Activity 3
BASIC LIFE PROCESSES
By GEORGETTE E. ZALDIVAR
Discuss the six basic life processes and your own example for each.
There exist specific processes that differentiate living organisms from nonliving things called the basic life processes, for which Tortora & Derrickson, in their book, identified six (6) processes: metabolism, responsiveness, movement, growth, differentiation, and reproduction.
First and foremost, metabolism, one of the body’s many processes, is the sum of the chemical reactions transpiring within every cell of living organisms to sustain life. It is known to be responsible for turning food consumed into energy to power vital processes and synthesize new organic materials. The two phases of metabolism are catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism is the breakdown of complex chemical substances into simpler ones, whereas anabolism is the building up of simpler substances into their more complex counterparts. An example of both these pathways is the building up and breaking down of glucose (C6H12O6) molecules, which are the processes of cellular respiration and photosynthesis.
Any living organism, including humans, must also possess the process of responsiveness, which is the body’s capability to sense and react to changes in both the internal and external environments. An example of responsiveness in the internal environment is the clotting of a superficial wound. If one incurs a wound, what happens first is blood cells called platelets amalgamate and form a clot to stop the bleeding and then release cytokines into the bloodstream, which will attract the attention of specific cells that would eventually heal the wound.
Movement comprises the motion of not only particular body parts but also individual organs, single cells, and even tiny structures inside the cells. The three (3) primary types of movements are amoeboid movement, a crawling-like motion found in amoeba; ciliary movement, which is the rhythmic movement of the cilia; and muscular movement, for which the muscle move body parts by contracting and relaxing. An example of movement is the coordination of the leg muscles that enable the body to move from one point to another.
The phenomenon of increasing body size resulting from the increasing size of existing cells, an increase in the number of cells, or both is called growth. Associated with progressive development, growth is irreversible. It may be delimited to specific parts of the organism, or the growing cells may be distributed across the body, for which different body parts have different rates of cell division and cell size increase. The forms of adults show that the growth pattern in plants and animals is predetermined and constant. The development of an individual from a newborn into full maturity is one example of growth.
Differentiation is the development of a cell from what is deemed unspecialized undergoing maturation, turning into a specialized state. The development of a single-celled zygote into a multicellular embryo, which will then turn into a more complex multisystem of various cell types of a fetus, is one example of differentiation. Cell size, shape, polarity, metabolism, and signal responsiveness all change dramatically, causing the less specialized cell to become increasingly specialized and take on a unique function.
The formation of new cells for tissue growth, repair, or replacement and the production of a new individual both refers to reproduction. Cell division is the process by which new cells are formed. A new individual is formed by the fertilization of an ovum by a sperm cell, which is followed by repeated cell divisions and differentiation of these cells, constituting reproduction. The two (2) types of reproduction that produces a new individual are sexual and asexual reproduction. During sexual reproduction, an organism combines the genetic information from both parents and becomes genetically unique, whereas asexual reproduction occurs when one parent copies itself to produce genetically identical offspring. However, only sexual reproduction is applicable to humans, as we are biologically unable to produce offspring asexually. An example of reproduction is when cells reproduce themselves to restore and heal a part of the body that has been injured.
REFERENCES:
Biology Online. (2021). Differentiation. Retrieved from Biology Online: https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/differentiation
National Geographic. (n.d.). Reproduction. Retrieved from National Geographic: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/resource-library-reproduction
Nemours KidsHealth. (n.d.). Bones, Muscles, and Joints (For Teens). Retrieved from Nemours KidsHealth: https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/bones-muscles-joints.html
Tortora, G. J., & Derrickson, B. (2014). 1.3 Characteristics of the Living Human Organism. In G. J. Tortora, & B. Derrickson, Principles of Anatomy and Physiology (pp. 5-8). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Wilt, F. H. (2021). growth. Retrieved from Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/science/growth-biology