RESPIRATION
BIO 01
THIS REVIEWER IS BASED ON THE GIVEN .PPT FROM THE BLACKBOARD
MAPUA SHS SCIENCE CLUB
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
How Cells Harvest Energy
Explain: Where does our cells get energy?
6-C sugars are the MAJOR source of energy for cell.
What type of macromolecule are 6-C sugars?
- Carbohydrates
Cells break down glucose a 6-C sugar to make ATP “energy”.
Respiration
Organisms can be classified based on how they obtain energy:
- Autotrophs: can produce their own organic molecules through photosynthesis.
- Heterotrophs: live on organic compounds produced by other organisms.
All organisms use cellular respiration to extract energy from organic molecules.
Cellular respiration is a series of reactions that:
- are oxidations — loss of electrons
- are also dehydrogenations — lost electrons are accompanied by hydrogen
Therefore, what is lost is a hydrogen atom (1 electron, 1 proton).
During redox reactions, electrons carry energy from one molecule to another.
NAD+ is an electron carrier.
- NAD accepts 2 electrons and 1 proton to become NADH
- the reaction is reversible
~1~
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
During respiration, electrons are shuttled
through electron carriers to a final electron
acceptor.
- Aerobic Respiration: final electron
receptor is oxygen (O2)
- Anaerobic Respiration: final
electron acceptor is an inorganic
molecule (not O2)
- Fermentation: final electron
acceptor is an organic molecule
Aerobic Respiration
C6H12O6 + 6O2 ————> 6CO2 + 6H2O
G = -686kcal/mol of glucose
G can be even higher than this in a cell
This large amount of energy must be released in small steps rather than all at once.
The goal of respiration is to produce ATP.
- energy is released from oxidation reaction in the form of electrons.
- electrons are shuttled by electron carriers (e.g. NAD+) to an electron transport chain.
- electron energy is converted to ATP at the electron transport chain.
Oxidation of Glucose
Cells can make ATP via:
a. Substrate-Level Phosphorylation – transferring a phosphate directly to ADP from another
molecule.
b. Oxidative Phosphorylation
– use of ATP synthase and
energy derived from a
proton (H+) gradient to make
ATP.
~2~
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
Oxidation of Glucose
The complete oxidation of glucose
proceeds in stages:
I. Glycolysis
II. Pyruvate Oxidation
III. Krebs Cycle
IV. Electron Transport Chain &
Chemiosmosis
Glycolysis
Glycolysis converts glucose to pyruvate.
- A 10-step biochemical pathway
- Occurs in the cytoplasm
- 2 molecules of pyruvate are formed
- Net production of 2 ATP molecules by substrate-level
phosphorylation
- 2 NADH produced by the reduction of NAD+
Where —> Cytoplasm
NO O2 required
Energy Yield —> net gain of 2 ATP at the expense of 2
ATP
6-C glucose —> TWO 3-C pyruvates
Free e- and H+ combine with organic ion carriers called
NAD+ —> NADH + H+
(nicotinamide dinucleotide)
Summary
In Out
Glucose (6-C) 2 pyruvates; 2(3-C)
2 ATP 2 NADH
a net of 2 ATP
~3~
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
Glycolysis
For glycolysis to continue, NADH must be recycled to NAD+ by either:
1) Aerobic Respiration — occurs when oxygen is available as the final electron acceptor.
2) Fermentation — occurs when oxygen is
not available; an organic molecule is the
final electron acceptor.
The fate of pyruvate depends on oxygen
availability.
o When oxygen is present, pyruvate is
oxidized to acetyl-CoA which enters the
Krebs cycle.
o Without oxygen, pyruvate is reduced to
oxidize NADH back to NAD+
Pyruvate Oxidation
In the presence of oxygen, pyruvate is oxidized.
- Occurs in the mitochondria in eukaryotes
- Occurs at the plasma membrane in prokaryotes
- In mitochondria, a multienzyme complex called pyruvate dehydrogenase catalyzes the
reaction.
The products of pyruvate oxidation include:
- 1 CO2
- 1 NADH
- 1 acetyl-CoA which consists of 2 carbons from pyruvate
attached to coenzyme A
Acetyl-CoA proceeds to the Krebs cycle.
Breakdown of Pyruvic Acid
Where —> mitochondria
Pyruvate (3-C) Acetic acid (2-C)
3rd C forms CO2
Acetic acid combines with Coenzyme A to form Acetyl-
CoA
~4~
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
Summary
In Out
Pyruvate CO2 (as waste)
NAD NADH
CoA Acetyl-CoA
Krebs Cycle
The Krebs cycle oxidizes the acetyl group from pyruvate.
