Metabolism, Glycolysis, Fermentation, and Cellular Respiration

Flashcards on metabolism, glycolysis, fermentation, and cellular respiration.

Metabolism

The process by which cells harvest chemical energy stored in organic molecules to generate ATP.

Catabolic Pathways

Pathways that break down complex molecules into simpler compounds, releasing energy.

Redox Reactions

Reactions involving the transfer of electrons.

Oxidation

The loss of electrons from a substance.

Reduction

The gain of electrons to a substance.

Reducing Agent

The electron donor in a redox reaction.

Oxidizing Agent

The electron acceptor in a redox reaction.

Dehydrogenases

Enzymes that remove a pair of hydrogen atoms from a substrate.

NAD+

A coenzyme that can accept electrons and protons, becoming NADH.

Glycolysis

A metabolic pathway that breaks down glucose into pyruvate.

Pyruvate

A 3-carbon molecule that is the end product of glycolysis.

Energy Investment Phase

The phase of glycolysis in which ATP is used to phosphorylate glucose.

Energy Generation (Payoff) Phase

The phase of glycolysis in which ATP and NADH are produced.

Fermentation

A pathway that regenerates NAD+ by transferring electrons to an electron acceptor in the absence of oxygen.

Alcoholic Fermentation

The process by which pyruvate is converted to ethanol and CO2.

Lactic Acid Fermentation

The process by which pyruvate is reduced to lactate.

Obligate Anaerobes

Organisms that cannot survive in the presence of oxygen.

Facultative Anaerobes

Organisms that can survive with or without oxygen.

Aerobic Respiration

A metabolic process that uses oxygen to extract energy from organic molecules.

Anaerobic Respiration

A metabolic process that uses a final electron acceptor other than oxygen to extract energy from organic molecules.

Pyruvate Oxidation

The conversion of pyruvate to acetyl CoA.

Acetyl CoA

A molecule that enters the citric acid cycle and is formed from pyruvate.

Citric Acid Cycle

A series of reactions that oxidizes acetyl CoA, producing ATP, NADH, and FADH2.

Oxidative Phosphorylation

The process by which ATP is synthesized using energy from the electron transport chain.

Electron transport chain

Molecules are embedded in the inner mitochondrial membrane in eukaryotic cells

Cytochromes

Proteins with heme groups containing an iron atom

Proton-Motive Force

An electrochemical gradient of protons across a membrane.

ATP Synthase

An enzyme complex that synthesizes ATP using the energy of a proton gradient.

Chemiosmosis

The use of energy in a H+ gradient to drive cellular work.

Substrate-Level Phosphorylation

The process by which an enzyme transfers a phosphate group directly from a substrate to ADP.

Deamination

The removal of amino groups from amino acids.

Beta Oxidation

A process by which fatty acids are broken down, yielding acetyl CoA, NADH, and FADH2

Biosynthesis (Anabolic Pathways)

The synthesis of organic molecules from simpler compounds.

Feedback Inhibition

A metabolic control mechanism in which the end product of a pathway inhibits an enzyme in the pathway.

Energy

The relocation of electrons releases stored in the organic molecules - this energy is ultimately used to synthesise ATP.

Dehydrogenases

An enzymes that remove a pair of hydrogen atoms from the substrate

Heirloom

Glycolysis is a metabolic from early cells that continues to function in fermentation and cellular respiration

Chocolate

Series of fermentation and aerobic respiration carried out by yeasts and bacteria on cacao beans are responsible for __ production

O2

the electron transport chain uses an electron transport chain to break the fall of electrons to _into several energy-releasing steps

Oxidative Phosphorylation

This process generate almost 90% of the ATP is called ___ because it is powered by redox reactions