Overview of Cellular Metabolism

  • Types of Respiration
    • Aerobic respiration
    • Anaerobic respiration

Cellular Respiration Components

  • Stages of Aerobic Respiration
    • Glycolysis
    • Pyruvate oxidation
    • Citric acid cycle
    • Electron transport chain
    • ATP synthase

Comparison of Aerobic and Anaerobic Respiration

  • Key concepts in Fermentation
    • Understand basics of fermentation

Photosynthesis Overview

  • Processes involved
    • Light reactions
    • Calvin cycle

Topics in Molecular Biology

  • Cell Processes
    • Transcription
    • Translation
    • Cell cycle focusing on replication and mitosis

Exam Preparation Details

  • 52 questions on the exam, emphasis on bubbling in the answer sheet correctly

Metabolism

  • Overview
    • Series of oxidation reactions
  • Connection between Respiration and Photosynthesis
    • Respiration: oxidation of sugars to produce ATP
    • Photosynthesis: reduction of carbon dioxide to synthesize sugars

Stages of Cellular Respiration

Glycolysis

  • Location: Cytosol
  • Process: Initial oxidation of sugars
    • First step: Energization of sugar via phosphorylation
    • Key Enzymes
    • Hexokinase: adds first phosphate to glucose
    • Phosphofructokinase: regulatory step with allosteric feedback
  • Products
    • ATP generation
    • NADH produced
    • No carbon dioxide is produced
    • End products: Two 3-carbon pyruvates made from 6-carbon glucose

Pyruvate Oxidation

  • Location: Matrix of mitochondria
  • Process: Converts pyruvate to Acetyl CoA
    • Carbon dioxide produced during process

Citric Acid Cycle

  • Location: Matrix of mitochondria
  • Purpose: Full oxidation of Acetyl CoA to produce energy carriers
  • Products
    • More NADH and FADH2 generated

Oxidative Phosphorylation and Electron Transport Chain

  • Location: Inner mitochondrial membrane
  • Process: Utilizes energy from NADH and FADH2 to create ATP
    • Final Electron Acceptor: Oxygen, forming water
  • Function: Builds hydrogen ion gradient for ATP synthesis

Importance of Mitochondrial Structure

  • Cristae: Increases surface area for more protein complexes for ATP production

Photosynthesis

Light Reactions

  • Location: Thylakoid membranes
  • Purpose: Capture energy from sunlight
  • Key Features
    • Split water to release electrons, producing oxygen as a waste product
    • Generates ATP and NADPH for the Calvin cycle
    • Final electron acceptor: NADP+ to form NADPH

Calvin Cycle

  • Location: Stroma of chloroplasts
  • Process
    • Fix carbon dioxide to form sugars
    • Requires ATP and NADPH
    • Cycle regenerates Ribulose Bisphosphate (RuBP)

Central Dogma of Molecular Biology

Steps of Genetic Information Flow

  • Replication: DNA to DNA
  • Transcription: DNA to RNA
  • Translation: RNA to Protein

Transcription Details

  • Occurs in nucleus, using RNA polymerase
  • Transcribes DNA template strand in 5' to 3' direction
  • Post-transcriptional Modifications
    • Adding guanylyl cap and poly-A tail
    • Splicing out introns

Translation Overview

  • mRNA Processing: Mature mRNA moves to cytoplasm for translation
  • Ribosomes read mRNA, using tRNA to bring in appropriate amino acids
  • Start codon: AUG
  • Amino Acid Chart: Reference for decoding mRNA codons

Mutation Overview

  • Types of mutations
    • Point mutations
    • Frameshift mutations (insertions/deletions)

Cell Cycle

  • Stages: Growth Phase 1, Synthesis (replication), Growth Phase 2
  • Understand leading vs. lagging strands in terms of synthesis direction
  • Enzyme Functions: Important for replication accuracy

Conclusion

  • Practice replication, transcription, translation exercises for exam readiness.