Question

Briefly describe glycolysis and the citric acid cycle. Talk about ATP, high-energy electron carriers, oxygen requirements, carbons, inputs & outs, and locations.

Answer 1

1. This is the process of breakdown of 6 carbon containing glucose into two molecules of pyruvic acid. One molecule of pyruvic acid have 3 carbons. It is a common step for aerobic and anaerobic respiration. It takes place in the cytoplasm of all the organisms. It leads to the formation of four molecules of ATP and consumption of two molecules of ATP. Therefore net ATP gain is only two molecules. It reduces two molecules of NAD+ to NADH.

2. Citric acid cycle or kreb cycle or tricarboxylic acid cycle is an important step for aerobic respiration. It takes place in the presence of oxygen only. It begins with the condensation of two carbon containing acetyl coenzyme a with four carbon containing of oxaloacetate to form 6 carbon containing citric acid. It takes place in mitochondrial matrix in eukaryotes and in cytoplasm in prokaryotes. It is an important process because it leads to the generation of maximum number of ATP. It occurs twice for one molecule of glucose. It leads to the reduction of three molecules of NADH and one molecule of FADH_2. It undertakes to two decarboxylation steps and therefore two molecules of carbon dioxide formed in one cycle.

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