Aerobic Respiration

Lab 9 Aerobic Metabolism: Evolution of a New Energy-Producing Pathway We hypothesize that the germinating peas will consume more oxygen and generate more carbon dioxide than the dry peas because the availability of water. This is because water is essential to the process of respiration. Specifically, H2O’s bonds are broken and the resulting energy forces its electron into the electron transport chain. This in turn creates the energy needed to eventually make ATP. In this lab we looked at the parts of the mitochondria and its role in aerobic respiration. For example, we learned that intermembrane space is where the protons accumulate and that cytochromes are on the inner membrane. We also looked at the products and by-products of aerobic metabolism. Although ATP is the main by-product, the reaction also produces such things as O2 and FADH2 along the way. Lastly, we examined the role of endosymbiosis as the possible evolutionary process that can account for the creation of certain organelles in eukaryotic cells.