ Removal of an amino group in a nucleotide base,or the hydrolysis of a glycosidic bond in a disaccharide.
$\rightarrow$ The majority of these metabolic reactions do not occur in isolation but are linked to other reactions.
$\rightarrow$ Metabolites are converted into each other in a series of linked reactions called metabolic pathways.
$\rightarrow$ These metabolic pathways are similar to automobile traffic; they have a definite rate and direction.
$\rightarrow$ This metabolite flow is called the dynamic state of body constituents,which is necessary for maintaining healthy conditions.
$\rightarrow$ Another feature of metabolic reactions is that every chemical reaction is a catalysed reaction. There is no metabolic conversion in living systems that is uncatalysed. Even the dissolving of $CO_2$ in water,a physical process,is a catalysed reaction in living systems.
$\rightarrow$ The catalysts that speed up the rate of a given metabolic conversion are proteins,known as enzymes.