Biology 101

Week 2: Energetics - Homework

Week 2 Homework

Complete the following and place the Word document in the Homework Dropbox by Midnight Sunday. 

1. ATP comes primarily from the breakdown of glucose.  If your blood glucose level drops, what physiological symptoms would you exhibit?

Confusion, difficulty in thinking, or inability to concentrate 2 pts Is that really all?

Shakiness, anxiety, nervousness, palpitations, sweating, feeling of warmth, dilated pupils, clamminess, feeling of numbness, impaired judgment, depression, crying, irritability, emotional lability, fatigue, apathy, daydreaming, confusion. I could go on and on.

2. If cellular respiration were the stock market (you are investing ATP and getting ATP dividends), where would you get the most return on your investment: glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, or the electron transport chain?  Explain your choice.

I would choose electron transport chain. Glycolysis and the Krebs cycle only produce 2 ATP due to the lack of production through direct synthesis. The electron transport chain produces 19 times the amount thanks to the Krebs cycle with the production of NADH and FADH2. These two outputs carry more energy than ATP. 4 pts Good

Pathway | Investment | Return | Net |

Glycolysis | 2 | 4 | 2 |

Krebs | 0 | 2 | 2 |

Electron transport | 0 | 32 | 32: the winner! |

3. Under aerobic conditions, one of the products from glycolysis can be used in the Citric Acid Cycle, but it must first be converted to what before it can be used? In the Citric Acid Cycle (Krebs' Cycle) what and how many of each energy rich molecules are produced? Where in a eukaryotic cell does the Citric Acid Cycle take place?

Pyruvic acid is this product. Pruvic acid is converted to acentic acid and then used by attaching itself to coenzyme A to form acetyl CoA. CoA escorts it to the first reaction and then is removed. It produces 2 ATP, 6 NADH, and 2 FADH per glucose molecule. This cycle takes place in the mitochondrion...