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Krebs cycle

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Krebs cycle, series of chemical reactions carried out in the living cell; in most higher animals, including humans, it is essential for the oxidative metabolism metabolism, sum of all biochemical processes involved in life. Two subcategories of metabolism are anabolism, the building up of complex organic molecules from simpler precursors, and catabolism, the breakdown of complex substances into simpler molecules, often
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 of glucose glucose, dextrose, or grape sugar, monosaccharide sugar with the empirical formula C6H12O6 .
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 and other simple sugars. The breakdown of glucose to carbon dioxide and water is a complex set of chemical interconversions called carbohydrate catabolism catabolism , subdivision of metabolism involving all degradative chemical reactions in the living cell. Large polymeric molecules such as polysaccharides, nucleic acids, and proteins are first split into their constituent monomeric units, such as amino acids, after
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, and the Krebs cycle is the second of three major stages in the process, occurring between glycolysis glycolysis , term given to the metabolic pathway utilized by most microorganisms (yeast and bacteria) and by all "higher" animals (including humans) for the degradation of glucose. Glycolysis means, literally, the dissolution of sugar.
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 and oxidative phosphorylation phosphorylation, chemical process in which a phosphate group is added to an organic molecule. In living cells phosphorylation is associated with respiration, which takes place in the cell's mitochondria, and photosynthesis, which takes place in the chloroplasts.
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. This cycle, also known as the citric acid cycle, was named in recognition of the German chemist Hans Krebs, whose research into the cellular utilization of glucose contributed greatly to the modern understanding of this aspect of metabolism. The name citric acid cycle is derived from the first product generated by the sequence of conversions, i.e., citric acid citric acid or 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid, HO2CCH2C(OH)(CO2H)CH2CO2
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. The reactions are seen to comprise a cycle inasmuch as citric acid is both the first product and the final reactant, being regenerated at the conclusion of one complete set of chemical rearrangements. Citric acid is a so-called tricarboxylic acid, containing three carboxyl groups (COOH). Hence the Krebs cycle is sometimes referred to as the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. The Krebs cycle begins with the condensation of one molecule of a compound called oxaloacetic acid and one molecule of acetyl CoA (a derivative of coenzyme A; see coenzyme coenzyme , any one of a group of relatively small organic molecules required for the catalytic function of certain enzymes. A coenzyme may either be attached by covalent bonds to a particular enzyme or exist freely in solution, but in either case it participates
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). The acetyl portion of acetyl CoA is derived from pyruvic acid, which is produced by the degradation of glucose in glycolysis. After condensation, the oxaloacetic acid and acetyl CoA react to produce citric acid, which serves as a substrate for seven distinct enzyme-catalyzed reactions that occur in sequence and proceed with the formation of seven intermediate compounds, including succinic acid, fumaric acid, and malic acid. Malic acid is converted to oxaloacetic acid, which, in turn, reacts with yet another molecule of acetyl CoA, thus producing citric acid, and the cycle begins again. Each turn of the citric acid cycle produces, simultaneously, two molecules of carbon dioxide and eight atoms of hydrogen as byproducts. The carbon dioxide generated is an ultimate end product of glucose breakdown and is removed from the cell by the blood. The hydrogen atoms are donated as hydride ions to the system of electron transport molecules, which allow for oxidative phosphorylation. In most higher plants, in certain microorganisms, such as the bacterium Escherichia coli, and in the algae, the citric acid cycle is modified to a form called the glyoxylate cycle, so named because of the prominent intermediate, glyoxylic acid.

tricarboxylic acid cycle

 or Krebs cycle or citric-acid cycle

Last stage of the chemical processes by which living cells obtain energy from foodstuffs. Described by Hans Adolf Krebs in 1937, the reactions of the cycle have been shown in animals, plants, microorganisms, and fungi, and it is thus a feature of cell chemistry shared by all types of life. It is a complex series of reactions beginning and ending with the compound oxaloacetate. In addition to re-forming oxaloacetate, the cycle produces carbon dioxide and the energy-rich compound ATP. The enzymes that catalyze each step are located in mitochondria in animals, in chloroplasts in plants, and in the cell membrane in microorganisms. The hydrogen atoms and electrons that are removed from intermediate compounds formed during the cycle are channeled ultimately to oxygen in animal cells or to carbon dioxide in plant cells.


Krebs cycle [′krebz ‚sī·kəl]
(biochemistry)
A sequence of enzymatic reactions involving oxidation of a two-carbon acetyl unit to carbon dioxide and water to provide energy for storage in the form of high-energy phosphate bonds. Also known as citric acid cycle; tricarboxylic acid cycle.


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Pyruvate, which is produced by the digestion of sugars, is the compound that starts the Krebs cycle - the complex series of chemical reactions in cells that releases energy as part of respiration.
It is synthesized from alpha-keto glutarate, which is produced just before the Succinyl Co-A stage of the Krebs Cycle in the brain.
Learn about the krebs cycle and how it works to boost energy.
 
 
 
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