You are a carbon atom. You are having a wonderful (or awful) life, bonded to your 5 closest friends (or enemies) in a great (or evil) glucose molecule. But your cell needs you. It requires the energy glucose contains, which means your molecule must go through the process of cellular respiration, in which your molecule is broken into 6 separate carbon dioxide molecules. Sounds noble, but personally devastating. Please describe each step of cellular respiration that leads to destruction of the glucose molecule. For each step, you must discuss the molecules involved, such as ATP, electron carriers etc. You must discuss what is removed at each step and what is left to move to the next step. For this question, you do not need to go into detail about the exact names of the enzymes that facilitate each step.
Electron Transport Chain
The electron transport chain, also known as the electron transport system, is a group of proteins that transfer electrons through a membrane within mitochondria to create a gradient of protons that drives adenosine triphosphate (ATP)synthesis. The cell uses ATP as an energy source for metabolic processes and cellular functions. ETC involves series of reactions that convert redox energy from NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) + hydrogen (H)) and FADH2(flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)) oxidation into proton-motive force(PMF), which is then used to synthesize ATP through conformational changes in the ATP synthase complex, a process known as oxidative phosphorylation.
Metabolism
Picture a campfire. It keeps the body warm on a cold night and provides light. To ensure that the fire keeps burning, fuel needs to be added(pieces of wood in this case). When a small piece is added, the fire burns bright for a bit and then dies down unless more wood is added. But, if too many pieces are placed at a time, the fire escalates and burns for a longer time, without actually burning away all the pieces that have been added. Many of them, especially the larger chunks or damp pieces, remain unburnt.
Cellular Respiration
Cellular respiration is the cellular process involved in the generation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules from the organic nutritional source obtained from the diet. It is a universal process observed in all types of life forms. The glucose (chemical formula C6H12O6) molecules are the preferred raw material for cell respiration as it possesses a simple structure and is highly efficient in nature.
- You are a carbon atom. You are having a wonderful (or awful) life, bonded to your 5 closest friends (or enemies) in a great (or evil) glucose molecule. But your cell needs you. It requires the energy glucose contains, which means your molecule must go through the process of
cellular respiration , in which your molecule is broken into 6 separate carbon dioxide molecules. Sounds noble, but personally devastating.
Please describe each step of cellular respiration that leads to destruction of the glucose molecule. For each step, you must discuss the molecules involved, such as ATP, electron carriers etc. You must discuss what is removed at each step and what is left to move to the next step. For this question, you do not need to go into detail about the exact names of the enzymes that facilitate each step.
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