Respiration

• Oxidation of stored food in the cell to liberate of energy is known as

respiration or Cellular respiration.

• The stored food or compounds that are oxidized during this process, are
known as respiratory substrates.

• The whole of energy contained in respiratory substrates is not released

all at once. It is released slowly in a stepwise series of reactions
controlled by enzymes.

• During the process of respiration, oxygen is utilized, and carbon dioxide,

water and energy are released as products.

• This energy is utilized in various energy-requiring processes of the

organisms, and
• the carbon skeleton produced during respiration is used as precursors
for biosynthesis of other molecules in the cell.

• Two type
– 1. Anaerobic respiration
• Occur in absence of oxygen
– 2. Aerobic respiration
• Occur in presence of oxygen
1. Anaerobic respiration

This type of respiration takes place in the complete absence of oxygen.

It generally occurs in lower organisms, such as bacteria and fungi.

It also occurs in higher plants and animals under certain conditions, particularly
when O2 is limiting.

In anaerobic respiration, the carbohydrate is incompletely oxidized into

some carbonic compounds, such as ethyl alcohol or acetic acid or lactic acid and
CO2, and

the amount of energy released is also much less as compared to aerobic

respiration.

This process can be shown by the following equation :

C6H12O6 → 2C2H5OH + 2CO2 + Energy (247 kJ or 45 kCal)

This process of oxidation in microbes is known as fermentation, which is very

much similar to that of anaerobic respiration in the case of higher plants.
2. Aerobic respiration
Occur in presence of oxygen
The process of respiration, which leads to a complete oxidation of
organic substances in the presence of oxygen, and
releases CO2, water and a large amount of energy present in the
substrate.
i.e. Oxidative breakdown of respiratory substrates with the help of
atmospheric oxygen.
Involve complete breakdown of substrate into CO2 and water and
releasing energy.
This type of respiration is the most common in higher organisms.

For Example: The reaction that occurs in common aerobic

breakdown of glucose can be written as the following equation :

C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy (2870 kJ or 673 kcal)

 Mechanism of Respiration
• Anaerobic respiration completed in two stages
– Stage 1.Glycolysis
– Stage 2. Formation of End Product or fate of pyruvate
• Aerobic respiration completed in four stages
– Stage 1.Glycolysis
– Stage 2.Oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate or Link
reaction
– Stage 3.Krebs Cycle or TCA Cycle
– Stage 4.Oxydative Phosphorylation or Terminal
oxidation
 Glycolysis
• Oxidative breakdown of glucose in cytoplasm of cell into two molecule of
pyruvic acid along with formation of two moles of NADH2 and 2 moles of
ATP is known as glycolysis.

• Glycolysis is
– the major pathway for glucose metabolism,
– occurs in the cytosol of all cells.
– can takes place either aerobically or anaerobically.

• Erythrocytes, which lack mitochondria, are completely depend on glucose

as their metabolic fuel and metabolize it by anaerobic glycolysis.

• Also called E.M.P. Pathway (Embden-Meyerhof-Paranas Pathway)

• Overall reaction of Glycolysis is written as-

•
The steps of glycolysis.
Feedback inhibition of glucose
phosphorylation by hexokinase,
inhibition of pyruvate kinase,
and

the main regulatory, rate-

limiting step catalyzed by
phosphofructokinase (PFK-1)
are indicated.

Pyruvate formation and

substrate-level phosphorylation
are the main outcomes of these
reactions.

Regeneration of NAD+ occurs

by reduction of pyruvate to
lactate during anaerobic
glycolysis.
The breakdown of the six-carbon glucose into two molecules of the three-carbon pyruvate
occurs in ten steps, the first five of which constitute the preparatory phase (Fig. 1).

In the preparatory phase of glycolysis

the energy of ATP is invested,
raising the free-energy content of the intermediates, and
the carbon chains of all the metabolized hexoses are converted into a common product,
glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate.
Involve following steps-

step 1 : In these reactions, glucose is first phosphorylated at the hydroxyl group on C-6 .

step 2: The D-glucose 6-phosphate thus formed is converted to D-fructose 6-phosphate.

step 3: D-fructose 6-phosphate is again phosphorylated, at C-1, to yield D-fructose 1,6-

bisphosphate.
For both phosphorylations, ATP is the phosphoryl group donor. As all sugar derivatives
in glycolysis are the D isomers, we will usually omit the D designation except when
emphasizing stereochemistry.

step 4: Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate is split to yield two three-carbon molecules,

dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. This is the “lysis” step
that gives the pathway its name.

step 5: The dihydroxyacetone phosphate is isomerized to a second molecule of

glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, ending the first phase of glycolysis.
(Fig. 1
• The energy gain comes in the payoff phase of glycolysis (Fig. 2).

• Each molecule of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate is oxidized and

phosphorylated by inorganic phosphate (not by ATP) to form 1,3-
bisphosphoglycerate (step 6 ).

• Energy is then released as the two molecules of 1,3-

bisphosphoglycerate are converted to two molecules of pyruvate
(steps 7 through 10).
• Much of this energy is conserved by the coupled phosphorylation of
four molecules of ADP to ATP.

• The net yield is two molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose used,
because two molecules of ATP were invested in the preparatory
phase.

• Energy is also conserved in the payoff phase in the formation of two

molecules of NADH per molecule of glucose
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Three possible catabolic fates of the pyruvate formed in glycolysis. Pyruvate
also serves as a precursor in many anabolic reactions, not shown here.
Importance of Phosphorylated Intermediates :
Each of the nine glycolytic intermediates
between glucose and pyruvate is
phosphorylated (Fig.3). The phosphoryl groups
appear to have three functions.

1. Because the plasma membrane generally lacks

transporters for phosphorylated sugars,
therefore the hosphorylated glycolytic
intermediates cannot leave the cell.
2. After the initial phosphorylation, no further
energy is necessary to retain phosphorylated
intermediates in the cell, in spite of the large
difference in their intracellular and extracellular
concentrations.
3. Phosphoryl groups are essential
components in the enzymatic conservation
of metabolic energy. Energy released in
the breakage of phosphoanhydride bonds
in ATP is partially conserved in the
formation of glucose 6-phosphate.

4.High-energy phosphate compounds

formed in glycolysis are 1,3-
bisphosphoglycerate and
phosphoenolpyruvate which donate
phosphoryl groups to ADP to form ATP.
5. Binding energy released from the binding
of phosphate groups to the active sites of
enzymes lowers the activation energy of
reaction and increases the specificity of the
enzymatic reactions.
The NADH formed in glycolysis must be
recycled to regenerate NAD, which is
required as an electron acceptor in the first
step of the payoff phase. Under aerobic
conditions, electrons pass from NADH to O2
in mitochondrial respiration.
Under anaerobic or hypoxic conditions,
many organisms regenerate NAD by
transferring electrons from NADH to
pyruvate, forming lactate. Other
organisms, such as yeast, regenerate
NAD by reducing pyruvate to ethanol and
CO2. In these anaerobic processes
(fermentations), there is no net oxidation
or reduction of the carbons of glucose.
A variety of microorganisms can ferment sugar
in fresh foods, resulting in changes in pH, taste,
and texture, and preserving food from spoilage.

Fermentations are used in industry to produce

a wide variety of commercially valuable organic
compounds from inexpensive starting materials.