Cellular Respiration and Fermentation

Here’s a song about cellular respiration.

Glycolysis:

There are two important ways a cell can harvest energy

from food: fermentation and cellular respiration. Both
start with the same first step: the process of glycolysis
which is the breakdown or splitting of glucose (6
carbons) into two 3-carbon molecules called pyruvic
acid. The energy from other sugars, such as fructose, is
also harvested using this process. Glycolysis is
probably the oldest known way of producing ATP.
There is evidence that the process of glycolysis
predates the existence of O2 in the Earth’s atmosphere
and organelles in cells:

• Glycolysis does not need oxygen as part of any

of its chemical reactions. It serves as a first step in a glucose
variety of both aerobic and anaerobic energy-
harvesting reactions.
2 pyruvic acid molecules
• Glycolysis happens in the cytoplasm of cells,
not in some specialized organelle.

• Glycolysis is the one metabolic pathway found

in all living organisms.

+ 4 H+ + energy stored in 2 ATP molecules

Fermentation:

In fermentation these pyruvic acid molecules

are turned into some “waste” product, and a
little bit of energy (only two ATP molecules
per molecule of glucose – actually four are
produced in glycolysis, but two are used up) is
produced. Out of many possible types of
Pyruvic Acid + 2 H+
fermentation processes, two of the most
common types are lactic acid fermentation or
and alcohol fermentation.

Ethanol
Lactic Acid and
Carbon Dioxide

Lactic acid fermentation is done by some fungi, some bacteria like the Lactobacillus
acidophilus. in yogurt, and sometimes by our muscles. Normally our muscles do cellular
respiration like the rest of our bodies, using O2 supplied by our lungs and blood. However,
under greater exertion when the oxygen supplied by the lungs and blood system can’t get there
fast enough to keep up with the muscles’ needs, our muscles can switch over and do lactic acid
fermentation. In the process of lactic acid fermentation, the 3-carbon pyruvic acid molecules
are turned into lactic acid. It is the presence of lactic acid in yogurt that gives it its sour taste,
and it is the presence of lactic acid in our muscles “the morning after” that makes them so sore.
Once our muscles form lactic acid, they can’t do anything else with it, so until it is gradually
washed away by the blood stream and carried to the liver (which is able to get rid of it), our
over-exerted muscles feel stiff and sore even if they haven’t been physically injured.
Alcohol fermentation is done by yeast and some kinds of bacteria. The “waste” products of this
process are ethanol and carbon dioxide (CO2). Humans have long taken advantage of this
process in making bread, beer, and wine. In bread making, it is the CO2 which forms and is
trapped between the gluten (a long protein in wheat) molecules that causes the bread to rise,
and the ethanol (often abbreviated as EtOH – do you remember how to draw it?) evaporating
that gives it its wonderful smell while baking. The effects of the ethanol in beer and wine are
something with which many college students are familiar (sometimes too familiar?), and it is
the CO2 produced by the process of fermentation that makes these beverages effervescent.

Dr. Fankhauser has a number of fermentation-related recipes online, complete with photographs:
• His main cheese page
• A recipe for cheese using
one gallon of milk
• A recipe for cheese using
five gallons of milk
• Homemade yogurt
• Homemade buttermilk
• Homemade root beer
• Homemade ginger ale
• A recipe for whole wheat
bread

• General information on
milk-fermenting bacteria

Cellular Respiration:

An analogy can be drawn between the process

of cellular respiration in our cells and a car.
The mitochondria are the engines of our cells
where sugar is burned for fuel and the exhaust
is CO2 and H2O. Note that in a car that burned
fuel perfectly, the only exhaust should
theoretically be CO2 and H2O also.

There are three steps in the process of cellular

respiration: glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and
the electron transport chain.
In contrast to fermentation, in the process of cellular respiration, the
pyruvic acid molecules are broken down completely to CO2 and more
energy released. Note that three molecules of O2 must react with each
molecule of pyruvic acid to form the three carbon dioxide molecules,
and three molecules of water are also formed to “use up” the hydrogens.
As mentioned above, in glycolysis, a total of four molecules of ATP are
Pyruvic Acid + 2 H+
produced, but two are used up in other steps in the process. Additional + 3 O2
 3 Carbon Dioxide
+ 3 H2O
ATP is produced during the Krebs Cycle and the Electron Transport + 34 ATP
Chain, resulting in a grand total of 40 ATP molecules produced from the
breakdown of one molecule of glucose via cellular respiration. Since two
of those are used up during glycolysis, in prokaryotes a net total of 38
molecules of ATP are produced by cellular respiration. Most prokaryotes
have very simple cells which lack several types of organelles present in
eukaryotes, and therefore the Krebs Cycle and the Electron Transport
Chain occur in the cytoplasm and/or using chemicals embedded in the
cell membrane. In contrast, eukaryotes have more complex cells with
more specialized organelles to perform given functions. In eukaryotes,
the Krebs Cycle and Electron Transport Chain occur within the
In glycolysis and the Krebs cycle, there are also a number of electrons released as the glucose
molecule is broken down. The cell must deal with these electrons in some way, so they are
stored by the cell by forming a compound called NADH by the chemical reaction, NAD+ + H+ +
2e– NADH. This NADH is used to carry the electrons to the electron transport chain, where
more energy is harvested from them.

