Cellular Energetics and Photosynthesis

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture notes on cellular energetics, fermentation, and photosynthesis.

Fermentation

The metabolic process that occurs in the absence of molecular oxygen.

Glycolysis

The process of breaking down glucose molecules.

Electron Transport Chain

The series of oxidation-reduction reactions in protein complexes that produce a proton gradient.

Chloroplasts

Organelles in plant cells where photosynthesis occurs.

Cyanobacteria

Photosynthetic bacteria that are the evolutionary origins of chloroplasts.

Light Reactions (Light-Dependent Reactions)

The stage of photosynthesis that harnesses light energy to generate ATP and NADPH.

Metabolic Cycle

A pathway that uses multiple steps to perform a task (adding steps that aren't needed in a linear pathway).

Oxaloacetate

The molecule to which the acetyl group in acetyl CoA is attached in the metabolic cycle.

Regulation

The enzyme-regulated mechanism that allows precise regulation and the use of metabolic intermediates to do other things.

Glycerol Hydrophosphate

The molecule that gets one of its modules taken out of the cycle during photosynthesis.

Rearranging

The 15 carbons rearranged to regenerate there molecules of ribulose one five bisphosphate.

NADH

Molecule generated three times per turn of the Krebs cycle.

FADH

Molecule generated one time per turn of the Krebs cycle that equals two NADHs.

12 NADPHs

The equivalent of the number of molecules used to reduce carbon dioxide.

Allosteric Regulation

Regulation of enzymes by the binding of molecules to sites other than the active site.

Feedback Regulation

Regulation where the end product of a pathway inhibits an earlier step in the pathway.