Energy
You woke up this morning. You got out of bed, perhaps muttering under your breath how you shouldn't have stayed up all night on you phone chatting with other people. You drag your body to the shower in oder to have some order in your life...and to wake up. You eventually move your way to the kitchen and drag out some food and eat.
Everything you have done in the morning required some sort of effort. Each movement, or thought requires some sore of energy. You could sit completely still and you would still require some form of energy (your body maintains a constant temperature of around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 degrees Celsius).
From where do you receive all this energy. What is your body using to fuel your constant ambitions? The answer is universal for all organisms: Adenosine Triphosphate, or more commonly known as ATP.
Everything you have done in the morning required some sort of effort. Each movement, or thought requires some sore of energy. You could sit completely still and you would still require some form of energy (your body maintains a constant temperature of around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 degrees Celsius).
From where do you receive all this energy. What is your body using to fuel your constant ambitions? The answer is universal for all organisms: Adenosine Triphosphate, or more commonly known as ATP.
ATP is composed of 3 major parts: Adenine (a base, also found in DNA), Ribose (a type of sugar) and 3 phosphate groups. Although the entire molecule is important, there are certain parts of the molecule that are more important to energy than others. The 3 phosphate groups are the most important part of the molecule as they are what creates the energy.
Cellular Respiration
You remember you lunch from today? You breakfast from this morning? Maybe your dinner from last night? How does your body take that food and convert it into energy that your body will actually be able to use?
Your cells are able to take the energy from the food, specifically reducing that food to glucose, and break it down and create ATP from ADP. The basic equation that represents the overview of cellular respiration:
Your cells are able to take the energy from the food, specifically reducing that food to glucose, and break it down and create ATP from ADP. The basic equation that represents the overview of cellular respiration:
In this reaction, the glucose will be broken down into smaller molecules, making it a catabolic reaction. However, this is not the whole story. There are several different routes by which the cell can extract the energy to create ATP, but not all routes are equal.
Without oxygen, a cell will perform anaerobic respiration. From this particular reaction, the cell will get a minimal about of ATP, approximate 2 net ATP. Despite the fact that the cell will receive such a small amount of ATP, anaerobic respiration still has several benefits. The first benefit is the speed at which the ATP can be produced. Anaerobic respiration is very fast, but with very small gain. The other benefit is that it can occur without oxygen. There are many organisms that do not live in environments that have oxygen.
Most organisms that we think of do not use anaerobic respiration (except in some extreme cases where the muscles will need lots of energy in a very short period of time, but never to survive), but use aerobic respiration instead. In this case, the cell will finish off using the glucose molecule in the mitochondria. There, the mitochondria will further break sown the glucose and extract much more ATP. The number of ATP that is extract can vary, but will typically extract 24-29 ATP from 1 glucose molecule. Again, there are disadvantages to this method. First, the cell must have mitochondria to perform aerobic respiration. This means that only eukaryotes can perform aerobic respiration, and prokaryotes cannot. Second, the cell must be in the presence of oxygen to actually complete the full cycle of aerobic respiration. Although these can be some major disadvantages, the main advantage of extracting much more energy from glucose definitely outweighs the disadvantages.
Without oxygen, a cell will perform anaerobic respiration. From this particular reaction, the cell will get a minimal about of ATP, approximate 2 net ATP. Despite the fact that the cell will receive such a small amount of ATP, anaerobic respiration still has several benefits. The first benefit is the speed at which the ATP can be produced. Anaerobic respiration is very fast, but with very small gain. The other benefit is that it can occur without oxygen. There are many organisms that do not live in environments that have oxygen.
Most organisms that we think of do not use anaerobic respiration (except in some extreme cases where the muscles will need lots of energy in a very short period of time, but never to survive), but use aerobic respiration instead. In this case, the cell will finish off using the glucose molecule in the mitochondria. There, the mitochondria will further break sown the glucose and extract much more ATP. The number of ATP that is extract can vary, but will typically extract 24-29 ATP from 1 glucose molecule. Again, there are disadvantages to this method. First, the cell must have mitochondria to perform aerobic respiration. This means that only eukaryotes can perform aerobic respiration, and prokaryotes cannot. Second, the cell must be in the presence of oxygen to actually complete the full cycle of aerobic respiration. Although these can be some major disadvantages, the main advantage of extracting much more energy from glucose definitely outweighs the disadvantages.
Quiz for Cellular Respiration (Glycolysis)
Complete the quiz on Glycolysis (QUIZ 1) at Khan Academy. You may use the link below to take you there. Once you have completed it, send a picture of your score to Mr. U.
Extra Resources
- Khan Academy- https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/cellular-respiration-and-fermentation
Images:
https://d2jmvrsizmvf4x.cloudfront.net/koRpKeW9QpiNDs3MCblv_ATP.jpg
http://www.mtchs.org/BIO/biologyexploringlife/text/chapter7/07images/07-13.gif
http://www.bio.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/makeatp/c9x6cell-respiration.jpg
https://d2jmvrsizmvf4x.cloudfront.net/koRpKeW9QpiNDs3MCblv_ATP.jpg
http://www.mtchs.org/BIO/biologyexploringlife/text/chapter7/07images/07-13.gif
http://www.bio.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/makeatp/c9x6cell-respiration.jpg