Cellular Respiration & Fermentation

These flashcards cover key concepts from cellular respiration and fermentation, including definitions, processes, and differences between aerobic respiration and fermentation.

What is cellular respiration?

A metabolic process that breaks down organic molecules to produce ATP, often requiring oxygen.

What are the stages of aerobic respiration?

The stages are glycolysis, Krebs cycle (Citric Acid cycle), and oxidative phosphorylation.

What is ATP?

Adenosine triphosphate, an energy molecule that powers cellular processes.

How is ATP produced during glycolysis?

ATP is generated by substrate-level phosphorylation, where a phosphate group is transferred from a substrate to ADP.

What is glycolysis?

A series of reactions splitting glucose into two molecules of pyruvate, occurring in the cytoplasm.

What happens to pyruvate in the presence of oxygen?

Pyruvate undergoes oxidative decarboxylation to form acetyl CoA.

What is the Krebs cycle?

Also called the citric acid cycle, it processes acetyl CoA to generate ATP and electron carriers (NADH and FADH2).

What is oxidative phosphorylation?

The production of ATP linked to the transfer of electrons through the electron transport chain and chemiosmosis.

What is the role of NAD+ in cellular respiration?

NAD+ acts as an electron acceptor, forming NADH during oxidation reactions.

What is fermentation?

A metabolic process that produces ATP in the absence of oxygen by converting glucose to ethanol or lactic acid.

What is the difference between alcohol fermentation and lactic acid fermentation?

Alcohol fermentation produces ethanol, while lactic acid fermentation produces lactic acid.

What is produced during one complete turn of the Krebs cycle?

1 ATP, 3 NADH, 1 FADH2, and 2 CO2.

What are the net yields of glycolysis from one molecule of glucose?

2 ATP, 2 NADH, and 2 pyruvate molecules.

What is substrate-level phosphorylation?

A direct way of producing ATP by transferring a phosphate group to ADP from a phosphorylated intermediate.

What is chemiosmosis?

An energy-coupling mechanism that uses the proton gradient across a membrane to drive ATP synthesis.