Question 3 Explain how catabolic pathways yield energy by oxidizing organic material?

(10 marks) Catabolic pathways (breakdown pathways) is the releasing of energy by breaking down complex molecules to simpler molecules involving oxidation or hydrolysis. While the break down product have less potential energy than the reactant. The energy release are used for anabolic reactions to be reuse by the cell. The energy is stored in the form of energy-rich ATP, which powers the reactions of anabolism. The cell produce ATP by adding a phosphate group to the molecule adenosine diphosphate (ADP). Therefore, ATP is the major chemical link between the energyyielding reactions of catabolism, and the energy-requiring reactions of anabolism. ( )

Organic molecules with abundance of hydrogen atom are rich in high energy electron which store energy in their arrangement of atoms will undregoes oxidtion in the presence of of oxygen to form carbon dioxide and water. During catabolic reaction ,with the help of enzymes ,a large organic molecules that are rich in potential energy such as polysaccharides, lipids, nucleic acids and proteins are broken down into smaller simpler waste product such as monosaccharides, fatty acids, nucleotides, and amino acids, respectively that have less energy. As molecules such as polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids are made from long chains of these small monomer units. The formation of these waste is an oxidation process involving the release of chemical free energy ,some of which is lost as heat ,but the mostly are used to drive the synthesis of ATP. This molecule acts as a way for the cell to transfer the energy released by catabolism to the energy-requiring reactions that make up anabolism. Catabolic patways therefore yield the chemical energy necessary for the maintenance and growth of cells through oxidizing of organic molecules. Examples of catabolic processes mostly in the cellular respiration include glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, electron trasport chain ,oxidative phosphorylation ,substrate level phosphorylation. Glycolysis, which occurs in the cytosol, begins the degradation process by breaking glucose into two molecules of a compound called pyruvate. The citric acid cycle, which takes place within the mitochondrial matrix, completes the breakdown of glucose by oxidizing a derivative of pyruvate to carbon dioxide. Some of the steps of glycolysis and the citric acid cycle are redox reactions in which (oxidation)dehydrogenase enzymes transfer electrons from substrates to NAD+, forming NADH. Energy is conserved as energy-rich hydrogen atoms in the coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate in the reduced form of NADPH. The NADPH can then be used as a source of high-energy hydrogen atoms during certain biosynthetic reactions of anabolism.

In the third stage of respiration, the electron transport chain accepts electrons from the breakdown products of the first two stages (most often via NADH) and passes these electrons from one molecule to another. At the end of the chain, the electrons are combined with molecular oxygen and hydrogen ions (H+), forming water (see Figure 9.5b). The energy released at each step of the chain is stored in a form the mitochondrion can use to make ATP. This mode of ATP synthesis is called oxidative phosphorylation because it is powered by the redox reactions of the electron transport chain. The inner membrane of the mitochondrion is the site of electron transport and chemiosmosis, the processes that together constitute oxidative phosphorylation. Oxidative phosphorylation accounts for almost 90% of the ATP generated by respiration. A smaller amount of ATP is formed directly in a few reactions of glycolysis and the citric acid cycle by a mechanism called substratelevel phosphorylation Cells performing aerobic respiration synthesize much more ATP, but not as part of glycolysis. These further aerobic reactions use pyruvate and NADH + H+ from glycolysis. Eukaryotic aerobic respiration produces approximately 34 additional molecules of ATP for each glucose molecule, however most of these are produced by a vastly different mechanism to the substrate-level phosphorylation in glycolysis. The total number of ATP produced by glycolysis and metabolism is 38 molecules, which includes a net of two from glycolysis (substrate level phosphorylation), 30 from the oxidation of 10 NADH molecules, four from oxidation of two FADH2 molecules, and two from substrate level phosphorylation in the Krebs cycle. For anaerobic fermentations, the metabolism of one molecule of glucose to two molecules of pyruvate has a net yield of two molecules of ATP. Most cells will then carry out further reactions to 'repay' the used NAD+ and produce a final product of ethanol or lactic acid. Many bacteria use inorganic compounds as hydrogen acceptors to regenerate the NAD+. However, the most prevalent and efficient catabolic pathway is cellular respiration, in which oxygen is consumed as a reactant along with the organic fuel. In eukaryotic cells, mitochondria house most of the metabolic equipment for cellular respiration.