"In biochemistry, a metabolic pathway is a linked series of chemical reactions occurring within a cell that leads to the formation of one or more functional products. Metabolic pathways are the means living entities use to convert, via enzymes (proteins), one compound into another.--A molecule that starts a chemical pathway inside a cell is called a substrate, a substance on which an enzyme acts.
--Enzymes are also called biological catalysts and are designed to make biochemical reactions proceed with incredible speed.
--When an enzyme connects with a substrate (reactant molecule), the substrate breaks into two product molecules (products) while the enzyme remains unchanged and immediately connects with another substrate.
--These reactions occur in a fraction of a second.
Cellular pathways begin outside the cell when a ligand (or first messenger) encounters a specific protein detector (or receptor) that is suspended in the plasma (or cell) membrane.
A large family of these detectors is called G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).
These GPCRs are designed to detect specific biomolecules (ligands) outside the cell and initiate internal signal pathways inside the cell and, ultimately, create cellular responses such as the production of proteins.
A parasitology textbook commented on internal cellular reactions in protozoa and “the multitude of other metabolic events that make biochemical pathways look like printed circuits of high-tech electronic equipment.”
One must ask if these complex and ordered pathways
Q: are the result of time, chance, and random processes
Q: or the result of plan and purpose.
Only God can create life.
At the subcellular level, we see the enormous complexity that is the work of His hands, and these pathways lead us to Him."
ICR
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made..
Psalm 139:14