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Cellular respiration in a typical eukaryotic cell.

Cellular respiration, also known as 'oxidative metabolism', is one of the key ways a cell gains useful energy. It is the set of the metabolic reactions and processes that take place in organisms' cells to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and then release waste products. The reactions involved in respiration are catabolic reactions that involve the oxidation of one molecule and the reduction of another.

Nutrients commonly used by animal and plant cells in respiration include glucose, amino acids and fatty acids, and a common oxidizing agent (electron acceptor) is molecular oxygen (O2). Bacteria and archaea can also be lithotrophs and these organisms may respire using a broad range of inorganic molecules as electron donors and acceptors, such as sulfur, metal ions, methane or hydrogen. Organisms that use oxygen as a final electron acceptor in respiration are described as aerobic, while those that do not are referred to as anaerobic[1].

The energy released in respiration is used to synthesize ATP to store this energy. The energy stored in ATP can then be used to drive processes requiring energy, including biosynthesis, locomotion or transportation of molecules across cell membranes.


Aerobic respiration

Aerobic respiration (red arrows) is the main means by which both plants and animals utilize energy in the form of organic compounds that was previously created through photosynthesis (green arrow).

Aerobic respiration requires oxygen in order to generate energy (ATP). Although carbohydrates, fats, and proteins can all be processed and consumed as reactant, it is the preferred method of pyruvate breakdown from glycolysis and requires that pyruvate enter the mitochondrion in order to be fully oxidized by the Krebs cycle. The product of this process is energy in the form of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate), by substrate-level phosphorylation, NADH and FADH2.

Simplified reaction: C6H12O6 (aq) + 6 O2 (g) → 6 CO2 (g) + 6 H2O (l)
ΔG = -2880 kJ per mole of C6H12O6

The negative ΔG indicates that the products of the chemical process store less energy than the reactants and the reaction can happen spontaneously; In other words, without an input of energy.


Aerobic metabolism is 19 times more efficient than anaerobic metabolism (which yields 2 mol ATP per 1 mol glucose). 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.


Glycolysis is a metabolic pathway that is found in the cytoplasm of cells in all living organisms and is anaerobic (that is, oxygen is not required). The process converts one molecule of glucose into two molecules of pyruvate, and makes energy in the form of two net molecules of ATP. Four molecules of ATP per glucose are actually produced; however, two are consumed for the preparatory phase. The initial phosphorylation of glucose is required to destabilize the molecule for cleavage into two triose sugars. During the pay-off phase of glycolysis, four phosphate groups are transferred to ADP by substrate-level phosphorylation to make four ATP, and two NADH are produced when the triose sugars are oxidized. The overall reaction can be expressed this way:


Oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate

The pyruvate is oxidized to acetyl-CoA and CO2 by the Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, a cluster of enzymes—multiple copies of each of three enzymes—located in the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells and in the cytosol of prokaryotes. In the process one molecule of NADH is formed per pyruvate oxidized, and 3 moles of ATP are formed for each mole of pyruvate. This step is also known as the link reaction, as it links glycolysis and the Krebs cycle.

Citric acid cycle


The citric acid cycle is an 8-step process involving 8 different enzymes. Throughout the entire cycle, acetyl-CoA changes into citrate, isocitrate, α-ketoglutarate, succinyl-CoA, succinate, fumarate, malate, and finally, oxaloacetate. The net energy gain from one cycle is 3 NADH, 1 FADH, and 1 ATP. Thus, the total amount of energy yield from one whole glucose molecule (2 pyruvate molecules) is 6 NADH, 2 FADH, and 2 ATP.

Oxidative phosphorylation


Theoretical yields

The yields in the table below are for one glucose molecule being fully oxidized into carbon dioxide. It is assumed that all the reduced coenzymes are oxidized by the electron transport chain and used for oxidative phosphorylation.

Step coenzyme yield ATP yield Source of ATP
Glycolysis preparatory phase -2 Phosphorylation of glucose and fructose 6-phosphate uses two ATP from the cytoplasm.
Glycolysis pay-off phase 4 Substrate-level phosphorylation
2 NADH 4 (6) Oxidative phosphorylation. Only 2 ATP per NADH since the coenzyme must feed into the electron transport chain from the cytoplasm rather than the mitochondrial matrix. If the malate shuttle is used to move NADH into the mitochondria this might count as 3 ATP per NADH.
Oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate 2 NADH 6 Oxidative phosphorylation
Krebs cycle 2 Substrate-level phosphorylation
6 NADH 18 Oxidative phosphorylation
2 FADH2 4 Oxidative phosphorylation
Total yield 36 (38) ATP From the complete oxidation of one glucose molecule to carbon dioxide and oxidation of all the reduced coenzymes.

Although there is a theoretical yield of 36-38 ATP molecules per glucose during cellular respiration, such conditions are generally not realized due to losses such as the cost of moving pyruvate (from glycolysis), phosphate, and ADP (substrates for ATP synthesis) into the mitochondria. All are actively transported using carriers that utilise the stored energy in the proton electrochemical gradient.

