Cellular Respiration
Production of ATP
 Compounds that can participated in exergonic
reactions can acts as fuels  will be degraded
into a simpler waste products that have less
energy.
 Fermentation L a partial degradation of sugars
or other organic fuel that occurs without the
use of oxygen.
 Anaerobic respiration : process that occur in
some prokaryotes that use substances other
than oxygen as reactants in a similar process
that harvests chemical energy without oxygen.
 Cellular respiration includes both aerobic and
anaerobic processes.
 Carbohydrates, fats, and protein molecules
from food can all be processed and consumed
as fuels.
 Major sources of carbohydrates is starch  can
be broken down into glucose.
 The breakdown of glucose is exergonic,
having free energy change of -686 kcal per
mole of glucose.
 To keep working, the cell must regenerate its
supply of ATP from ADP and P.
Redox Reaction
Mechanism
 The relocation of electrons releases energy
stored in organic molecules.
 These electrons transfers are called oxidation-
reduction reactions.
 Oxidation : the loss of electrons
 Reduction : the addition of electrons
 The hydrogen atoms are not transferred
directly to oxygen, but instead are usually
passed first to an electron carrier, a coenzyme
called NAD+.
 NAD+ is well suited as an electron carrier
because it can cycle easily between the
oxidized form (NAD+) and reduced form
(NADH).
 NAD+ functions as an oxidizing agent
(electron acceptor) during respiration.
 Mechanism :
 Enzyme called dehydrogenases remove a
pair of hydrogen atoms (2 electrons and 2
protons) from the substrate.
 The enzyme delivers the 2 electrons
along with 1 proton to its coenzyme,
NAD+.
 By receiving 2 negatively charged
electrons but only one positively charged
protons, NAD+ is reduced to NADH.
 Electrons lose very little of their potential
energy when they are transferred from
glucose to NAD+
 Each NADH molecule formed during
respiration represents stored energy.
 Electron transport chain consists of a number
of molecules, mostly protein, built into the
inner membrane of the mitochondria.
 O2 captures these electrons along with
hydrogen nuclei (H+) forming water.
 Electrons transfer from NADH to oxygen is
an exergonic reaction with a free energy
change of -53kcal/mol.
 Most electron travel downhill route : glucose 
NADH  electrons transport chain  oxygen.
 Occurs in the cytosol, begins with the
degradation process by breaking glucose into
two molecules of a compound called
pyruvate.
 The pyruvate enters the mitochondrion and is
oxidized to a compound called acetyl-CoA.
 Acetyl-CoA then enter the citric acid cycle 
the breakdown of glucose is completed.
 the electron transport chain accepts electrons
from the breakdown products of the first two
stages and passes these electrons from one
molecule to another.
 At the end of the chain, the electrons are
combined with the molecular oxygen and H+
forming water.
 Oxidative phosphorylation : a process of ATP
synthesis powered by redox reactions of the
electrons transport chain.
 In eukaryotic cells the inner membrane of the
mitochondrion is the site of electron transport
and chemiosmosis (in prokaryotes this takes
places in the plasma membrane).
  for each molecule of glucose degraded to  The remaining two carbon fragment is
carbon dioxide and water by respiration, oxidized forming acetate (CH3COO-). The
makes about 32 molecules of ATP. extracted electrons are transferred to NAD+
 Coenzyme A (CoA) is attached via its sulfur
atom t the acetate forming acetyl CoA, which
has a high potential energy.

Glycolisis

 Can be divided into 2 phases :

 The energy investment phase  spends
ATP Citric Acid Cycle
 The energy payoff phase  ATP is
produced by substrate level
phosphorylation and NAD+ is reduced to
NADH by electrons released from the
oxidation of glucose.
 Net energy : 2ATP and 2NADH
 Occurs whether O2 is present or not.

Electron Transport

 Most components of the chain are protein,

which exist in multiprotein complexes
numbered I through IV.
 Prosthetic groups : non protein components
that tightly bound to the protein complexes
and essential for the catalytic functions of
certain enzymes.
 Electron carriers alternate between reduced
and oxidized states as they accept and then
donate electrons.

