Aerobic Respiration Process

ASSIGNMENT 02

DUE DATE: 15 SEPTEMBER 2017

UNIQUE NUMBER: 76029608

STUDENT NUMBER: 62449842

Question 1

The general pathways for ATP generation include aerobic respiration, anaerobic respiration and fermentation. Aerobic respiration can be referred to as the breakdown of glucose molecules in the presence of oxygen and water to release energy in the form of ATP. The other products of this reaction include carbon dioxide and water. The overall equation for aerobic respiration is C6H12O6+6O2+ H2O→ 6CO2 +12H2O+ energy (ATP). During aerobic respiration, there are different stages that occur these include glycolysis, formation of acetyl-CoA, the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) and oxidative phosphorylation. The first stage which is glycolysis occurs

In eukaryotes it occurs in the chloroplast stroma, whereas in prokaryotes it occurs in the carboxysomes which contain enzymes essential for Calvin cycle. The Calvin cycle consists of three stages which are the carboxylation, reduction and the regeneration stage. In the course of carboxylation phase, an enzyme called ribose biphosphate carboxylase (RUBISCO) speeds up the addition of carbon dioxide to 5-carbon molecule ribulose-1.5-biphosphate (RuBP) generating a six carbon transition molecule that concurrently splits two molecules of 3-phoglycerate (PGA). During the reduction phase, PGA is gradually reduced and forms glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. In the final phase which is the regeneration phase, RuBP is regenerated and the cycle starts all over again. Furthermore, regeneration phase produces other carbohydrates such as glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate, and glucose 6-phosphate. This last phase is similar to pentose pathway which is why Calvin cycle is often referred to as the reductive pentose

Microbes are also responsible for processes like photosynthesis which are very important because they provide living organisms with oxygen which is very crucial for processes like respiration. Additionally, this module is important in terms of research because as known more and more microbes specifically bacteria are becoming resistant to the different antibiotics. As such, more research is required to improve the treatment used for fighting or destroying these strains. Moreover, the microbes are changing and adapting all the time, this could be owed to the changing temperatures which affect their usual environment. So research is required to find out about the changes and how the available treatment can be modified to fight off these new strains that are developing. New species are identified all the time and research is required to learn more about them and their physiology. In conclusion, microbial physiology is a very crucial module to learn because it goes into detail with the microbes’ physiology making it easier to analyze and understand the data collected in an investigation using various methods and techniques, more especial in finding out more about a certain