In eukaryotes, the pyruvic acid from glycolysis must be transferred into the mitochondria to be
sent through the Krebs cycle, also known as the citric acid cycle, at a “cost” of one ATP per
molecule of pyruvic acid. In this cycle, discovered by Hans Krebs, the pyruvic acid molecules
are converted to CO2, and two more ATP molecules are produced per molecule of glucose.
First, each 3-carbon pyruvic acid molecule has a CO2 broken off and the other two carbons are
transferred to a molecule called acetyl coenzyme A, while a molecule of NADH is formed from
NAD+ for each pyruvic acid (= 2 for the whole glucose). These acetyl CoA molecules are put
into the actual cycle, and after the coenzyme A part is released, eventually each 2-carbon piece
is broken apart into two molecules of CO2. In the process, for each acetyl CoA that goes into
the cycle, three molecules of NADH, one molecule of FADH 2, and one molecule of ATP are
formed (= 6 NADH, 2 FADH2, and 2 ATP per whole glucose).
 The electron transport chain is a system of
electron carriers embedded into the inner
membrane of a mitochondrion. As electrons are
passed from one compound to the next in the
chain, their energy is harvested and stored by
forming ATP. For each molecule of NADH
which puts its two electrons in, approximately
three molecules of ATP are formed, and for each
molecule of FADH2, about two molecules of
ATP are formed.

Click on the heme group

to see how to draw one.

Many of the compounds that make up the

electron transport chain belong to a special
group of chemicals called cytochromes. The
central structure of a cytochrome is a
porphyrin ring like chlorophyll but with iron in
the center (chlorophyll has magnesium). A
porphyrin with iron in the center is called a
heme group, and these are also found in
hemoglobin in our blood.

At the last step in the electron transport chain,

the “used up” electrons, along with some
“spare” hydrogen ions are combined with O2
(we finally got around to the O2) to form water
as a waste product: 4e- + 4H+ + O2 2H2O.
Get the Corel Presentations
Show It!™ plug-in

Click the picture to re-start or press [ESC] to

stop. You may also “write” on the picture.
Unfortunately, Corel only has a Plug-In for Win
95/NT, so this won’t work with Win 3.1 or Mac.

Many of the enzymes in the cells of organisms need other helpers to function. These non-
protein enzyme helpers are called cofactors and can include substances like iron, zinc, or
copper. If a cofactor is an organic molecule, it then is called a coenzyme. Many of the vitamins
needed by our bodies are used as coenzymes to help our enzymes to do their jobs. Vitamin B 1
(thiamine) is a coenzyme used in removing CO2 from various organic compounds. B2
(riboflavin)is a component of FAD (or FADH2), one of the chemicals used to transport electrons
from the Krebs cycle to the electron transport chain. Vitamin B 3 (niacin) is a component of
NAD+ (or NADH) which is the major transporter of electrons from glycolysis and the Krebs
cycle to the electron transport chain. Without enough of these B vitamins, our ability to get the
energy out of our food would come to a grinding halt! B 6 (pyridoxine), B12 (cobalamin),
pantothenic acid, folic acid, and biotin are all other B vitamins which serve as coenzymes at
various points in metabolizing our food. Interestingly, B12 has cobalt in it, a mineral which we
need in only very minute quantities, but whose absence can cause symptoms of deficiency.

My mother once had a friend who had porphyria, a dominant genetic disorder in which the
person’s body cannot properly make porphyrin rings. This would, thus, affect the person’s
ability to make both hemoglobin to carry oxygen in the blood and cytochromes for the electron
transport chain. This woman’s symptoms were quite variable. At times, she would appear
nearly normal while on other occasions she would have to be hospitalized for temporary
paralysis of part of her body or other symptoms. There were a number of foods and drugs she
had to avoid because they would trigger or worsen her symptoms. She frequently was in a lot
of pain. Because porphyria is a dominant genetic disorder, there was a 50% chance this
woman’s daughter would also have porphyria. Thus after the woman was diagnosed with
porphyria, a number of tests were also run on the girl, and she was more carefully monitored as
she grew up. My mother eventually lost contact with them, so I never heard the end of the
story.

Because there are a number of enzymes and steps involved in forming porphyrin rings, there
are a number of possible points in the process where genetic defects could occur. The Merck
Manual says there are eight steps in the process of making porphyrin rings, with genetic
abnormalities possible in seven of the eight enzymes.