- Occurs in the matrix of the mitochondria
- Biochemical pathway of 9 steps
- First step:
acetyl group + oxaloacetate citrate
(2 carbons) (4 carbons) (6 carbons)
The remaining steps of the Krebs cycle:
- Release 2 molecules of CO2
- Reduce 3 NAD+ to 3 NADH
- Reduce 1 FAD (electron carrier)
to FADH2
- Produce 1 ATP
- Regenerate oxaloacetate
After glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, and
the Krebs cycle, glucose has been
oxidized to:
- 6 CO2
- 4 ATP
- 10 NADH
- 2 FADH2
These electron carriers proceed
to the electron transport chain.
~5~
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
Electron Transport Chain
The electron transport chain (ETC) is a series of membrane-bound electron carriers.
- Embedded in the mitochondrial inner membrane
- Electrons from NADH and FADH2 are transferred to complexes of the ETC.
- Each complex transfers the electrons to the next complex in the chain.
As the electrons are transferred, some electron energy is lost with each transfer.
- This energy is used to pump protons (H+) across the membrane from the matrix to the inner
membrane space.
- A proton gradient is established.
o The higher negative charge in the matrix attracts the protons (H+) back from the
intermembrane space to the matrix.
o The accumulation of protons in the intermembrane space drives protons into the matrix via
diffusion.
~6~
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
o Most protons move back to the matrix through ATP synthase.
o ATP synthase is a membrane-bound enzyme that uses the energy of the proton gradient to
synthesize ATP from ADP + Pi.
Energy Yield of Respiration
Theoretical Energy Yields
o 38 ATP per glucose for bacteria
o 36 ATP per glucose for eukaryotes
Actual Energy Yield
o 30 ATP per glucose for eukaryotes
o Reduced yield is due to “leaky”
inner membrane and use of the
proton gradient for purposes other
than ATP synthesis.
Regulation of Respiration
Regulation of aerobic respiration is by feedback inhibition.
- A step within glycolysis is allosterically inhibited by ATP and by citrate
- High levels of NADH inhibit pyruvate dehydrogenase
- High levels of ATP inhibit citrate synthetase
~7~
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
What happens if NO O2?
- Cellular respiration process STOPS
Aerobic vs. Anaerobic
Anaerobic DOES NOT require oxygen
- Simple
- Fast
- Produces smaller amounts of energy (ATP)
Aerobic requires oxygen
- Yields large amounts of energy
- What is this energy molecule?
ATP, ATP, ATP
Oxidation Without O2
Respiration occurs without O2 via either:
Anaerobic Respiration
- Use of inorganic molecules (other than O2) as final electron acceptor
Fermentation
- Use of organic molecules as final electron acceptor
Anaerobic respiration by methanogens
- Methanogens use CO2
- CO2 is reduced to CH4 (methane)
Anaerobic respiration by sulfur bacteria
- Inorganic Sulphate (SO4) is reduced to hydrogen sulfide (H2S)
~8~
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
Fermentation reduces organic molecules to
regenerate NAD+
Ethanol Fermentation occurs in yeast
- CO2, ethanol, and NAD+ are produced
Lactic Acid Fermentation
- Occurs in animal cells (especially muscles)
- Electrons are transferred from NADH to
pyruvate to produce lactic acid.
- bacteria, plants and most animals
- After glycolysis
o 2 pyruvic acid changed to lactic acid
- Sometimes happens in your muscles,
cramps ----- Exercise
Alcoholic Fermentation
- Bacteria and fungi (yeast)
- Ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide are the end products
- Process used to form beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages
- Also, used to raise dough, bread
Catabolism of Protein & Fat
Catabolism of Proteins:
- Amino acids undergo deamination to remove the amino group
- Remainder of the amino acid is converted to a molecule that enters glycolysis or the Krebs
cycle.
- For example:
alanine is converted to pyruvate
aspartate is converted to oxaloacetate
~9~
BIO01 Credits to Sir Christian Tan and the Science Club
Catabolism of Fats:
- Fats are broken down to fatty acids and glycerol
- Fatty acids are converted to acetyl groups by β-oxidation
The respiration of a 6-carbon fatty acid yields 20% more energy than
glucose.
Evolution of Metabolism
A hypothetical timeline for the evolution of metabolism:
I. Ability to store chemical energy in ATP
II. Evolution of glycolysis
III. Anaerobic photosynthesis (using H2S)
IV. Use of H2O in photosynthesis (not H2S)
V. Evolution of nitrogen fixation
VI. Aerobic respiration evolved most recently
~ 10 ~
