Aerobic Cellular Respiration

Aerobic Cellular Respiration

• Begins with glucose and oxygen
• Yields not only ATPs but also carbon dioxide and water
• Is divided into four stages:
1. Glycolysis
2. Pyruvate oxidation
3. Citric acid cycle
4. Oxidative phosphorylation
Stage 1: Glycolysis
• Glycolysis literally means “breaking down of sugar”
• From the word glycol, meaning “sugar”; and lysis, meaning “splitting
up”
• Is a metabolic pathway that involves systematic breakdown of glucose
to produce energy and takes place in the cytoplasm
• Glycolysis revolves around breaking down glucose into two molecules
of pyruvate(ionized form of pyruvic acid), with the help of other
intermediate molecules
• It occurs in two phases: energy investment and energy payoff phases
 Step Enzyme Involved
1. Using ATP and an enzyme called hexokinase, a Hexokinase
phosphate is added to glucose, thereby producing
glucose-6-phosphate. ADP is released
2. The glucose-6-phosphate is rearranged into Phosphoglucose isomerase(PI)
fructose-6-phosphate by phosphoglucose
isomerase(PI)
3. Using ATP, phosphofructokinase, and magnesium as Phosphofructokinase and magnesium as a cofactor
a cofactor, the second molecule of phosphate is added
to fructose-6-phosphate is added to fructose-6-
phosphate, having it converted to fructose-1, 6-
biphosphate
4. Fructose-1, 6 biphosphate reacts with aldolase and Aidolase
splits into two three carbon intermediates:
dihydroxyacetone phosphate(DHAP) and
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate(G3P)
5. Interconversion occurs between DHAP and G3P with Triphosphate isomerase
the help of triphosphate isomerase (TIM). This
converts DHAP into G3P
• The second phase of glycolysis begins with redox reaction, a chemical
reaction wherein electrons are transferred from one reactant to
another.
• This is how cells tap energy from fuels to oxygen
Redox reaction
• When an atom is oxidized, it loses on or more electrons, resulting in
an increase in the atom’s oxidation number
• When this happens, another atom gains the lost electron(reduction),
thereby decreasing its oxidation number
• Redox reactions are coupled reactions because when one molecule is
oxidized, the other one must be reduced and vice versa
 Step Enzyme Involved
6. A redox reaction occurs. G3P is oxidized by the Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphatedehydrogenase
coenzyme nicotinamide adenine nucleotide(NAD),
while the latter is reduced to NADH. G3Ps then
become two separate chains of 1, 3-bisphoglycerate.
Because of the energy released by the reaction, a
phosphate group attaches itself to the substrate
7.1, 3 biphoglycerate and a molecule of ADP undergo Phosphoglycerate Kinase (PGK)
substrate-level phosphorylation with the help of the
enzyme phosphoglycerate kinase(PGK). This
phosphorylation yields two molecules of ATP – one
from each substrate. 1, 3 bisphogly is then converted
into 3-phosphoglycerate.
8. An enzyme, phosphoglycerate mutase (PGM), Phosphoglycerate Mutase (PGM)
catalyzes the rearrangement of the phosphate group
in 3-phosphoglycerate, producing 2-phosphoglycerate.
9. The enzyme enolase catalyzes the conversion of 2- Enolase
phosphoglycerate to phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP).
Since enolase removes water from the former, this
reaction yields water as by-product.
With the help of pyruvate kinase, PEP and an ADP Pyruvate Kinase
undergo substrate-level phosphorylation, which yields
two molecules of pyruvate(C3H3O3) and molecules of
ATP
• To summarize the production of ATP in glycolysis, the net reaction can
be translated into:
C6H12O6 + 2Pl + 2NAD – 2C3H3O3 + 2ATP + 2NADH

• In this metabolic pathway, a total of two ATPs are consumed.

However, it has also generated four ATPs along the way, leaving a net
gain of two ATPs in total.