Although cells have differences that reflect their specific functions in the body, what functions do they have in common?

both anaerobic and aerobic respiration use glucose (or other carbohydrates), proteins and lipids to produce atp and nadh. cell uses those energy molecules, obtained from food and   breaks them down during the chemical reactions of respiration. in anaerobic respiration, nadh is regenerated to nad+ by enzymes lactate dehydrogenase (lactate is produced, e.g. in muscle cells) or by alcohol dehydrogenase where ethanol is produced (alcohol fermentation), while in aerobic respiration, electrons from nadh are deposited in the mitochondria to regenerate nad+ (electron transport chain. anaerobic respiration produces 2 atp per molecule of glucose compared to aerobic respiration where about 38 atp molecules are produced.

"1. it should be, it has been for about 20 years, and it's really not much different in the end than breeding animals to have particular traits. there are always concerns about genetically engineered animals/plants affecting the environment in unexpected negative ways, but i can't think of an example where the fears didn't turn out to be baseless.  

first, as you point out, it would be a great advance in pharmacology, to be able to tailor drugs and their doses to me. the pros involve better medical treatment. the cons involve privacy issues like insurance companies denying coverage to people with genetic risk factors. looking at dna markers wouldn't affect the frequency of genetic diseases, but it would allow detection of them earlier. and ok, actually i suppose that if people used this information to avoid having children with genetic diseases, some might decrease in frequency."