Metabolic Diversity and Aerobic Respiration

Flashcards based on metabolic diversity, aerobic respiration, and the relevant biochemical pathways.

Photolithotrophs

Organisms that use light as an energy source and CO2 as a carbon source, obtaining electrons from inorganic donors.

Chemoorganoheterotrophs

Organisms that use organic carbon for energy and electrons.

Glycolysis

The metabolic pathway that converts glucose into pyruvate, generating ATP and NADH.

TCA Cycle

Also known as the Krebs cycle, it processes acetyl-CoA to produce CO2, ATP, NADH, and FADH2.

Electron transport chain

A series of proteins in the mitochondrial membrane that transfer electrons and pump protons, leading to ATP synthesis.

Chemiosmosis

The process of using a proton gradient to generate ATP as protons flow back through ATP synthase.

Substrate-level phosphorylation

A process of ATP generation that occurs when a phosphate group is directly transferred to ADP from a substrate.

Feedback inhibition

A regulatory mechanism where the end product of a metabolic pathway inhibits an upstream process.

Aerobic respiration

Metabolic process that uses oxygen as the final electron acceptor to fully oxidize glucose to CO2.

Anaerobic respiration

Metabolic process that does not use oxygen and has alternative final electron acceptors besides O2.

Fermentation

A metabolic pathway that generates ATP by substrate-level phosphorylation in the absence of oxygen.

Proton motive force (PMF)

The gradient of protons across a membrane that drives ATP synthesis.

Nutritional types of microorganisms

Categories based on carbon, energy, and electron sources—autotrophs, heterotrophs, phototrophs, and chemotrophs.

Embden-Meyerhof pathway

Another name for glycolysis, highlighting the series of reactions that convert glucose into pyruvate.

Acetyl-CoA

A key intermediate in metabolism that enters the TCA cycle, formed from pyruvate during the transition step.

NADH and FADH2

Reduced cofactors that carry electrons to the electron transport chain and are produced during glycolysis and the TCA cycle.