Cellular respiration

Cellular respiration is the set of the metabolic reactions and processes that take place in the cells of
organisms to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and then
release waste products.
[1]
The reactions involved in respiration are catabolic reactions, which break
large molecules into smaller ones, releasing energy in the process as weak so-called "high-energy"
bonds are replaced by stronger bonds in the products. Respiration is one of the key ways a cell gains
useful energy to fuel cellular activity. Cellular respiration is considered an exothermic redox reaction.
The overall reaction is broken into many smaller ones when it occurs in the body, most of which are
redox reactions themselves. Although technically, cellular respiration is a combustion reaction, it
clearly does not resemble one when it occurs in a living cell. This difference is because it occurs in
many separate steps. While the overall reaction is a combustion reaction, no single reaction that
comprises it is a combustion reaction.
Nutrients that are commonly used by animal and plant cells in respiration include sugar, amino acids
and fatty acids, and a common oxidizing agent (electron acceptor) is molecular oxygen (O
2
). The
energy stored in ATP (its third phosphate group is weakly bonded to the rest of the molecule and is
cheaply broken allowing stronger bonds to form, thereby transferring energy for use by the cell) can
then be used to drive processes requiring energy, including biosynthesis, locomotion or transportation
of molecules across cell membranes.
Contents
Aerobic respiration
Aerobic respiration (red arrows) is the main means by which both fungi and plants utilize energy in
the form of organic compounds that were previously created through photosynthesis (green arrow).
Aerobic respiration requires oxygen in order to generate ATP. Although carbohydrates, fats, and
proteins can all be processed and consumed as reactants, it is the preferred method of pyruvate
breakdown in glycolysis and requires that pyruvate enter the mitochondrion in order to be fully
oxidized by the Krebs cycle. The products of this process are carbon dioxide and water, but the energy
transferred is used to break strong bonds in ADP as the third phosphate group is added to form ATP
(adenosine triphosphate), by substrate-level phosphorylation, NADH and FADH
2

Simplified reaction:
C
6
H
12
O
6
(s) + 6 O
2
(g) 6 CO
2
(g) + 6 H
2
O (l) + heat
G = 2880 kJ per mole of C
6
H
12
O
6

The negative G indicates that the reaction can occur spontaneously.
The potential of NADH and FADH
2
is converted to more ATP through an electron transport chain
with oxygen as the "terminal electron acceptor". Most of the ATP produced by aerobic cellular
respiration is made by oxidative phosphorylation. This works by the energy released in the
consumption of pyruvate being used to create a chemiosmotic potential by pumping protons across a
membrane. This potential is then used to drive ATP synthase and produce ATP from ADP and a
phosphate group. Biology textbooks often state that 38 ATP molecules can be made per oxidised
glucose molecule during cellular respiration (2 from glycolysis, 2 from the Krebs cycle, and about 34
from the electron transport system).
[2]
However, this maximum yield is never quite reached due to
losses (leaky membranes) as well as the cost of moving pyruvate and ADP into the mitochondrial
matrix, and current estimates range around 29 to 30 ATP per glucose.
[2]

Aerobic metabolism is up to 15 times more efficient than anaerobic metabolism (which yields
2 molecules ATP per 1 molecule glucose). However some anaerobic organisms, such as methanogens
are able to continue with anaerobic respiration, yielding more ATP by using other inorganic
molecules (not oxygen) as final electron acceptors in the electron transport chain. They share the
initial pathway of glycolysis but aerobic metabolism continues with the Krebs cycle and oxidative
phosphorylation. The post-glycolytic reactions take place in the mitochondria in eukaryotic cells, and
in the cytoplasm in prokaryotic cells.
transpiration
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about plant transpiration. For transpiration in human and animal physiology, see
sweating and hyperhydrosis.


Overview of transpiration.
1-Water is passively transported into the roots and then into the xylem.
2-The forces of cohesion and adhesion cause the water molecules to form a column in the xylem.
3- Water moves from the xylem into the mesophyll cells, evaporates from their surfaces and leaves
the plant by diffusion through the stomata.
Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts
especially from leaves but also from stems and flowers. Leaf surfaces are dotted with pores which are
called stomata, and in most plants they are more numerous on the undersides of the foliage. The
stomata are bordered by guard cells and their stomatal accessory cells (together known as stomatal
complex) that open and close the pore.
[1]
Transpiration occurs through the stomatal apertures, and can
be thought of as a necessary "cost" associated with the opening of the stomata to allow the diffusion
of carbon dioxide gas from the air for photosynthesis. Transpiration also cools plants, changes
osmotic pressure of cells, and enables mass flow of mineral nutrients and water from roots to shoots.
Mass flow of liquid water from the roots to the leaves is driven in part by capillary action, but
primarily driven by water potential differences. In taller plants and trees, the force of gravity can only
be overcome by the decrease in hydrostatic (water) pressure in the upper parts of the plants due to the
diffusion of water out of stomata into the atmosphere. Water is absorbed at the roots by osmosis, and
any dissolved mineral nutrients travel with it through the xylem.
Contents
Regulation
Plants regulate the rate of transpiration by the degree of stomatal opening. The rate of transpiration is
also influenced by the evaporative demand of the atmosphere surrounding the leaf such as humidity,
temperature, wind and incident sunlight. Soil water supply and soil temperature can influence
stomatal opening, and thus transpiration rate. The amount of water lost by a plant also depends on its
size and the amount of water absorbed at the roots. Transpiration accounts for most of the water loss
by a plant, but some direct evaporation also takes place through the cuticle
[citation needed]
of the leaves
and young stems. Transpiration serves to evaporatively cool plants as the escaping water vapor carries
away heat energy.
This table summarizes the factors that affect the rates of transpiration.
A fully grown tree may lose several hundred of gallons of water through its leaves on a hot, dry
day.
[citation needed]
The transpiration ratio is the ratio of the mass of water transpired to the mass of dry
matter produced; the transpiration ratio of crops tends to fall between 200 and 1000 (i.e., crop plants
transpire 200 to 1000 kg of water for every kg of dry matter produced).
[2]

Transpiration rates of plants can be measured by a number of techniques, including potometers,
lysimeters, porometers, photosynthesis systems and heat balance sap flow gauges. Isotope
measurements indicate transpiration is the larger component of evapotranspiration.
[3]

Desert plants have specially adapted structures, such as thick cuticles, reduced leaf areas, sunken
stomata and hairs to reduce transpiration and conserve water. Many cacti conduct photosynthesis in
succulent stems, rather than leaves, so the surface area of the shoot is very low. Many desert plants
have a special type of photosynthesis, termed crassulacean acid metabolism or CAM photosynthesis,
in which the stomata are closed during the day and open at night when transpiration will be lower.