1. 9.1 Cellular Respiration: An Overview
Lesson Overview
9.1 Cellular Respiration: An Overview

2. Chemical Energy and Food
Food provides living things with the chemical building blocks they need to grow and reproduce.
Food molecules contain chemical energy that is released when its chemical bonds are broken.

3. Chemical Energy and Food
Energy stored in food is expressed in units of calories.
A Calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius calories = 1 kilocalorie, or Calorie.
Cells use all sorts of molecules for food, including fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. The energy stored in each of these molecules varies because their chemical structures, and therefore their energy-storing bonds, differ.
Cells break down food molecules gradually and use the energy stored in the chemical bonds to produce compounds such as ATP that power the activities of the cell.

4. Overview of Cellular Respiration
If oxygen is available, organisms can obtain energy from food by a process called cellular respiration. The summary of cellular respiration is presented below.
In symbols:
6 O2 + C6H12O6  6 CO2 + 6 H2O + Energy
In words:
Oxygen + Glucose  Carbon dioxide + Water + Energy
The cell has to release the chemical energy in food molecules (like glucose) gradually, otherwise most of the energy would be lost in the form of heat and light.

5. Stages of Cellular Respiration
The three main stages of cellular respiration are:
glycolysis
the Krebs cycle
the electron transport chain

6. Stages of Cellular Respiration
Glycolysis produces only a small amount of energy. Most of glucose’s energy (90%) remains locked in the chemical bonds of pyruvic acid at the end of glycolysis.

7. Stages of Cellular Respiration
During the Krebs cycle, a little more energy is generated from pyruvic acid.

8. Stages of Cellular Respiration
The electron transport chain produces the bulk of the energy in cellular respiration by using oxygen, a powerful electron acceptor.

9. Oxygen and Energy
Pathways of cellular respiration that require oxygen are called aerobic. The Krebs cycle and electron transport chain are both aerobic processes. Both processes take place inside the mitochondria.

10. Oxygen and Energy
Gylcolysis is an anaerobic process. It does not directly require oxygen, nor does it rely on an oxygen-requiring process to run. However, it is still considered part of cellular respiration. Glycolysis takes place in the cytoplasm of a cell.

11. Comparing Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are opposite processes.
The energy flows in opposite directions. Photosynthesis “deposits” energy, and cellular respiration “withdraws” energy.
The reactants of cellular respiration are the products of photosynthesis and vice versa.

12. Comparing Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
The release of energy by cellular respiration takes place in plants, animals, fungi, protists, and most bacteria.
Energy capture by photosynthesis occurs only in plants, algae, and some bacteria.

13. 9.2 The Process of Cellular Respiration
Lesson Overview
9.2 The Process of Cellular Respiration

14. Glycolysis Glycolysis is the first stage of cellular respiration.
During glycolysis, glucose is broken down into 2 molecules of the 3-carbon molecule pyruvic acid.
Pyruvic acid is a reactant in the Krebs cycle.
ATP and NADH are produced as part of the process.

15. ATP Production
The cell uses 2 ATP molecules into its “account” to get glycolysis going.
Glycolysis then produces 4 ATP molecules, giving the cell a net gain of 2 ATP molecules for each molecule of glucose that enters glycolysis.

16. NADH Production
During glycolysis, the electron carrier NAD+ accepts a pair of high-energy electrons and becomes NADH.
NADH carries the high-energy electrons to the electron transport chain, where they can be used to produce more ATP.
2 NADH molecules are produced for every molecule of glucose that enters glycolysis.

17. The Advantages of Glycolysis
Glycolysis produces ATP very fast, which is an advantage when the energy demands of the cell suddenly increase.
Glycolysis does not require oxygen, so it can quickly supply energy to cells when oxygen is unavailable.

18. The Krebs Cycle
During the Krebs cycle, the second stage of cellular respiration, pyruvic acid produced in glycolysis is broken down into carbon dioxide in a series of energy-extracting reactions.
The Krebs cycle is also known as the citric acid cycle because citric acid is the first compound formed in this series of reactions.

19. Citric Acid Production
Pyruvic acid from glycolysis enters the matrix, the innermost compartment of the mitochondrion.

20. Citric Acid Production
Once pyruvic acid is in the mitochondrial matrix, NAD+ accepts 2 high-energy electrons to form NADH. One molecule of CO2 is also produced.
The remaining 2 carbon atoms react to form acetyl-CoA.