  • Pyruvate is taken up by a specific, low km transporter to bring it into the mitochondrial matrix for oxidation by the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.
  • The phosphate translocase is a symporter and the driving force for moving phosphate ions into the mitochondria is the proton motive force.
  • The adenine nucleotide carrier is an antiporter and exchanges ADP and ATP across the inner membrane. The driving force is due to the ATP (-4) having a more negative charge than the ADP (-3) and thus it dissipates some of the electrical component of the proton electrochemical gradient.



Without oxygen, pyruvate is not metabolized by cellular respiration but undergoes a process of fermentation. The pyruvate is not transported into the mitochondrion, but remains in the cytoplasm, where it is converted to waste products that may be removed from the cell. This serves the purpose of oxidizing the hydrogen carriers so that they can perform glycolysis again and removing the excess pyruvate. This waste product varies depending on the organism. In skeletal muscles, the waste product is lactic acid. This type of fermentation is called lactic acid fermentation. In yeast, the waste products are ethanol and carbon dioxide. This type of fermentation is known as alcoholic or ethanol fermentation. The ATP generated in this process is made by substrate-level phosphorylation, which does not require oxygen.

Fermentation is less efficient at using the energy from glucose since 2 ATP are produced per glucose, compared to the 38 ATP per glucose produced by aerobic respiration. This is because the waste products of fermentation still contain plenty of energy. Ethanol, for example, can be used in gasoline (petrol) solutions. Glycolytic ATP, however, is created more quickly. For prokaryotes to continue a rapid growth rate when they are shifted from an aerobic environment to an anaerobic environment, they must increase the rate of the glycolytic reactions. For multicellular organisms, during short bursts of strenuous activity, muscle cells use fermentation to supplement the ATP production from the slower aerobic respiration, so fermentation may be used by a cell even before the oxygen levels are depleted, as is the case in sports that do not require athletes to pace themselves, such as sprinting.

Anaerobic Respiration

Anaerobic respiration is used by some microorganisms in which neither oxygen (aerobic respiration) nor pyruvate or pyruvate derivative (fermentation) is the final electron acceptor. Rather, an inorganic acceptor (for example, Sulfur) is used.

See also


  3. ^ Porter, Rk; Brand, Md (1 September 1995). "Mitochondrial proton conductance and H+/O ratio are independent of electron transport rate in isolated hepatocytes" (Free full text). The Biochemical journal 310 ( Pt 2) (Pt 2): 379–82. ISSN 0264-6021. PMID 7654171. PMC 1135905.   edit

External links

Simple English

Cellular respiration is what cells do to break up sugars into a food that the cell can use as energy. This happens in all forms of life. Cellular respiration takes in food and uses it to create ATP, a chemical which the cell uses for energy. Some simple organisms can only go through anaerobic cellular respiration.

The formula for aerobic cellular respiration is

C6H12O6 + O2CO2 + H2O + Energy (as ATP)

The word equation for this is:


Aerobic cellular respiration has four stages. Each is important, but could not happen without those preceding it. The steps of cellular respiration are:




In glycolysis, glucose in the cytoplasm is broken into two molecules of pyruvate. Enzymes are needed for this step and are found in the cytoplasm of the cell.

  1. Two phosphate giant molecules are added to a molecule of glucose to form hexose biphosphate. ATP is needed for this to happen.
  2. The hexose biphosphate is split to form two dove shaped triose phosphate molecules
  3. Two atoms of hydrogen are removed from each side of the cylinder triose phosphate molecule to make pyruvate
  4. As the two molecules of triose phosphate are converted to pyruvate, four molecules of ATP are made crushed and disapparated 3 times till glucose is obliterated.

Link reaction

Pyruvate from glycolysis is actively pumped into mitochondrion. One carbon dioxide molecule and one hydrogen molecule are removed from the pyruvate (called oxidative decarboxylation) to produce an acetyl group, which joins to an enzyme called CoA to form acetyl CoA. Undergoes Kreb's cycle

Krebs cycle

Acetyl CoA joins with a chemical to form a compound made of 6 carbon molecules. Carbon dioxide and hydrogen are removed from this 6-carbon compound to form a 5-carbon compound. This is important for the next step.

The 5-carbon compound turns into a 4-carbon compound when another carbon dioxide molecule is removed and 3 hydrogen molecules are removed to produce some ATP. This is called substrate level phosphorylation.

Electron transport chain

This is where most of the ATP is made. All of the hydrogen molecules which have been removed in the steps before (Krebs cycle, Link reaction) are pumped inside the mitochondria using energy that electrons release. Eventually, the electrons powering the pumping of hydrogen into the mitochonria mix with some hydrogen and oxygen to form water and the hydrogen molecules stop being pumped.

Eventually, the hydrogen flows back into the cytoplasm of the mitochondria through protein channels. As the hydrogen flows, ATP is made from ADP and phosphate ions. This is called chemiosmosis.


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