Chapter 11: Energy Metabolism: Respiration
Concepts
The light-dependent reactions of
photosynthesis produce an excess of energy
and reducing power, both of which are stored
as glucose and starch; an important corollary
must be the ability to recover that energy and
reduced carbon.
Respiration
- Process that breaks down complex carbon
compounds into simpler molecules and
simultaneously generates the adenosine
triphosphate (ATP) used to power other
metabolic processes.
- Carbon is oxidized
Types of Respiration
Aerobic respiration
- Respiration that requires oxygen as the
terminal electron acceptor.
- consists of three parts: (1) glycolysis, (2)
the citric acid cycle, and (3) oxidative
phosphorylation in an electron
transport chain
Anaerobic respiration
- Respiration without oxygen
- Often called fermentation
- Glucose is broken down by a metabolic
v pathway called glycolysis or the v vvv
vvvvvvvEmbden- Meyerhoff
Because animals and plants must have oxygen
for their respiration, they are known as obligate
or strict aerobes
At the opposite extreme are certain bacteria
called obligate anaerobes, which carry out
anaerobic respiration exclusively; such bacteria
are actually killed by oxygen.
Oxygen
- It is inexpensive because it is absorbed
and distributed by molecular diffusion,
which requires neither active transport
nor ATP consumption.
- Abundant in most situations, and the
product of reduction is water, which is
not only nontoxic but actually beneficial
Environmental and Internal Factors
As with photosynthesis, numerous
environmental factors influence the rate of
respiration.
Temperature
- Greatly influences respiration in a plant
growing under natural conditions.
- In most tissues, an increase in
temperature of 10°C, in the range
between 5°C and 25°C, doubles the
respiration rate, a magnitude of
increase seen in many enzyme-
mediated reactions. Below 5°C,
respiration decreases greatly
Lack of Oxygen
- Oxygen concentration in the
atmosphere is so stable that it does not
cause variations in respiration, but
variations occur in a cell’s access to
oxygen.
- During daylight hours, chlorophyllous
tissues and organs produce oxygen,
some of which is used in respiration.
- At night, oxygen is not produced, but it
can diffuse into the large intercellular
spaces of the plant if it can penetrate
the closed stomata.
- Because the cuticle is not absolutely
impermeable to oxygen and because
the atmosphere contains such a high
concentration, oxygen diffuses in rather
well, even through closed stomatal
pores. Less oxygen is available, but the
Chapter 11: Energy Metabolism: Respiration

temperature is lower, and thus, transport chain. Passage of electrons through

demand for oxygen is reduced.
- much more variable for roots; in well-
drained soil, the large quantity of gas
located between soil particles is
depleted in oxygen owing to respiration
by roots, fungi, bacteria, protists, and
soil animals.
- During and after rain, soil air is
displaced by water, and roots either
have lesser amounts of oxygen
(hypoxia) or none (anoxia) available.
SUMMARY
1. Respiration provides a cell with both ATP and
small carbon compounds that are important in
various metabolic pathways.
2. The type of respiration carried out by a cell
depends on environmental factors and the state
of differentiation of the cell.
the electron transport chain creates a
chemiosmotic gradient of protons and hydroxyl
ions.
8. Some tissues of some plants generate heat by
carrying electrons on an alternative set of
electron carriers that do not pump protons; no
ATP is formed, so all energy of NADH is released
as heat.
9. The pentose phosphate pathway is a complex
interaction of metabolites that can produce
erythrose (for lignin), ribose (for nucleotides),
or NADPH (for reducing power).
10. Respiration increases as temperature
increases, within the range of approximately
5°C to 25°C. During warm days and nights,
respiration is much more rapid than during cool
periods.

3. Anaerobic respiration—fermentation—is
inefficient because only two ATP molecules are
produced for each glucose respired; however,
under anaerobic conditions, it is selectively
more advantageous than its alternative, death.

4. Some plant and animal tissues are

facultatively anaerobic, but no large plant or
animal can live for prolonged periods
withoutaerobic respiration. They are all obligate
aerobes.

5. Three common electron acceptors are

oxygen, acetaldehyde (in plants), and pyruvate
(in animals); only oxygen is abundant and cheap
and results in a harmless waste product, water.

6. During the complete aerobic respiration of

glucose, electrons are removed and
transported, ultimately, to oxygen. As oxygen
accepts electrons, it picks up protons, and water
is formed.

7. Aerobic respiration consists of glycolysis, the

citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation
via the mitochondrial electron