Introduction

Cellular Respiration
It is a metabolic reaction and process that takes
place in cells of organisms to convert biochemical
energy from nutrients into ATP and release waste
products. Generally cellular respiration is an
exothermic redox reaction.
Cellular respiration is a process that uses oxygen,
nitrate or sulphate to break nutrients to generate a
cell’s energy. If oxygen is used, then it is called as
aerobic respiration. If oxygen is not used, then it is
called as anaerobic respiration.

Aerobic Respiration
It is the process of cellular respiration that takes
place in the presence of oxygen gas to produce
energy from glucose. Oxidation of glucose involves
the following four distinct stages namely:
• Glycolysis
• Oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvic acid
• Krebs cycle
 • Electron transport chain

Aerobic Respiration of Glucose (Oxidative phosphorylation)

C6H12O6 + 6 O2→ 6 CO2 + 6 H2O
(Energy from 1 glucose → 36 ATP)

Glycolysis

• Glycolysis is the process by which glucose is

split into two molecules of pyruvic acid. Three
German Microbiologists-Embden, Meyerof and
Parnas first demonstrated this process in yeast
cell and hence it is called as EMP pathway. This
process is common in all living organisms and
occurs in the cytoplasm. The process of
glycolysis is divided into two phases called
hexose phase and triose phase.
• Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and DHAP are the
products of hexose phase.
• Two molecules of pyruvic acid are obtained as
the product of triose phase.
In this process, 4ATP and 2NADH2 molecules are
formed and 2ATP molecules are consumed in hexose
phase. Thus the net gain is 2ATP and 2NADH2It is
the first pathway used in the breakdown of glucose
to extract energy.

Oxidative Decarboxylation of Pyruvic Acid

The two molecule of pyruvic acid formed from a

glucose molecule are oxidized, decarboxylated to two
molecules of acetyl coenzyme A. This reaction is
catalyzed by pyruvic dehydrogenase and two
molecules of NAD+ are reduced to NADH2.This
reaction occurs only under the aerobic condition.

Krebs Cycle
In 1937, Sir Hans Adolf Krebs described the catalytic
role of pyruvic acid for the production of energy in
the cell. The series of cyclic reaction involved in
converting pyruvic acid to CO2 and H2O is called
Krebs cycle. It is also known as citric acid cycle (or)
Tricarboxylic acid cycle-TCA cycle

The 2 molecules of Acetyl Co-A enters into Krebs

cycle which on subsequent oxidation generates
6NADH2 and 2FADH2.When these enter into ETC,
generates 22 ATP molecules. Also in one step there
is a substrate level phosphorylation which directly
yields 2ATP molecules. Thus Krebs cycle is primarily
an energy producing system where it produces a net
amount of 24 ATP molecules for every 2 molecules of
Acetyl Co-A.
Since, Krebs cycle involves with both anabolic and
catabolic processes, it is also described as
amphibolic process.

Electron Transport Chain

The electron transport system (ETS) is the last

component involved in the process of cellular
respiration; it comprises a series of mobile accessory
electron carriers. Electron transport is a series of
chemical reactions that resembles a bucket brigade
in that electrons from NADH2 and FADH2 are passed
rapidly from one ETS electron carrier to the next.
These carriers can pass electrons along in the ETS
because of their redox potential.

Components of ETC
It consists of enzymes or co enzymes
1. NADH dehydrgenase accepts hydrogen atoms
from NADH and pass to the flavoproteins.
2. Flavoproteins are proteins containing a derivative
of vitamin – B riboflavin. Two flavoproteins are
commonly involved in ETC –
i. flavinmononucleotide (FMN)
ii. flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD).
These accept hydrogen atoms and donate electrons.

3. Iron-Sulphur (Fe-S) Proteins are small

molecules and contain equal amounts of iron and
sulphur. e.g. Ferredoxin (Fd).
4. Quinones are nonprotein molecules.
Ubiquinones are present in ETC of eukaryotes.
Quinones are mobile electron carriers.
5. Cytochromes form a large group of proteins
with iron-containing porphyrin ring called heme.
These are characterized on the basis of their
absorption spectra. They are designated as cyt a,
cyt b, cyt c etc.

