Cellular Respiration: Aerobic Harvest of Food Energy
• Cellular respiration is
– aerobic harvesting of chemical energy from organic fuel
molecules,
– the main way that chemical energy is harvested from
food and converted to ATP, and
– an aerobic process—it requires oxygen.
• Cellular respiration requires that a cell exchange two gases
with its surroundings.
– The cell takes in oxygen in the form of the gas O2.
– It gets rid of waste as 𝐶𝑂2.
How Breathing is Related to Cellular Respiration
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
An Overview of Cellular Respiration (1 of 2)
• All living organisms depend on transformations of energy and matter.
• Cellular respiration
– consists of many chemical steps using a specific enzyme to catalyze each
reaction,
– constitutes one of the most important metabolic pathways for nearly every
eukaryotic cell, and
– provides the energy these cells need to maintain the functions of life.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
An Overview of Cellular Respiration (2 of 2)
• The many chemical reactions that make up
cellular respiration can be grouped into three
main stages:
1. glycolysis,
2. the citric acid cycle, and
3. electron transport.
Pyruvic acid, (CH3COCOOH), is an organic acid that probably
occurs in all living cells. It ionizes to give a hydrogen ion and
an anion, termed pyruvate. Biochemists use the
terms pyruvate and pyruvic acid almost interchangeably.
-[Link]
A Road Map for Cellular Respiration
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Stage 1: Glycolysis
• During glycolysis a six-carbon glucose molecule is split in half to form two molecules of pyruvic acid.
– This initial split requires an energy “investment” of two ATP molecules per glucose.
– The three-carbon molecules then donate high-energy electrons to NAD+, forming NADH.
– Glycolysis also generates four ATP molecules.
– Glycolysis thus produces a net gain of two molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Stage 2: The Citric Acid Cycle (1 of 2)
• Before pyruvic acid can be used by the citric acid cycle, it must be converted to a form the citric acid cycle can use.
1. Each pyruvic acid loses a carbon as 𝐶𝑂[Link] remaining fuel molecules, with only two carbons left, are called acetic acid.
2. Electrons are stripped from these molecules and transferred to NAD+, forming more NADH.
3. Finally, each acetic acid is attached to coenzyme A (𝐶𝑜𝐴) to form acetyl 𝐶𝑜𝐴.
The Link Between Glycolysis and the Citric Acid Cycle: the Conversion of Pyruvic Acid to Acetyl 𝐶𝑜𝐴
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Stage 2: The Citric Acid Cycle (2 of 2)
• The citric acid cycle finishes extracting the energy of
sugar by dismantling the acetic acid molecules all the
way down to 𝐶𝑂2.
1. Acetic acid joins a four-carbon acceptor
molecule to form a six-carbon product called
citric acid (for which the cycle is named).
2. For every acetic acid molecule that enters the
cycle as fuel, two 𝐶𝑂2 molecules eventually
exit as a waste product. Along the way, the
citric acid cycle harvests energy from the fuel.
3. Some of the energy is used to produce ATP
directly.
4. However, the cycle captures much more
energy in the form of NADH and
5. a second, closely related electron carrier
called FADH2.
6. All the carbon atoms that entered the cycle as
fuel are accounted for as 𝐶𝑂2 exhaust, and
the four-carbon acceptor molecule is recycled.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Stage 3: Electron Transport (4 of 4)
• Mitochondria have structures that act like turbines.
• Each of these miniature machines, called an ATP synthase, is constructed from proteins built into the inner mitochondrial
membrane, adjacent to the proteins of the electron transport chains.
• Figure 6.10 shows a simplified view of how the energy previously stored in NADH and FADH2 can now be used to
generate ATP.
During the first two main stage of
glucose metabolism, the oxidation of
glucose yields
6 molecules of CO2,
4 molecules of ATP,
10 molecules of NADH, and
2 molecules of FADH2.
High-energy electrons are removed
from NADH and FADH2 to produce
more ATP
How Electron Transport Drives ATP Synthase Machines
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Stage 3: Electron Transport (4 of 4)
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Canada Inc. How Electron Transport Drives ATP Synthase Machines
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
The Results of Cellular Respiration (1 of 2)
• Cellular respiration can generate up to 32 molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose.
• Figure 6.11 will help you keep track of the ATP molecules generated.
A Summary of ATP Yield
During Cellular Respiration
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Brooker, Biology, 4th ed.
The Results of Cellular Respiration (2 of 2)
• Respiration is a versatile metabolic furnace Energy From Food
that can “burn” many other kinds of food
molecules.
• Figure 6.12 diagrams some metabolic routes
for the use of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
as fuel for cellular respiration.
