Aerobic Respiration

One Comment on “List products and reactants for three steps of aerobic respiration: glycolysis, CAC, and ETC and Chemiosmosis?”

1. BioLiz
   June 3rd, 2010 at 2:12 pm

   I will try to give a simple description, but as you probably already know, these are complicated processes, so it is very challenging to make them “easy to follow”.

   Glycolysis: In this process, one molecule of glucose is broken down into two molecules of pyruvate. Energy is released in the form of ATP and NADH. This process takes place in the cytoplasma of cells of all living organisms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycolysis

   Link reaction: The pyruvate generated in the glycolysis is oxidized to acetyl-CoA and CO2 by pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme complex. For each molecule of pyruvate, 3 molecules of ATP are formed. This process takes place in the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells, and in the cytosol of prokaryotes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyruvate_decarboxylation

   Krebs cycle (citric acid cycle): The acetyl-CoA produced in the link reaction gets oxydized to CO2, while at the same time reducing NAD to NADH. This is a 8-step process involving 8 different enzymes. Throughout the entire cycle, Acetyl CoA changes into Citrate, Isocitrate, α-ketoglutarate, succinyl-CoA, succinate, fumarate, malate, and finally, oxaloacetate. This cycle produces NADH, FADH, and GTP (all carriers of energy), while also producing the waste products H2O (water) and CO2. In eukaryotes, this cycle occurs in the mitochondrion. See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid_cycle

   In the Electron Transport Chain, NADH (generated in the Krebs cycle) and an electron donor (O2; oxygen) will react with each other and transfer H+ ions. The reaction also uses ADP and succinate. The end products are NAD+, fumarate, H2O (water) and ATP. Several enzyme complexes are involved, one of which is ATP synthetase. This reaction takes place in the mitochondrion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_transport_chain

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