Cellular Respiration: Glycolysis and the Citric Acid Cycle

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture on cellular respiration, including glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, electron transport, and chemiosmosis.

Glycolysis

Splits glucose, a six-carbon compound, into pyruvate, a three-carbon compound, producing a small amount of ATP and no carbon dioxide.

Glycolytic Pathway

Ten reactions that form the glycolysis pathway; the first five require ATP to charge the glucose molecule, the second five yield more ATP and NADH.

Substrate Level Phosphorylation

The process in the glycolysis pathway of creating ATPs from ADP using a pile of substrates and enzymes.

Pyruvate Conversion

A three-carbon pyruvate is oxidized to acetate and turned into acetyl CoA, a two-carbon compound, releasing carbon dioxide and capturing energy in the form of NADH.

Citric Acid Cycle

A cycle of eight reactions where a two-carbon acetyl CoA feeds into the cycle, producing ATP, NADH, FADH2, and carbon dioxide.

Citric Acid Cycle Function

Recycles compounds; acetyl CoA enters the cycle, and water, NAD, FAD, and GDP are added. The cycle captures energy from acetyl CoA, yielding ATP, NADH, FADH2, and carbon dioxide.

Electron Transport

A process where high-energy electrons captured in NADH are passed through a set of proteins called the respiratory chain, embedded in a membrane, to pump protons across the membrane and build up a gradient.

Chemiosmosis

A process where the proton gradient established in the electron transport chain is used to generate ATP. Protons flow back through ATP synthase, a protein structure that rotates like a turbine, phosphorylating ADP to make ATP.

ATP Synthase (ATPase)

The enzyme complex that generates ATP by using the flow of protons across a membrane to drive its rotation, which in turn causes conformational changes that bind ADP and phosphate to create ATP.

Glucose Breakdown

The metabolic process of fully dismantling glucose in the presence of oxygen into carbon dioxide and water, extracting energy in the form of electron carriers and ATP.