Brooker Biology: Chapter 7 - Cellular Respiration and Fermentation

cellular respiration

A process by which living cells obtain energy from organic molecules and release waste products.

aerobic respiration

A type of cellular respiration in which O2 is consumed and CO2 is released.

substrate-level phosphorylation

A method of synthesizing ATP that occurs when an enzyme directly transfers a phosphate from an organic molecule to ADP.

chemiosmosis

A process for making ATP in which energy stored in an ion electrochemical gradient is used to make ATP from ADP and Pi.

cristae

Projections of the highly invaginated inner membrane of a mitochondrion.

glycolysis

A metabolic pathway that breaks down glucose to pyruvate.

biochemistry

The study of the chemistry of living organisms.

metabolic cycle

A biochemical cycle in which particular molecules enter while others leave; the process is cyclical because it involves a series of organic molecules that are regenerated with each turn of the cycle.

citric acid cycle

A cycle that results in the breakdown of carbohydrates to CO2; also known as the Krebs cycle.

oxidative phosphorylation

A process during which NADH and FADH2 are oxidized to make more ATP via the phosphorylation of ADP.

electron transport chain (ETC)

A group of protein complexes and small organic molecules within the inner membranes of mitochondria and chloroplasts and the plasma membrane of prokaryotes. The components accept and donate electrons to each other in a linear manner and produce a H+ electrochemical gradient.

respiratory chain

See electron transport chain.

H+ electrochemical gradient

A transmembrane gradient for H+ composed of both a charge difference and a concentration difference for H+ across a membrane.

ATP synthase

An enzyme that utilizes the energy stored in a H+ electrochemical gradient for the synthesis of ATP via chemiosmosis.

anaerobic

Refers to an environment that lacks oxygen or a process that occurs in the absence of oxygen, such as anaerobic respiration.

anaerobic respiration

The breakdown of organic molecules in the absence of oxygen by using a final electron acceptor that is something other than oxygen.

fermentation

The breakdown of organic molecules to produce energy without any net oxidation of an organic molecule.