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The citric acid cycle—also known as the Krebs cycle, Szent–Györgyi–Krebs cycle, or TCA cycle (tricarboxylic acid cycle) [1] [2] —is a series of biochemical reactions to release the energy stored in nutrients through the oxidation of acetyl-CoA derived from carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and alcohol. The chemical energy released is ...
The reactions involved in respiration are catabolic reactions, which break large molecules into smaller ones, producing large amounts of energy (ATP). Respiration is one of the key ways a cell releases chemical energy to fuel cellular activity. The overall reaction occurs in a series of biochemical steps, some of which are redox reactions.
The chemical equations below summarize the fermentation of sucrose (C 12 H 22 O 11) into ethanol (C 2 H 5 OH). Alcoholic fermentation converts one mole of glucose into two moles of ethanol and two moles of carbon dioxide, producing two moles of ATP in the process.
Glucose reacts with oxygen in the following reaction, C 6 H 12 O 6 + 6O 2 → 6CO 2 + 6H 2 O. Carbon dioxide and water are waste products, and the overall reaction is exothermic. The reaction of glucose with oxygen releasing energy in the form of molecules of ATP is therefore one of the most important biochemical pathways found in living organisms.
Cellular waste products are formed as a by-product of cellular respiration, a series of processes and reactions that generate energy for the cell, in the form of ATP. One example of cellular respiration creating cellular waste products are aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration .
Anaerobic cellular respiration and fermentation generate ATP in very different ways, and the terms should not be treated as synonyms. Cellular respiration (both aerobic and anaerobic) uses highly reduced chemical compounds such as NADH and FADH 2 (for example produced during glycolysis and the citric acid cycle) to establish an electrochemical gradient (often a proton gradient) across a membrane.
An important example is the formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the movement of hydrogen ions (H +) across a membrane during cellular respiration or photosynthesis. An ion gradient has potential energy and can be used to power chemical reactions when the ions pass through a channel (red).
Although physiologic respiration is necessary to sustain cellular respiration and thus life in animals, the processes are distinct: cellular respiration takes place in individual cells of the organism, while physiologic respiration concerns the diffusion and transport of metabolites between the organism and the external environment.