Jeff Wheiler Bio 1610 10/9/13

Discussion Question #2
Cellular Respiration

Cellular Respiration is the process that all living organisms use to unlock the energy that is stored in their food as chemical energy. The two different types of respiration are Aerobic respiration and Anaerobic respiration. They are both pretty similar in the fact that they both work by breaking apart the chemical bonds in glucose to release energy and they both use that energy to make Adenosine Triphosphate or ATP for short. The main difference between the two respirations is that aerobic requires oxygen and anaerobic doesnt. Aerobic respiration is basically broken like so, glucose plus oxygen using enzymes equals carbon dioxide plus water and energy. The word equation for aerobic respiration is almost the exact opposite of photosynthesis. The enzymes used aerobic respiration are found in the mitochondria. The word equation for anaerobic respiration in humans and animals is glucose broken down by enzymes creates lactic acid and energy. All of this can be related to Glycosis. Glycosis has an investment phase and also energy yielding phase. The investment phase requires 2 G3P and 2 ATP in the cytoplasm using substrate-level phosphorolization to create a net gain of 2 ATP, 2 NADH, and 2 Pyruvate. The total energy yielding phase for cellular respiration in theory makes 36 ATP but actually makes only 30. The 2 pyruvate made from glycosis goes through a process called pyruvate oxidation or fermentation. Fermentation leads to lactic acid or ethanol and pyruvate oxidation leads to Acetyl-CoA and also the Krebs cycle in the mitochondria. The NADH made from glycosis moves to the electron transport chain and acts as a party bus for electrons. The Krebs cycle is located in the matrix of the mitochondria and produces 4 Co2, 6 NADH, 2 FADH, and 2 ATP. From pyruvate oxidation we get Acetyl-Coa which produces 2 NADH and CO2.