Several years ago, Dr. Fankhauser mentioned to me that he heard somewhere that an “average”
70 kg (= 154 lb) person makes about 40 kg (= 88 lb) of ATP/day, which would be 57% of that
person’s body weight. As we discussed that, the question arose, “What would be the maximum
amount of ATP that a person could possibly make?” To try to come up with an answer to that
question, I did the following calculations.

• First, let’s assume that person eats an “average” dietary intake of 2500 KCal of food
energy (a number listed on the side of many food packages and a reasonable amount that such a
person might consume).
• However, just out of curiosity, let’s assume that all (100%) of that is glucose (In real
life, that would be a terrible idea! We need all the other nutrients that we get from eating a
variety of foods.). Since carbohydrates store about 4 KCal of energy per gram, that would mean
that 2500 KCal of glucose would be equivalent to 625 g (= 1.4 lb) of glucose. Since the
molecular weight of glucose is 180 g/m, this would be equivalent to 3.47 moles of glucose.
• Also, just for the sake of argument, let’s assume that 100% of the ingested glucose is
burned for fuel, and that the process is 100% efficient so there is no waste (in real life, our
bodies would never use all 100% for fuel – some gets used to build other chemicals, and just
like the fuel efficiency in our automobiles, the process is never 100% efficient.). Since, as was
mentioned above, eukaryotes make about 36 moles of ATP from every mole of glucose, then
those 3.74 moles of glucose would be equivalent to 125 moles of ATP.
• The molecular weight of ATP is 507 g/m, so that would be 63375 g or 63.375 kg of
ATP.
• Thus, if it was really possible to meet all of those background assumptions and a 70 kg
person really could make 63 kg of ATP, that would be 90% of that person’s body weight!
However, to think that we make even 57% – about half – of our body weight each day in ATP
is pretty amazing.

As another example:

o suppose a person would consume one 12-oz. can of soft drink,

o most types of soft drink contain about 41 to 49 g of sugar, so let’s say this soft
drink contains 45 g,
o suppose all of that sugar would be glucose,
o suppose the person’s body burns all of that sugar for fuel and does not store
any of it as fat or use any of it in other ways, and
o suppose the process of cellular respiration is 100% efficient and the sugar is
completely oxidized to CO2 and H2O.

Then:

o since the molecular weight of glucose is 180g/m, the 45 g of glucose would be

0.25 m,
o since cellular respiration produces 36 m ATP for each 1 m of glucose, that
would make 9 m of ATP, and
o since the MW of ATP is 507 g/m, that would be equivalent to 4563 g (about 10
lb) of ATP.

Recently I received an e-mail message from a student who asked how long the whole
process takes. While I have never seen any information on that in print, a rough approximation
can also be calculated from the above statistic:

• If, as mentioned above, an “average” 70 kg person makes about 40 kg of ATP/day, then

40 kg/24 hr × 1 hr/60 min × 1000 g/kg = about 27.8 g/min.

• Since the molecular weight of ATP is 507 g/m, then
that 27.8 g/min × 1 m/507 g = 0.0548 m/min.
• Avagadro’s number says that there are always 6.02 x 10 molecules/mole,23

so 0.0548 m/min × 6.02 x 10 molecules/mole = 3.30 x 10 molecules/min.

23 22

• or, since there are 60 sec/min, then that’s

3.30 x 10 molecules/min × 1min/60 sec = 5.50 x 10 molecules/sec made by a 70 kg body.
22 20

• so that would be equivalent to

5.50 x 10 molecules/sec ÷ 70 kg = 7.85 × 10 molecules/sec/kg of body
20 18
• or × 1kg/1000 g = 7.85 × 10 molecules/sec/g of body
15

• or × 1g/1000 mg = 7.85 × 10 molecules/sec/mg of body

12

• or × 1mg/1000 µg = 7.85 × 10 molecules/sec/µg of body.

9

Check out Dr. Fankhauser’s pictures of the molecules involved in glycolysis.

References:

• Berkow, Robert, ed. 1999. The Merck Manual. 17th ed. Merck, Sharp & Dohme, Rahway, NJ.
• Borror, Donald J. 1960. Dictionary of Root Words and Combining Forms. Mayfield Publ. Co.
• Campbell, Neil A., Lawrence G. Mitchell, Jane B. Reece. 1999. Biology, 5th Ed. Benjamin/Cummings
Publ. Co., Inc. Menlo Park, CA. (plus earlier editions)
• Campbell, Neil A., Lawrence G. Mitchell, Jane B. Reece. 1999. Biology: Concepts and Connections, 3rd
Ed. Benjamin/Cummings Publ. Co., Inc. Menlo Park, CA. (plus earlier editions)
• Marchuk, William N. 1992. A Life Science Lexicon. Wm. C. Brown Publishers, Dubuque, IA.

carterjs@uc.edu
File cellresp.htm was last modified on Tue 02 Nov 2004.
Copyright © 1996 by J. Stein Carter. All rights reserved.

This page has been accessed times since 15 Aug 2000.