Respiration Flashcards
(19 cards)
what is the two main types of respiration?
Breathing and cellular respiration
What happens during breathing?
Oxygen is taken in and carbon dioxide is eliminated
What is cellular respiration?
A series of chemical reactions in cells required to sustain life
what is the purpose of metabolic reactions in cellular respiration?
to extract energy from food
How does oxygen contribute to cellular respiration?
it is used to extract as much energy as possible from food
metabolic reactions
extract energy from food
what performs metabolic reactions?
enzymes
Are enzyme-controlled reactions regulated?
yes - enzyme activity is controlled
How can enzyme activity be regulated?
Enzyme activity is tuneable.
What is one mechanism of enzyme control?
Feedback inhibition is a mechanism that regulates enzyme activity.
Why is respiration important?
Respiration is important because it produces ATP, which provides the energy cells need for essential functions like muscle contraction, nerve signalling, cell repair, and active transport.
Where does respiration happen?
Respiration happens in cells. In eukaryotic cells, it mainly occurs in the mitochondria during aerobic respiration, and in the cytoplasm for the first stage (glycolysis) and for anaerobic respiration.
What are the stages of respiration?
1 - Glycolysis – breaks down glucose into pyruvate (in the cytoplasm)
2- Krebs Cycle (Citric Acid Cycle) – processes pyruvate to extract high-energy electrons (in the mitochondria)
3- Electron Transport Chain (ETC) – uses electrons to produce ATP and requires oxygen (in the inner mitochondrial membrane)
What is metabolism?
Metabolism is the set of all chemical reactions in the body that maintain life, including reactions that break down molecules to release energy (catabolism) and reactions that build new molecules (anabolism).
ATP
- energy carrying molecule
- energy released by catabolic reactions us temporarily stored
- chemical bond in carrier molecules
- these can diffuse rapidly throughout the cell
