Biological energy production Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Biological energy production - Essay Example There are mainly four recurring steps of the entire process of beta oxidation of fatty acid catabolism. However, the activation of fatty acids is quite necessary before that. The fatty acids are able to penetrate the plasma membrane because of the high fat solubility and poor water solubility of the plasma membranes. A fatty acid can react with ATP after it gets in the cytosol, and give a fatty acyl adenylate in addition to inorganic pyrophosphate. It is this reactive acyl adenylate that reacts with free coenzyme A in order to produce fatty acyl-CoA ester and AMP. The first step of fatty acid catabolism or beta oxidation is the oxidation of the fatty acid by the Acyl-CoA- Dehydrogenease. A double bond is formed between the C-2 and C-3. The purpose that the enzyme serves is to catalyze the process of formation. In the second step of fatty acid catabolism the bond between the C-2 and C-3 goes through the process of hydration. This is a stereospecific reaction that forms only the L isomer. The third step of fatty acid breakdown is the oxidation of L-beta-hydroxyacyl CoA by NAD+. In this process the hydroxyl group is converted into a keto group. The last step of catabolism of fatty acid is called Thiolysis. It is the cleavage of beta-ketocyl CoA by the thiol group of a different molecule of CoA. It is between the C-2 and C-3 that the thiol is inserted. (Miles, 2003) Aerobic respiration is one kind of ce... The principal condition for the aerobic respiration to take place and generate ATP is that this biological process necessitates the presence and participation of oxygen. There is more than one part of the cells that are involved in the entire process of ATP being generated and used. One of the major and important phases of the production of ATP is that Pyruvate has to be broken down from glycolysis and has to enter the mitochondrion so that it can get fully oxidized by the Kerbs cycle. Therefore, mitochondrion can be regarded as one of the cell parts that are involved in the production of ATP in aerobic respiration. Though it is believed that mitochondria, that is considered to be the powerhouse of the cell, is the cell part where all ATP is produced. The fact remains that all ATP is not produced in mitochondria, though most of them are. Since the process of oxidative phosphorylation takes place in mitochondria, it is thought that all ATP is produced in mitochondria. Some of the ATP is also produced in the cytoplasm. The production of ATP also takes into account the creation of chemiosmotic potential through the process of the protons being pumped across a membrane. The membrane, therefore, comes to be one of the parts of the cell that are involved in the production of ATP in aerobic respiration. (Porter and Brand, 1995; Kaiser, 2001) Identify the sites within cells where ATP is both produced and used up during anaerobic respiration. So far as anaerobic respiration is concerned, pyruvate is not metabolized without oxygen by cellular respiration. In fact, it goes through a process of fermentation. Apart from the fact that the production of ATP in aerobic