Cellular
respiration is the set of metabolic reactions and processes that take place in
the cells of organisms to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into
adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and then release waste products.[1] The reactions
involved in respiration are catabolic reactions, which break large molecules
into smaller ones, releasing energy in the process, as weak so-called
"high-energy" bonds are replaced by stronger bonds in the products.
Respiration is one of the key ways a cell gains useful energy to fuel cellular
activity. Cellular respiration is considered an exothermic redox reaction which
releases heat.
The overall reaction occurs in a series of biochemical steps,
most of which are redox reactions themselves.
Although technically, cellular
respiration is a combustion reaction, it clearly does not resemble one when it
occurs in a living cell due to slow release of energy from the series of
reactions.
Nutrients that are commonly used by animal and plant cells in respiration
include sugar, amino acids and fatty acids, and the most common oxidizing agent
(electron acceptor) is molecular oxygen (O2). The chemical energy stored in ATP
(its third phosphate group is weakly bonded to the rest of the molecule and is
cheaply broken allowing stronger bonds to form, thereby transferring energy for
use by the cell) can then be used to drive processes requiring energy,
including biosynthesis, locomotion or transportation of molecules across cell
membranes.
Aerobic respiration requires oxygen (O2) in order to generate ATP.
Although carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are consumed as reactants, it is the
preferred method of pyruvate breakdown in glycolysis and requires that pyruvate
enter the mitochondria in order to be fully oxidized by the Krebs cycle. The
products of this process are carbon dioxide and water, but the energy
transferred is used to break strong bonds in ADP as the third phosphate group
is added to form ATP (adenosine triphosphate), by substrate-level phosphorylation,
NADH and FADH2
Anaerobic respiration is used by some microorganisms in which neither
oxygen (aerobic respiration) nor pyruvate derivatives (fermentation) is the
final electron acceptor. Rather, an inorganic acceptor such as sulfate or
nitrate is used. Such organisms are typically found in unusual places such as
underwater caves or near the lava shoots at the bottom of the ocean.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
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