Principle
The electron carriers of the ETC transfer their
electrons by undergoing redox reactions.For a
protein or chemical to accept electrons, it must have
a more positive redox potential than the electron
donor. Therefore, electrons move from electron
carriers with more negative redox potential to those
with more positive redox potential.

ETC of E.Coli

E. coli transport chain is short.The electron

transport chain of E. coli transports electrons from
NADH (NADH is the electron donor) to acceptors
and moves protons (H+) across the plasma
membrane.It consists of two branches (cytochrome
d branch and cytochrome o branch), and a quite
different array of cytochromes (e.g., Cyt b558,
Cytb562, Cyt d, Cyt o).
Coenzyme Q (ubiquinone) carries electrons and
donates them to both branches, but the branches
operate under different growth conditions.The
cytochrome d branch shows very high affinity for
oxygen and operates at low oxygen levels (low
aeration) usually when the bacterium is in
stationary phase of growth.This branch is not as
efficient as the cytochrome o branch because it
does not actively pump protons to periplasmic
space.The cytochrome o branch shows moderately
high efficiency for oxygen and operates at high
oxygen concentrations (high aeration). This
branch operates normally when the bacterium is
in log phase of its growth (i.e., growing rapidly),
 and actively pumps protons (H+) in the
periplasmic space.

Proton Motive Force

In each transfer of an electron through the ETS, the

electron loses energy, but with some transfers, the
energy is stored as potential energy by using it to
pump hydrogen ions (H+) across a membrane. H+ is
pumped to the outside of the cytoplasmic
membrane.There is an uneven distribution of
H+ across the membrane that establishes an
electrochemical gradient because H+ ions are
positively charged and there is a higher
concentration on one side of the membrane. This
electrochemical gradient formed by the
accumulation of H+ on one side of the membrane
compared with the other is referred to as the proton
motive force (PMF).

Chemiosmosis
The potential energy of this electrochemical gradient
generated by the ETS causes the H+ to diffuse across
a membrane. This flow of hydrogen across the
membrane is called chemiosmosis.
This occurs through a channel in the membrane via
a membrane-bound enzyme complex called ATP
synthase.

ATP synthase

ATP synthase is a large, complex membrane bound

enzyme.It is present in inner surface of the plasma
membrane in bacteria. It consists of two units F1 and
F0.
F1 subunit: It contains a catalytic site for ATP
synthesis from ADP and Pi.(Oxidative
Phosphorylation)
Fo subunit remains inserted in the mitochondrial
membrane. It functions as a channel through
which protons flow back.
Energy Yield

The passage of electrons from one molecule of

NADH2 generates enough proton motive force to
make three ATP molecules by oxidative
phosphorylation, whereas the passage of electrons
from one molecule of FADH2 generates proton
motive force to make only two ATP
molecules. Thus, the 10 NADH molecules made
 per glucose during glycolysis, the transition
reaction, and the Krebs cycle carry enough energy
to make 30 ATP molecules, whereas the two
FADH2 molecules made per glucose during these
processes provide enough energy to make four
ATP molecules. Overall, the maximum yield of ATP
made during the complete aerobic respiration of
glucose is 38 molecules, with four being made by
substrate-level phosphorylation and 34 being
made by oxidative phosphorylation.
Source Carbon Flow Molecules Net ATP Net ATP Theoretical
of Reduced Molecules Molecules Maximum
Coenzyme Made by Made by Yield of ATP
s Produced Substrate-Level Oxidative Molecules
Phosphorylation Phosphorylation
Glycolysi Glucose(6C)⟶2 pyruvates(2C) 2 NADH2 2 ATP 6 ATP from 2
s (EMP) 8
NADH2
Transition 2 pyruvates(3C)⟶2acetyl(2C)+2CO2 2 NADH2 6 ATP from 2
reaction 6
NADH2
Krebs 2 acetyl(2C)⟶4CO2 6 NADH2 2 ATP 18 ATP from 6
cycle 2 FADH2 NADH2
24
4 ATP from 2
FADH2
Total: glucose(6C)⟶6CO2 10 NADH2 4 ATP
34 ATP 38 ATP
2 FADH2