= Metabolism
{wiki}
The network of <chemical reactions> that maintains a living system, supplies energy and builds or processes its material. Gas emissions can arise as <primary metabolic byproducts> or <secondary metabolic byproducts>, with different implications for an <atmospheric biosignature gas>.
<Enzymes> make this network operate on biologically useful timescales. Following material through successive <substrates> and <reaction products> explains why a single fast <enzyme> need not make the entire network fast: another step may constrain the flow. Changing <enzyme> amounts or activity therefore changes which routes can carry material, connecting molecular <chemical kinetics> to the maintenance and growth of a <biological cell>. See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26911/[Alberts et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell: multienzyme complexes and cell metabolism].
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