Pyruvate Oxidation

 Pyruvate’s carboxyl group (-COO-) which is

already fully oxidized and thus has little
chemical energy is removed and given off as a
molecule of CO2.
  Electrons acquired from glucose by NAD+
during glycolysis and the citric acid cycle are
transferred from NADH to the first molecule
of the electron transport chain in complex I
called flavoprotein.
 The flavoprotein returns to its oxidized form
as it passes electrons to an iron-sulfur protein
(Fe.S in complex I)
 Iron-sulfur protein then passes the electrons to
a compound called ubiquinone (Q)
 Most of the remaining electrons carriers
between ubiquinone and oxygen are proteins
called cytochromes.
 The electron transport chain has several type
of cytochromes, each a different protein with
slightly different electron-carrying heme
group.
 The last cytochromes of the chain, Cyt a,
passes its electrons to oxygen, which very
electronegative.
 Each oxygen atom also picks up a pair of
hydrogen ions (protons) from the aqueous An Accounting of ATP
solution, neutralizing the -2 charge of the
added electrons and forming water.  4 ATP produced directly by substrate level
 FADH2 adds it electrons to the electron phosphorylation during glycolysis and the
transport chain from within complex II, at a citric acid cycle to the many more molecules
lower energy level than NADH does. of ATP generated by oxidative
phosphorylation.
Chemiosmosis  Each NADH that transfers a pair of electrons
from the glucose to the electron transport
 ATP synthase : the enzyme that makes ATP
chain contributes enough to the proton motive
from ADP and inorganic phosphates.
force to generate a maximum of about 3 ATP
 ATP synthase uses the energy of an existing
 But, 1 NADH results in 10H+ and the making
ion gradient to power ATP synthesis.
of 1 ATP is require 4 H+  1 NADH = 2,5
 The power source for ATP synthase is a
ATP
difference in the concentration of H+ on
 1 FADH results in 6H+  1 FADH = 1,5 ATP
opposite sides of the inner mitochondrial
membrane.
 Energy stored in the form of a hydrogen ion
gradient across a membrane.
 ATP synthase is a multisubunit complex with
four main parts, each made up of multiple
polypeptides.
 The H+ has a tendency to move back across
the membrane, diffusing its own gradient and
the ATP synthases are the only sites that
Fermentation
provide a route through the membrane for H+.
 Prokaryotes generate H+ gradients across  The distinction between anaerobic and
their plasma membranes. Then the tap the fermentation is that an electron transport used
proton-motive force not only to make ATP in anaerobic respiration but not in
inside the cell, but also to rotate their flagella fermentation.
and to pump nutrients and waste products  Anaerobic respiration, which takes place in
across the membrane. certain prokaryotic organism that live in
environment without oxygen  have an
 electron transport chain but do not use oxygen
as a final electrons acceptor.
 Other less electronegative substances can also
serves as final electrons transfer  such as
sulfate ion in the sulfate reducing marine
bacteria (H2S or hydrogen sulfide is made as
a by product rather than water)
 Fermentation is a way of harvesting chemical
energy without using either oxygen or any
electrons transport chain.
 Fermentation is an extension of glycolysis
that allows continuous generation of ATP by
the substrate level phosphorylation of
glycolysis.
 There must be a sufficient supply of NAD+ to
accept electrons during the oxidation step of
glycolysis.
 Without some mechanism to recycle NAD+
from NADH, glycolysis would soon deplete
the cell’s pool of NAD+ by reducing it all to
NADH and would shut itself down for lack of
an oxidizing agent.
 Amino acids present in excess are converted
by enzymes to intermediates of glycolysis and
the citric acid cycle.
 Before it can enter the glycolysis and the
citric acid cycle, their amino groups must be
removed, this process is called deamination.
 The nitrogenous refuse is excreted from the
animal in the form of ammonia, urea, or other
waste products.
 Fats also digested first to glycerol and fatty
acids.
 The glycerol is converted to glyceraldehyde
3-phosphate (an intermediate of glycolysis)
 Most of the energy of a fat is stored in the
fatty acid.
 Beta oxidation : a metabolic sequence that
breaks the fatty acids down to two-carbon
fragments, which enter the citric acid cycle as
acetyl CoA.
 NADH and FADH2 also generated during
beta oxidation, they then enter the electron
transport chain.

 Human muscle cells make ATP by lactic acid

fermentation when oxygen is scarce.
 The lactate that accumulates was previously Regulation of Cellular Respiration
thought to cause muscle fatigue and pain, but
recent research suggests that the cause of
these muscle pain and fatigue are the
increased levels of potassium ion (K+)
 Lactate appears to enhance muscle
performance.
 The excess lactate is gradually carried away
by the blood to liver  converted back to
pyruvate by liver cells.
 When the oxygen is available, the pyruvate
can enter the mitochondria in liver cells and
complete cellular respiration.

Versatility of Catabolism

 Proteins can also be used for fuel in

catabolism but first they must be digested to
their constituent amino acids.