Cellular Respiration

The term cellular respiration refers to the biochemical pathway by which cells release
energy from the chemical bonds of food molecules and provide that energy for the
essential processes of life. All living cells must carry out cellular respiration. It can be
aerobic respiration in the presence of oxygen or anaerobic respiration. Prokaryotic
cells carry out cellular respiration within the cytoplasm or on the inner surfaces of the
cells. More emphasis here will be placed on eukaryotic cells where the mitochondria
are the site of most of the reactions. The energy currency of these cells is ATP, and one
way to view the outcome of cellular respiration is as a production process for ATP.

Structure and Function of ATP

A cell can be thought of as a small, bustling town. Carrier proteins move substances into and out of the
cell, motor proteins carry cargoes along microtubule tracks, and metabolic enzymes busily break down
and build up macromolecules.

Even if they would not be energetically favorable (energy-releasing, or exergonic) in isolation, these
processes will continue merrily along if there is energy available to power them (much as business will
continue to be done in a town as long as there is money flowing in). However, if the energy runs out, the
reactions will grind to a halt, and the cell will begin to die.

Energetically unfavorable reactions are “paid for” by linked, energetically favorable reactions that
release energy. Often, the "payment" reaction involves one particular small molecule: adenosine
triphosphate, or ATP.

Adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, is a small, relatively simple molecule. It can be thought of as the main
energy currency of cells, much as money is the main economic currency of human societies. The energy
released by hydrolysis (breakdown) of ATP is used to power many energy-requiring cellular reactions.

Hydrolysis of ATP

At the center of the molecule lies a five-carbon sugar, ribose, which is attached to the nitrogenous base
adenine and to the chain of three phosphates. The bonds between the phosphate groups are called
“high-energy” bonds. An appreciable amount of energy is released when one of these bonds is broken in
a hydrolysis (water-mediated breakdown) reaction- The hydrolysis of ATP to ADP is reversible. The
reverse reaction, which regenerates ATP from ADP and Pi\text P_iPi, requires energy. Regeneration of
ATP is important because cells tend to use up (hydrolyze) ATP molecules very quickly and rely on
replacement ATP being constantly produced
ATP+H2O⇋ADP+Pi+energy; Pi\text {P}_iPi inorganic phosphate group (PO43−)

You can think of ATP and ADP as being sort of like the charged and uncharged forms of a rechargeable
battery (as shown above). ATP, the charged battery, has energy that can be used to power cellular
reactions. Once the energy has been used up, the uncharged battery (ADP) must be recharged before it
can again be used as a power source. The ATP regeneration reaction is just the reverse of the hydrolysis
reaction

Food contains important chemicals called organic compounds. You may remember
that carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins are all organic compounds. Nucleic acids are
also organic compounds, but they don't come from food, so we won't worry about
them right now.

These chemical compounds have energy stored in their bonds that your body wants
and needs, so your body needs to extract that energy and turn it into a usable form.

That usable form is the molecule ATP, or adenosine triphosphate. ATP is the form of
energy used by all living things. It's composed of a ribose sugar, an adenine base, and 3
phosphates.

The easiest way to think about ATP is like a rechargeable battery. When ATP is charged
and energized, it has 3 phosphates. But in order for your body to use ATP energy, it
must break the bond between the last two phosphates. Breaking that bond releases
the energy your body needs for survival. However, this chemical reaction also changes
ATP into ADP (adenosine diphosphate). ADP is like a rechargeable battery that has lost
its charge. To recharge ADP, your body must convert food to energy through this
process of cellular respiration.
This is the process that living organisms use to turn food into the energy they need for
survival. Cellular respiration can be summarized by the equation:

Organic compounds + oxygen --> carbon dioxide + water + energy

During cellular respiration, a glucose molecule is gradually broken down into carbon
dioxide and water. Along the way, some ATP is produced directly in the reactions that
transform glucose. Much more ATP, however, is produced later in a process called
oxidative phosphorylation. Oxidative phosphorylation is powered by the movement of
electrons through the electron transport chain, a series of proteins embedded in the
inner membrane of the mitochondrion.

These electrons come originally from glucose and are shuttled to the electron
transport chain by electron carriers NAD+ and FAD, which become NADH and FADH2
when they gain electrons. To be clear, this is what's happening in the diagram above
when it says + NADH or + FADH2 The molecule isn't appearing from scratch, it's just
being converted to its electron-carrying form:

NAD+ + 2e- + 2H+  NADH + H+

FAD + 2e- + 2H+  FADH2

To see how a glucose molecule is converted into carbon dioxide and how its energy is
harvested as ATP and NADH/ FADH2 in one of your body's cells, let’s walk step by step
through the four stages of cellular respiration.

Glycolysis.

Pyruvate oxidation.

Citric acid cycle.

Oxidative phosphorylation.
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide exists in two forms: an oxidized and reduced
form abbreviated as NAD+ and NADH respectively. ... The cofactor is, therefore,
found in two forms in cells: NAD+ is an oxidizing agent – it accepts electrons from
other molecules and becomes reduced.