Metabolic Pathways Research Paper

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Metabolic Pathways Respiration is a process which requires glucose in order to release energy which can produce a chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is made up of adenine, ribose and three phosphate groups. The energy released is used for cells to work throughout the body in order for it to be able to carry out its daily functions such as muscle contractions and enzyme catalysed reactions. There are thousands of chemical reactions that take place inside the living cells in our body. The name given to this is metabolism which can have different pathways depending on the reactions. One reaction would be the release of energy through respiration which is called a catabolic reaction, and the other reaction would be one that uses…show more content…
The process of glycolysis is to breakdown the glucose into a compound called pyruvate resulting in only 2 ATP molecules being formed. However, the pyruvate can be used to form more ATP in the other stages. This metabolic pathway has 10 reactions which are each catalysed by different enzymes. Furthermore, none of the reactions require oxygen so this stage is anaerobic respiration. The first three reactions come under the process called phosphorylation as they activate the glucose molecule by connecting the to phosphate groups so they are unable to separate. So basically, glycolysis uses one molecule of glucose to make four molecules of ATP, two of reduced NAD and two of…show more content…
An electron transport chain is when many different types of compounds transfer electrons from their donors to the acceptors through redox reactions. The energy is given to the electrons by reduced NADH. The electron transport chain is where most of the ATP is made. The hydrogen molecules that get removed from the kreb's cycle are pumped inside the mitochondria using the energy released from the electrons which then mix with more hydrogen and oxygen which then forms water. Once this is complete, the hydrogen molecules are no longer pumped. The hydrogen eventually then finds its way back to the mitochondria cytoplasm through channels of protein. While the hydrogen is finding its way back, ATP is produced from ADP and phosphate

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