Fermentation
• Most cellular respiration requires O2 to produce ATP. Without O2, the electron transport
chain will cease to operate. In that case, glycolysis couples with fermentation or
anaerobic respiration to produce ATP.
Types of Fermentation
• Two common types are alcohol fermentation and lactic acid fermentation.
Alcohol fermentation
• Pyruvic acid breaks down into acetaldehyde and CO2 is released. In the next step, ethanol
is formed from acetaldehyde. NAD+ is also formed from NADH, utilized in glycolysis.
• Enzyme pyruvic acid decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase catalyze these reactions.
• The product is alcohol and CO2.
• This is used in the industrial production of wine, beer, biofuel, etc.
• Yeast and some bacteria carry out this type of fermentation.
Lactic acid fermentation
• In lactic acid fermentation, pyruvate produced in glycolysis is reduced to NADH,
forming lactate as a product, with no release of CO2.
• Enzyme lactate dehydrogenase catalyzes this reaction.
• Lactic acid fermentation by some fungi and bacteria is used to make cheese and yogurt.
• Human muscle cells use lactic acid fermentation to generate ATP when O 2 is scarce.
• During intense exercise when oxygen supply is inadequate, muscles derive energy by
producing lactic acid, which accumulates in the cells causing fatigue.
Comparing Fermentation with Cell Respiration
• All use glycolysis (net ATP = 2) to oxidize glucose and produce pyruvate.
• The processes have different final electron acceptors: an organic molecule (such as
pyruvate or acetaldehyde) in fermentation and O2 in cellular respiration.
• Cellular respiration produces 36 ATP per glucose molecule; fermentation produces 2 ATP
per glucose molecule.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
*The count of ATP produced in cell respiration varies because of the efficiency of ATP
generation at different stages of the process, and not all energy of the proton gradient can
go towards making ATP. The number typically ranges from 30-38 or sometimes can even
go lower/higher.
For the sake of uniformity of the class and based on Campbell as reference, we’ll follow
these numbers: Glycolysis-2, Krebs Cycle-2, Oxidative Phosphorylation-32, TOTAL=36
ATP