EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Aerobic respiration is a series of enzyme-controlled reactions that release the energy stored up in carbohydrates and lipids during photosynthesis and make it available to living organisms. There are four stages: glycolysis, the link reaction, the Krebs cycle and oxidative phosphorylation.

Detailed explanation-2: -The respiratory oxidases are the last enzymes of the aerobic respiratory chain. They catalize the reduction of molecular oxygen to water, with generation of an electrochemical gradient useful for the energy demanding cellular processes. Most of the oxidases belong to the heme-copper superfamily.

Detailed explanation-3: -A number cellular respiration enzymes are controlled by the binding of regulatory molecules at one or more allosteric sites. (An allosteric site is just a regulatory site other than the active site.) Binding of a regulator to the allosteric site of an enzyme changes its structure, making it more or less active.

Detailed explanation-4: -Anaerobic conditions in yeast convert pyruvate to carbon dioxide and ethanol. This occurs with the help of the enzyme pyruvate decarboxylase which removes a carbon dioxide molecule from the pyruvate to yield an acetaldehyde.

Detailed explanation-5: -Specific enzymes catalyze each cellular reaction. The main role of enzymes during the respiration reaction is to assist in transferring electrons from one molecule to another.