Cellular Respiration Lab Report

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Cellular respiration is the process of obtaining energy, as organic molecules are broken down to produce ATP. Oxidative phosphorylation, where ATP is synthesized from ADP and a phosphate group with energy from the electron transport chain, is necessary in the process of cellular respiration (1). However, in some cells, such as certain bacteria and fungi, do not require oxygen in order to produce energy. One of the mechanisms the cell undergoes is fermentation, where energy is obtained without the use of an electron transport chain or oxygen. Choice (A) would be incorrect because the Krebs cycle takes place in the mitochondria. It takes the pyruvate molecule that is produced through glycolysis and breaks it down to acetyl CoA and carbon dioxide (2, 166). Some steps in the process lose electrons. Those electrons are used in the electron transport chain, which oxidizes NADH to NAD+ that gives energy needed for ATP production. The…show more content…
An example could be seen in how cancer cells could be caused by mitochondria. In normal cells, glycolysis produces pyruvate that is broken down in order to generate ATP, but Paul Gerhardt Seeger found that cancer can result from an inactive enzyme that is important for respiration, the cytochrome oxidase (3). This enzyme is important because it processes the oxygen in the process of respiration, meaning that the destruction of this enzyme can lead to a significant decrease in mitochondria as well as ATP levels. A growth in the number of tumor cells is due to a damaged respiratory chain and little ATP synthesis. By identifying that cellular respiration is responsible for tumor growth in cells, there are treatments looking towards fixing the problem. One of the proposed solutions is the use of yeast cell enzymes, known to remove substances with cancer-inducing effects and can also help the impaired and destructive mitochondria

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