Cell Respiration

Cell Biology
Lecture#9
 Objectives
By the end of this lecture you should be
familiar with:
How the cells make ATP through:

Glycolysis
Krebs cycle
Electron transport phosphorylation
 All organisms produce ATP by releasing
energy stored in glucose and other
sugars.

Plants make ATP during photosynthesis.

All other organisms, including plants,

must produce ATP by breaking down
molecules such as glucose
 Aerobic respiration
The process by which a cell uses O2 to "burn"
molecules and release energy
The reaction:
C6H12O6 + 6O2 >> 6CO2 + 6H2O
Note: this reaction is the opposite of
photosynthesis

This reaction takes place over the course of three

major reaction pathways
Glycolysis
The Kreb's Cycle
Electron Transport Phosphorylation (chemiosmosis)
 Glycolysis
glyco = sugar; lysis = breaking

Goal: break glucose down to form two pyruvates

Who: all life on earth performs glyclolysis

Where: the cytoplasm

Glycolysis produces 4 ATP's and 2 NADH, but

uses 2 ATP's in the process for a net of 2 ATP
and 2 NADH

Occurs in the presence or absence of oxygen

 The First Stage of Glycolysis

Glucose (6C) is broken

down into 2
Phosphoglyceraldehyde
PGAL's (3C)

This requires two ATP's

 The Second Stage of Glycolysis
2 PGAL's (3C) are
converted to 2 pyruvates

This creates 4 ATP's and

2 NADH's

The net ATP production

of Glycolysis is 2 ATP's
 Krebs's Cycle
(citric acid cycle, TCA cycle)
Goal: take pyruvate and put it into the Krebs's
cycle, producing NADH and FADH2
Where: the mitochondria
There are two steps
The Conversion of Pyruvate to Acetyl CoA
The Kreb's Cycle proper
In the Krebs's cycle, all of C, H, and O in
pyruvate end up as CO2 and H2O
The Krebs's cycle produces 2 ATP's, 8 NADH's,
and 2FADH2's per glucose molecule
 The Conversion of Pyruvate to
Acetyl CoA for Entry Into the
Kreb's Cycle
2 NADH's are
generated

2 CO2 are released

 The Kreb's Cycle

6 NADH are generated

2 FADH2 is generated

2 ATP are generated

4 CO2 are released

 Therefore, for each glucose molecule that
enters into the Kreb's cycle (including the
prepatory conversion to Acetyl CoA), the
net production of products are:

8 NADH
2 FADH2
2 ATP
6 CO2
 Electron Transport
Phosphorylation (Chemiosmosis)
Goal: to break down NADH and FADH2,
pumping H+ into the outer compartment of the
mitochondria

Where: the mitochondria

In this reaction, the ETS creates a gradient

which is used to produce ATP, quite like in the
chloroplast

Electron Transport Phosphorylation typically

produces 32 ATP's
 When glucose is oxidized during
glyclolysis and Krebs cycle, the
coenzymes NAD and FAD are
reduced to NADH and FADH2
 The electrons from NADH are transferred to
the electron carrier coenzyme Q by NADH
dehydrogenase and the protons are
transferred across the membrane to the
intermembrane space
 Coenzyme Q carries the electrons to the
bc1 complex
 As the electrons move from bc1 complex to
cytochrome c, more protons are moved across
the membrane to the intermembrane space
 Electrons are also transferred from FADH2
to coenzyme Q with the protons being
transferred across the membrane
 Cytochrome c transfer electrons to
cytochrome c oxidase complex which
also transfers protons across the
membrane to the intermembrane space
 The cytochrome c oxidase complex transfer
the electrons from the cytochrome c to oxygen
which the terminal electron acceptor
 Water is formed as the product
 The transfer of the protons to the intermembrane
space generates a proton motive force across the
inner membrane of the mitochondrion.
The protons renter the matrix through a channel
protein known as ATP synthase ( membranes are
impermeable to ions)
The energy derived from the movement of these
protons is used to synthesize ATP form ADP
and phosphate in a process called oxidative
phosphorylation
 Net Energy Production from
Aerobic Respiration
Glycolysis: 2 ATP

Kreb's Cycle: 2 ATP

Electron Transport Phosphorylation: 32

ATP (details next slide)

Net Energy Production: 36 ATP!

Electron Transport Phosphorylation: 32 ATP

Each NADH produced in glycolysis is worth 2 ATP

(2 x 2 = 4) - the NADH is worth 3 ATP, but it costs
an ATP to transport the NADH into the
mitochondria, so there is a net gain of 2 ATP for
each NADH produced in glyclolysis

Each NADH produced in the conversion of pyruvate

to acetyl COA and Kreb's Cycle is worth 3 ATP (8 x
3 = 24)

Each FADH2 is worth 2 ATP (2 x 2 = 4)

4 + 24 + 4 = 32
 Plant cell vs. Animal cell
Animal cells and Plant cells contain mitochondria!
However, animal cells contain many more
mitochondria than plant cells
Animal cells get most of their ATP from
mitochondria
Plant cells get most of their ATP from the
chloroplast
The ATP generated from the mitochondria is
only used when the plant cannot generate
ATP directly from the light-dependent reactions
Summary