Chapter 7- How cells harvest energy

3 things to understand:

1. The point is to make ATP.

The structure of ATP allows it to serve as a short-term energy storage. ATP is unstable—the
third phosphate group is easily donated to other molecules (repelled by the two other negative
phosphate groups) and releases enough energy to drive the endergonic reactions of life. •

2. In biology, moving hydrogens moves electrons; moving electrons moves energy.

Hydrogens move from fuel molecules to NAD and FAD, and these molecules will be called
“electron carriers.” Electrons do not move on their own around biological systems. They are
carried by hydrogen ions, and this is how organisms move energy from one molecule to another.

3. Oxidation and reduction reactions are coupled. Oxidation will be seen in respiration in a
number of ways, such as removing a hydrogen from a molecule, or cleaving off a carbon and
bonding it to oxygen, yielding CO2. Each time this occurs, ask yourself what other molecule was
reduced. It will help you track the electron carriers NADH and FADH2.

PATHWAYS:

Glycolysis
This is the earliest evolutionary step for harvesting energy from organic molecules. All
organisms perform glycolysis, and the genes for glycolytic enzymes are highly conserved.
Fuel molecules (glucose) are oxidized in small steps to produce ATP and NADH.
The initial step costs some ATP (activation energy) because glucose needs to be destabilized to
cleave it into two 3-carbon molecules.
Pyruvate becomes a branching point to fermentation or the Krebs cycle, based on conditions
Glycolysis occurs in the cytosol.
NAD and ADP must be regenerated for the process to continue.

Oxidation of pyruvate
A 3-carbon pyruvate moves to mitochondria in eukaryotes and is oxidized in small steps to a 2-
carbon acetyl-CoA, generating CO2. • The oxidation of pyruvate occurs in the mitochondrial
matrix.

Krebs cycle
Acetyl-CoA is fed into the Krebs cycle to regenerate a 6-carbon compound that is oxidized in
many small steps. Because oxidation of one molecule is accompanied by reduction of another,
each time a Krebs cycle intermediary compound is oxidized, an electron carrier (NAD or FAD)
is reduced (forming NADH or FADH2).
Each time a carbon is cleaved off a Krebs cycle intermediary compound (6-carbon to 5-carbon to
4- carbon molecules), CO2 is generated. • A small amount of ATP is generated, but the primary
value of the Krebs cycle is the generation of electron carriers (NADH and FADH2) to be used in
the electron transport chain. • NAD, FAD, and ADP are regenerated. • The Krebs cycle occurs in
the mitochondrial matrix.

Electron transport chain

NADH and FADH2 donate their hydrogens (H+ proton and electron separate) to the electron
transport chain. • Electrons moving through the chain drive the pumping of the protons (H+) into
the intermembrane space by transmembrane proteins. Oxygen serves a pivotal role as the final
electron acceptor, pulling the electrons down the electron transport chain. • Protons (H+) flow
down their concentration gradient from the intermembrane space into the mitochondrial matrix
through ATP synthase enzyme and—like water over a waterwheel that grinds grain—they enable
the work of bonding Pi to ADP to make ATP. • NAD and FAD have been regenerated for the
Krebs cycle. • The electron transport chain occurs in the inner mitochondrial membrane.

KEY TERMS:
Anabolism: synthesis: building molecules: endergonic reactions.

Catabolism: digestion: breaking down molecules: exergonic reactions

Autotroph: an organism capable of converting solar energy into chemical energy

An organism that captures energy from sunlight to produce their own food.

Heterotroph: an organism that gets chemical energy by consuming other organisms

Organisms that cannot make their own food and must feed on other organisms for energy and
nutrients

We classify organisms:
By their source of energy and carbon
Carbon
- CO2 = Autotroph
- Organic Molecules = Heterotroph
Energy
- Light = Phototroph
- Organic Molecules = Chemotrophic

Substrate-level phosphorylation: is directly phosphorylating ADP with a phosphate and energy

provided from a coupled reaction. SLP will only occur if there is a reaction that releases
sufficient energy to allow the direct phosphorylation of ADP.

Oxidative phosphorylation is when ATP is generated from the oxidation of NADH and FADH2
and the subsequent transfer of electrons and pumping of protons. That process generates an
electrochemical gradient, which is required to power the ATP synthase.