How does a Chemical Convert into a Biological Cell?

And deconvert into a chemical? For food, beverage, environment, and otherwise. My research has posed no answers.

Anybody who can enlighten me?

Chemicals in everyday life do not convert into biological cells. The examples you gave (food, beverage) do not enter our body and become cells. They are broken down into their constiuents, be they amino acids, fats, minerals, etc., and are then incorporated into biomolecules which help build portions of the cells. This is typically done via tRNA or transfer RNA (which carries amino acids and nucleotides to their designated location based on the genetic code in DNA), or chaperone proteins (which bend, fold, and integrate proteins based, again, on DNA).

MFP

Originally posted by GreatTech
And deconvert into a chemical? For food, beverage, environment, and otherwise. My research has posed no answers.

Anybody who can enlighten me?

bsl4doc's answer is decent...

The easy answer is metabolism.

Originally posted by mattison0922

Originally posted by GreatTech
And deconvert into a chemical? For food, beverage, environment, and otherwise. My research has posed no answers.

Anybody who can enlighten me?

bsl4doc's answer is decent...

The easy answer is metabolism.

Sometimes the "easy" , one word answer isn't the best =). Take a clinician-patient relations class, hehe.

But yes, the processes I was referring to are a part of metabolism.

MFP

Originally posted by bsl4doc
Sometimes the "easy" , one word answer isn't the best =). Take a clinician-patient relations class, hehe.

Agreed, but did you click on the link? There was a great description of many metabolic processes there.

I'd never leave someone seeking a science answer hanging with a one word answer only, that's why I provided the link.

I know we don't know each other, but congrats on finishing medschool and getting your residency.

Originally posted by mattison0922

Originally posted by bsl4doc
Sometimes the "easy" , one word answer isn't the best =). Take a clinician-patient relations class, hehe.

Agreed, but did you click on the link? There was a great description of many metabolic processes there.

I'd never leave someone seeking a science answer hanging with a one word answer only, that's why I provided the link.

I know we don't know each other, but congrats on finishing medschool and getting your residency.

Thanks! And I hope I didn't come across as rude. It's just that from past experience, GreatTech seems to like things as simple and spelled out as possible so as to avoid any confusion. No way you could have known that, so I apologise if I was rude.

Mariella

Originally posted by bsl4doc
Thanks! And I hope I didn't come across as rude. It's just that from past experience, GreatTech seems to like things as simple and spelled out as possible so as to avoid any confusion. No way you could have known that, so I apologise if I was rude.

Mariella

Nope... not at all. I didn't think you were rude... the O & C forum here has thickened my skin.

Thank you for your answers bsl4doc and mattison0922.

What process created the first living plant, animal, and human cell?

Is it scientifically possible to create a living cell from everyday or noneveryday chemicals? How much research effort is devoted to this cause?

Originally posted by GreatTech
Thank you for your answers bsl4doc and mattison0922.

What process created the first living plant, animal, and human cell?

Is it scientifically possible to create a living cell from everyday or noneveryday chemicals? How much research effort is devoted to this cause?

Chemical and molecular evolution were the processes that created the first unicellular organisms, and eventually all organisms, over billions of years. Obviously, we cannot possibly carry out an sort of experiment that takes billions of years to observe, but we do have smaller, analogous examples in day to day life. For example, there are certain silicate clays which organize themselves in such a way as to form silicate pockets that encase certain biochemical acids, such as RNA, from other organisms. While these trapped RNA molecules do not seem to serve any purpose for the clays, it is theorized that this is a precursor to some rudimentary nucleus.

We also see examples of this in bacterial mutation. Bacteria are actually able to take up naked DNA left in the environment from dead cells and incorporate this genetic code into their own genome. This can sometimes produce new strains of that bacterium, sometimes adding an antibiotic resistance.

Also, as to your other question, no, it is not possible to create a living cell from everyday or noneveryday chemicals for the simple fact that it would take billions or millions of years. An interesting experiment, however, was conducted by a Dr. Stanley Miller back in the late 1950s or early 1960s. He, along with Dr. Fox, passed an electrical current through a pyrex container filled with ammonia, methane, water, but no molecular oxygen, thus simulating what early earth was thought to be like. While no life was created that day, some amino acids DID spontaneously form from non-amino organic molecules! This was an important step forward for chemical and molecular evolutionary theory.

Mariella

By weight, what percent of the human body is cells and what percent is non- cellular matter (chemicals) at any given time?

Originally posted by GreatTech
By weight, what percent of the human body is cells and what percent is non- cellular matter (chemicals) at any given time?

Hmmm... I don't know if that particular stat is available. However, when you say 'non-cellular' there's more to it than just 'chemicals' connective tissues, ligaments, tendons are non-cellular... but are certainly not just chemicals.

Most of the weight is water... of course a significant amount of which is contained in the cytoplasm of cells, and would thus count as cellular weight. However a significant portion of the blood plasma is obviously water as well. It appears to me that you may need to ask a more specific question.

Mariella will perhaps have a much better knowledge of this than me though...