• The interplay between these pathways
provides a clear example of the theme of
system interactions; in this case, all of these
interactions contribute to maintaining a
balanced metabolism.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
An Overview of Cellular Respiration
1. During glycolysis, a molecule of glucose is split into two molecules of a compound called pyruvic acid, located in the cytoplasm.
2. The citric acid cycle (also called the Krebs cycle) completes the breakdown of glucose all the way to 𝐶𝑂2, which is then released as
a waste product. The enzymes for the citric acid cycle are dissolved in the fluid within mitochondria.
1 and 2. Glycolysis and the citric acid cycle generate a small amount of ATP directly and much more ATP indirectly, via reactions that
transfer electrons from fuel molecules to a molecule called NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide).
– The electron transfer forms a molecule called NADH, which acts as a shuttle carrying high-energy electrons from one area of the
cell to another.
3. The third stage of cellular respiration is electron transport.
– Electrons captured from food by NADH are stripped of their energy, a little bit at a time, until they are finally combined with
oxygen to form water.
– The proteins and other molecules that make up electron transport chains are embedded within the inner membrane of the
mitochondria.
– Electron transport from NADH to oxygen releases the energy your cells use to make most of their ATP.
• The overall equation for cellular respiration shows that the atoms of the reactant molecules glucose and oxygen are rearranged to form
the products 𝐶𝑂2 and H2O.
– The main function of cellular respiration is to generate ATP for cellular work.
– The process can produce around 32 ATP molecules for each glucose molecule consumed.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Mitochondrial diseases
[Link]
Fermentation: Anaerobic Harvest of Food Energy
• Some of your cells can work for short periods without oxygen. This anaerobic
(“without oxygen”) harvest of food energy is called fermentation.
• Fermentation relies on glycolysis, the first stage of cellular respiration.
• Glycolysis does not require O2 but does produce two ATP molecules for each
glucose molecule broken down to pyruvic acid.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Fermentation in Human Muscle Cells
• To harvest food energy during glycolysis, NAD+ must be present to receive electrons.
– This is no problem under aerobic conditions, because the cell regenerates NAD+ when NADH drops its electron cargo
down electron transport chains to O2.
– However, this recycling of NAD+ cannot occur under anaerobic conditions because there is no O2. Instead, NADH disposes
of electrons by adding them to the pyruvic acid produced by glycolysis, producing a waste product called lactic acid.
Fermentation: Producing Lactic Acid
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
The Process of Science: What Causes Muscle Burn?
• Background: What causes muscles to burn after A. V. Hill’s 1929 Apparatus for Measuring Muscle Fatigue
hard exercise? This question was investigated by one
of the founders of the field of exercise science, a
British biologist named A.V. Hill, who won a 1922
Nobel Prize for his investigations of muscle
contraction.
• Hill knew that muscles produce lactic acid under
anaerobic conditions. In 1929, Hill developed a
technique for electrically stimulating dissected frog
muscles in a laboratory solution.
• Method:
– Hill showed that when lactic acid could not
diffuse away from muscle tissue, muscle
performance declined.
– When lactic acid could diffuse away from the
muscle tissue, muscle performance improved
significantly.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
The Process of Science: What Causes Muscle Burn?
• Results: Gradually, however, evidence that contradicted Hill’s results began to accumulate.
– The effect that Hill demonstrated did not appear to occur at human body temperature.
– Further, certain individuals who are unable to accumulate lactic acid have muscles that fatigue
more rapidly, the opposite of what is expected.
– Some research indicates that increased levels of other ions may be to blame.
– Therefore, the cause of muscle fatigue remains hotly debated.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Fermentation in Microorganisms
• Yeast and some other organisms can survive with or without O2.
• Wastes from fermentation can be ethyl alcohol, lactic acid, or other compounds,
depending on the species.
Fermentation: Producing Ethyl Alcohol
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Evolution Connection: The Importance of Oxygen
• Aerobic and anaerobic respiration start with glycolysis. Glycolysis is thus the universal energy-harvesting process of life.
• The role of glycolysis in respiration and fermentation
has an evolutionary basis.
• Between 3.5 and 2.7 billion years ago, before
significant levels of oxygen were present in Earth’s
atmosphere, ancient prokaryotes probably used
glycolysis to make ATP and generated ATP exclusively
from glycolysis.
• The fact that glycolysis occurs in almost all organisms
suggests that it evolved very early in ancestors common
to all the domains of life.
• The location of glycolysis within the cell also implies
great antiquity. The pathway does not require any of the
membrane-enclosed organelles of the eukaryotic cell,
which evolved more than a billion years after the
prokaryotic cell.
A Time Line of Oxygen and Life on Earth
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved