That is Oxygen leaving the factory, it is the final electron carrier in the ETC.
What is this room?
This is the mitochondria room where the mitochondria produce ATP inside of their inner membrane.
Why are they shaped like that? And what are those folded things for?
They are shaped like that because its beneficial to their function, the more surface area they have the more efficient they are in energy production.
This is where we store the raw input materials for the mitochondria room. These boxes contain glucose and oxygen that the mitochondria use.
What is this room for?
These are the products of the mitochondria room. CO2, H2O, and ATP.
So how exactly do the mitochondria produce those products?
Come, I'll show you.
Glycolysis uses the glucose from the storage room to split into two pyruvate molecules, in the process it produces 2 ATP.
If we examine the mitochondria closely we can see that the first process of ATP production is Glycolysis
The step after glycolysis is pyruvate oxidation. In this step pyruvate is converted into Acetyl CO A.
so what happens next?
The next step is the Krebs Cycle, in this step NADH, FADH2, and ATP are produced from the oxidation of pyruvate.
The next step is the ETC, in this step NADH and FADH2 carry and transfer high energy electrons across the membrane, while creating a H+ proton gradient?
What is a proton gradient?
A proton gradient is a high concentration of Hydrogen ions separated by a membrane.
The last steps can kind of be combined into 1. Chemiosmosis is the powering of ATP synthase by using the proton gradient to combine ADP and inorganic phosphates. Also Oxidative Phosphorylation is the final transfer of electrons from NADH and FADH2 to oxygen which also produces ATP.
Ok, that makes sense.
So if every step of cellular respiration creates ATP why do glycolysis and the Krebs Cycle produce so little ATP compared to the ETC and Chemiosmosis?
That is because Glycolysis and the Krebs Cycle are substrate phosphorylation vs Oxidative phosphorylation.
What's the difference between them?
The main difference is that Oxidative phosphorylation is the production of ATP from the oxidized NADH and FADH, where substrate level is a direct phosphorylation of ADP with a phosphate group that uses energy from a coupled reaction.
So how exactly is the energy stored and released in the ATP?
Good question. The energy is actually stored in the covalent bonds between the phosphate groups of ATP. When those bonds are broken by hydrolysis the energy is released and transferred to processes that need it.
Can you recap the major molecules that are involved in cellular respiration?
So remember that NAD+ is essential for accepting high energy electrons, NADH and FADH is essential for donating electrons to the ETC, FADH2 is essential for transporting electrons from Glycolysis and Krebs Cycle to the ETC.
So why do you even need to make ADP and ATP?
We need ADP to make ATP, but we need ATP for cellular interactions that power our everyday lives.
This is our bacteria fermentation room, remember we don't need oxygen here because fermentation takes the NADH and H+ and recycles it back into NAD+ so it can continuously keep glycolysis going.
I did!
Well, that's the tour son. Hope you had fun!
Ok, bye!
I'm gonna head back and finish my shift. See you when I get home.