In: Biology
Under anaerobic conditions, cells must sacrifice the pyruvate they made from glycolysis. Why?
Anaerobic respiration is the breakdown of glucose in the absence of oxygen and aerobic respiration is the breakdown of glucose in the presence of oxygen. Latter is much more efficient than former because aerobic respiration produces 32 molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose whereas anaerobic respiration produces only two molecules of ATP per molecule of pyruvic acid. The cells must sacrifice pyruvate during anaerobic respiration because pyruvic acid acts as the final electron acceptor during this process and this results in oxidation of NADH to NAD+. The main purpose of aerobic respiration is the regeneration of NAD+ so that it can enter aerobic respiration and glucose can be broken down aerobically to generate more number of ATP.
The process of anaerobic respiration takes place mainly by lactic acid fermentation and alcohol fermentation.
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