The Apprentice: Metabolism

In metabolism, times are tough, substrates hard to come by...

To get what they want, the contestants will have to face the challenge of a half-life.

This week on The Apprentice: Metabolism...

The Task:

Buy compounds, metabolise them, and sell the product.

The Team Names:

Synthesis - Aconitase said it came to her in a dream.

Flux - Fumarase suggested it, and nobody else had any ideas...

Team Leaders:

Synthesis chose Fatty Acid Synthase because she claimed to be 'creative'.

Flux chose Alpha-KG Dehydrogenase, because nobody else had any ideas...

The Strategy:

Synthesis - Protein Kinase A wanted to phosphorylate the compounds, Acetyl CoA Carboxylase wanted to carboxylate them. The Glucose-6-P Isomerase said it was all the same to her, and that everyone should focus on the delta G if they wanted to win.

Flux - Somebody suggested 'This is a cell', and they went with it, because nobody else had any ideas...

Who got fired?

Synthesis lost, because 'creativity' has a positive delta G, and Fatty Acid Synthase failed to realise she needed to couple her creativity to an exothermic process in order to get any work done. Malate dehydrogenase got fired, on account of not knowing when to shut up.