Learn

Living Processes

Living processes are those functional characteristics that the body must perform to maintain life (also termed characteristics of life).  The living processes, or characteristics of life, can be divided into 6 categories.

1) Metabolism is the total of all chemical reactions occurring in the body, which include catabolism breakdown of large, complex molecules into smaller, simpler ones and anabolism building up of complex molecules from smaller, simpler ones .

EXAMPLE: Taking in food and breaking the nutrients down into smaller molecules is an example of metabolism. These molecules are taken in by cells to build needed molecules. This occurs when you eat food, such as meat, that contains protein; it is broken down into amino acids (the smaller molecules) and used to assemble needed protein for the body.

2) Responsiveness is the ability to detect and respond to changes occurring outside and inside the body.

EXAMPLE: This occurs when the body feels a cold temperature and responds with shivering and shifting blood flow to the core organs.

3) Movement is the motion that occurs with the entire body or individual organs, single cells, and structures within cells.

EXAMPLE: Walking is an obvious example; however, other examples include the movement of white blood cells through the body or the movement of organelles inside the cell as proteins are assembled.

4) Growth is the increase in body size due to an increase in

  1. the size of existing cell
  2. the number of cells; or
  3. the amount of material surrounding cells

5) Differentiation is a process by which undifferentiated cells (stem cells) develop into specialized cells to perform specific functions.

EXAMPLE: Hematopoietic stem cells divide and eventually become types of white blood cells and red blood cells, each type having a specific function.

6) Reproduction is the formation of new cells for growth, repair, or replacement, or the production of a new individual.

EXAMPLE: Reproduction occurs when sex cells unite to produce a zygote that develops into a human being, or when skin cells divide to produce more skin cells as they repair a cut in the skin.

These processes are all characteristics of life that all humans have.

CheckmarkCheck for understanding:
-List the 6 life processes or the characteristics of life.

-Which of the characteristics of life would the breakdown of large molecules into smaller ones be a description of?

 

 

 

Previous Page