Assimilation in biology is what? Examples of assimilation and dissimilation in nature

Assimilation in biology is a process that plays an important role in the digestive system of a living organism. What is it? Let's say you ate food today to get some energy. But have you ever thought about how food gets from a plate to cages? After you have eaten something, your body begins to break down food during digestion, absorbs nutrients and distributes them to cells during assimilation, where they are used for growth and recovery.

What happens after eating?

To understand what food assimilation and assimilation are in biology, let's first see how we digest ordinary food. Let's take an example like a cheeseburger. During chewing, the soaking, grinding and turning of food into a bolus takes place, which then moves through the esophagus into the stomach, where already strong acids and enzymes break it into parts.

Carbohydrates and proteins (bun and meat) begin to be digested before everyone else. Further in the small intestine, fats (cheese) begin to break up to their individual components, called fatty acids. At the moment, the cheeseburger's digestion is complete. Now it's time to digest the nutrients that have entered your body.

Assimilation of nutrients

Assimilation of nutrients is carried out in the small intestine, which is equipped with small protrusions, which are called microvilli. These important cells take nutrients from the intestine and pump it into the blood that delivers them to the body. To understand this process, let's look at how carbohydrates are specifically digested.

By the time carbohydrates contained in a burger bun reach the small intestine, they are broken down into sugar, known as glucose. Microvilli contain small pumps that suck it from the lumen of the intestine, and move into its epithelial cells. However, for sugar to enter the rest of the body, it must enter the blood stream. The other side of the intestinal epithelial cells has another pump that directs glucose into the blood vessels that surround the intestine.

Too much glucose in the blood can cause serious problems, so part of it is delivered to the liver for storage. The cells of this vital organ store an excess of sugar in the form of glycogen. From there, glucose is delivered to all cells in the body that use it to create cellular energy, or ATP, necessary to meet all the needs of cells and the body as a whole. Nutrients are not the only thing necessary to keep the body healthy. Sufficient water intake is very important.

Assimilation in biology is what?

Biological assimilation is a combination of two processes, during which nutrients are supplied to the cells. The first involves the absorption of vitamins, minerals and other chemicals from food. In the human body, this is done with the help of physical (oral chewing and gastric foaming) and chemical decomposition (enzymes and acids). The second process, called bioassimilation, is a chemical change in substances in the blood, liver, or cellular secretions.

Assimilation and dissimilation in biology

Dissimulation in biology is the process of decomposition of organic compounds (proteins, fats, carbohydrates, etc.) into simple substances. The unity of assimilation and dissimilation ensures the exchange of matter and energy, which is the cornerstone of life activity and ensures the continuity of the renewal of organic matter throughout the life cycle of the organism.

Dissimilation in plant and animal organisms

Dissimilation in plants is central to the metabolism of a number of processes, including respiration and glycolysis. The release of energy and the result of these processes is necessary for the existence of vital signs. Among the final products of dissimilation, the leading positions are occupied by water, gaseous carbon dioxide and ammonia.

If in animals these products are released from the outside during the accumulation process, then in plants carbon dioxide (not fully) and ammonia are used for the biosynthesis of organic matter and are the starting material for assimilation. The intensity of dissimilation processes in plants varies depending on the stage of ontogenesis of the organism and depends on some other factors.

Examples of biological assimilation

The main source of energy for all life on the planet is solar radiation. All organisms living on the Earth can be divided into autotrophic and heterotrophic. The first group is predominantly green plants capable of converting radiant energy from the sun and producing photosynthesis of organic compounds from inorganic substances.

Other living organisms, not counting some microorganisms capable of receiving energy by means of chemical reactions, absorb the already formed organic matter and use it as an energy source or as a structural material for creating organs. The time when the most active and intensive assimilation in biology takes place is the young age in animals and the growing season in plants.

Metabolism: the unity of the two processes

Metabolism is the unity of two processes: assimilation and dissimilation. Assimilation is the sum of all the processes of creating living matter: the absorption of cells by substances entering the body from the environment, the formation of more complex chemical compounds from simpler ones, and so on. Assimilation in biology is a process in which cells using various materials are transformed into living matter. Dissimilation is the destruction of living matter, decay, the cleavage of substances in cellular structures, in particular, in protein compounds. Assimilation (examples in nature are photosynthesis, fixation of nitrogen from the soil, absorption of nutrients during digestion) and dissimilation are inextricably linked. Assimilation is accompanied by an increase in the processes of destruction, which, in turn, prepare the ground for assimilation.