21. Citric Acid Production
Acetyl-CoA combines with a 4-carbon molecule to produce citric acid.

22. Energy Extraction
Citric acid is broken down into a 5-carbon compound and then a 4-carbon compound.
Two molecules of CO2 are released.
The 4-carbon compound can then start the cycle again by combining with acetyl-CoA.

23. Energy Extraction
Energy released by the breaking and rearranging of carbon bonds is captured in the forms of ATP, NADH, and FADH2.

24. Energy Extraction
For each turn of the cycle, one ADP molecule is converted into ATP.
ATP can directly power the cell’s activities.

25. Energy Extraction
The electron carriers NAD+ and FAD each accept pairs of high-energy electrons to form NADH and FADH2.
NADH and FADH2 are used in the electron transport chain to generate ATP.

26. Energy Extraction
Remember! Each molecule of glucose results in 2 molecules of pyruvic acid, which enter the Krebs cycle. So each molecule of glucose results in two complete “turns” of the Krebs cycle.
Therefore, for each glucose molecule, 6 CO2 molecules, 2 ATP molecules, 8 NADH molecules, and 2 FADH2 molecules are produced.

27. Electron Transport
NADH and FADH2 pass their high-energy electrons to electron carrier proteins in the electron transport chain.

28. Electron Transport
At the end of the electron transport chain, the electrons combine with H+ ions and oxygen to form water.

29. Electron Transport
Energy generated by the electron transport chain is used to move H+ ions against a concentration gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane and into the intermembrane space.

30. ATP Production
H+ ions pass back across the mitochondrial membrane through the ATP synthase, causing the ATP synthase molecule to spin. With each rotation, the ATP synthase attaches a phosphate to ADP to produce ATP.

31. Energy Totals
In the presence of oxygen, the complete breakdown of glucose through cellular respiration results in the production of 36 ATP molecules.
This represents about 36 percent of the total energy of glucose.
The remaining 64 percent is released as heat.

32. Energy Totals
The cell can generate ATP from just about any source, even though we’ve modeled it using only glucose.
Complex carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars like glucose.
Lipids and proteins can be broken down into molecules that enter the Krebs cycle or glycolysis at one of several places.

33. Lesson Overview
9.3 Fermentation

34. Fermentation
Fermentation is a process by which energy can be released from food molecules in the absence of oxygen.
Fermentation occurs in the cytoplasm of cells.

35. Fermentation
Under anaerobic conditions, fermentation follows glycolysis.
During fermentation, cells convert NADH produced by glycolysis back into the electron carrier NAD+, which allows glycolysis to continue producing ATP.

36. Alcoholic Fermentation
Yeast and a few other microorganisms use alcoholic fermentation that produces ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide.
This process is used to produce alcoholic beverages and causes bread dough to rise.

37. Alcoholic Fermentation
Chemical equation:
Pyruvic acid + NADH  Alcohol + CO2 + NAD+

38. Lactic Acid Fermentation
Most organisms, including humans, carry out fermentation using a chemical reaction that converts pyruvic acid to lactic acid.
Chemical equation:
Pyruvic acid + NADH  Lactic acid + NAD+

39. Energy and Exercise
How does the body produce ATP during different stages of exercise?
For short, quick bursts of energy, the body uses ATP already in muscles as
well as ATP made by lactic acid fermentation.
For exercise longer than about 90 seconds, cellular respiration is the only
way to continue generating a supply of ATP.

40. Quick Energy
Cells normally contain small amounts of ATP produced during cellular respiration, enough for a few seconds of intense activity.
Lactic acid fermentation can supply enough ATP to last about 90 seconds.
However, extra oxygen is required to get rid of the lactic acid produced.
Following intense exercise, a person will huff and puff for several minutes in order to pay back the built-up “oxygen debt” and clear the lactic acid from the body.

41. Long-Term Energy
For intense exercise lasting longer than 90 seconds, cellular respiration is required to continue production of ATP.
Cellular respiration releases energy more slowly than fermentation does.
The body stores energy in the form of the carbohydrate glycogen.
These glycogen stores are enough to last for 15 to 20 minutes of activity.
After that, the body begins to break down other stored molecules, including fats, for energy.

42. Long-Term Energy
Hibernating animals, such as a brown bear, rely on stored fat for energy when they sleep through the winter.