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In your own words, explain how a single molecule of glucose is converted into ~30 or more molecules of ATP in cellular respiration

Sagot :

Answer: Throughout the stages of cellular respiration

Explanation:

Fair warning I'm only a college freshman so you may be able to find more detailed answers than what I'm about to give you.

During cellular respiration there are a number of processes that must be taken into account when dealing with a glucose molecule.

Glycolysis: The molecule of glucose is a  6-carbon molecule, in this process that takes place in the cytoplasm of the cell, it is split into two 3-carbon molecules, these are pyruvates, during this, 2 ATP is made as a byproduct(along with 2 NADH molecules but I'll just focus on the ATP moving forward).

Transformation of pyruvate: For eukaryotic cells, the pyruvate molecules from Glycolysis are transferred into the mitochondria, which of course are sites for cellular respiration. With Oxygen available, aerobic respiration would continue but if not, fermentation would take place which would drastically reduce total ATP reduction throughout one cycle. The pyruvates are transformed into a 2-carbon acetyl group which is then oxidized and now compatible for Coenzyme A to pick up, which results in the compound Acetyl Coenzyme A. This process ends up producing 1 NADH molecule from the reduction of NAD+ due to the 2 carbon molecule being oxidized.

Citric Acid Cycle: This stage begins as soon as Acetyl CoA combines with a 4-carbon molecule called Oxaloacetate which ends up forming citric acid, that has 6-carbon atoms. Long story short the citric acid goes through a great number of reactions that produces a total of 2 ATP molecules.

Oxidative Phosphorylation: This stage of aerobic respiration consists of the electron transport chain and chemiosmosis process. The energy of NADH and FADH2 molecules that were produced in the Citric Acid Cycle is what's used to create the final majority of ATP molecules within this whole process. 1. Throughout the electron transport chain, excited electrons move along its network in the inner membrane of the mitochondria. As it moves, molecules it passes by uses the electrons energy to pump Hydrogen ions/protons from the inner membrane towards the intermembrane space. This transfer of ions creates an electrochemical gradient which is necessary for the synthesis of ATP in the following process, Chemiosmosis. The Electron Transport Chain produces about 2-3 ATP. 2. In Chemiosmosis, the newly formed electrochemical gradient causes the gathered Hydrogen ions to flow from the intermembrane space into the matrix, therefore lowering the its concentration(search up a image of this if you need to). This flow is thanks to and mediated by ATP synthase. Finally ATP synthase accepts 3-4 Hydrogen ions so an inorganic phosphate group can react with an ADP (Adenosine diphosphate) compound to produce one ATP molecule. In total, 24-28 molecules of ATP is formed.

This is how a single molecule of glucose can produce more than 30 molecules of ATP in aerobic cellular respiration. Fermentation on the other hand, would most likely produce half of which aerobic respiration would produce.