Anaerobic Respiration (Edexcel International A Level Biology): Revision Note

Anaerobic Respiration

• Sometimes cells experience conditions with little or no oxygen

• There are several consequences when there is not enough oxygen available for respiration:

  • There is no final acceptor (oxygen) of electrons from the electron transport chain

  • The electron transport chain stops functioning

  • No more ATP is produced via oxidative phosphorylation

  • Reduced NAD and FAD aren’t oxidised by an electron carrier

  • No oxidised NAD and FAD are available for dehydrogenation in the Krebs cycle

  • The Krebs cycle stops

  • The link reaction also stops

• However, there is still a way for cells to produce some ATP in low oxygen conditions through anaerobic respiration

Anaerobic pathways

• Some cells are able to oxidise the reduced NAD produced during glycolysis so it can be used for further hydrogen transport

• This means that glycolysis can continue and small amounts of ATP are still produced

• Different cells use different pathways to achieve this

  • Yeast and microorganisms use ethanol fermentation

  • Other microorganisms and mammalian muscle cells use lactate fermentation

Lactate fermentation

• In this pathway reduced NAD transfers hydrogen to pyruvate to form lactate

• NAD can now be reused in glycolysis

• Pyruvate is reduced to lactate by enzyme lactate dehydrogenase

• Pyruvate is the hydrogen acceptor

• The final product lactate can be further metabolised

• A small amount of ATP is produced 

The pathway of lactate fermentation

Processing Lactate

• Lactate (lactic acid) can build up in the cells after a period of time

• After lactate is produced two things can happen:

  • It can be oxidised back to pyruvate which is then channelled into the Krebs cycle for ATP production

  • It can be converted into glucose by the liver cells for use during respiration or for storage (in the form of glycogen)

• The oxidation of lactate back to pyruvate needs extra oxygen

  • This extra oxygen is referred to as an oxygen debt

  • It explains why animals breathe deeper and faster after exercise

Ethanol fermentation

• In this pathway reduced NAD transfers its hydrogens to ethanal to form ethanol

• In the first step of the pathway pyruvate is decarboxylated to ethanal

  • Producing CO₂

• Then ethanal is reduced to ethanol by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase

• Ethanal is the hydrogen acceptor

• Ethanol cannot be further metabolised; it is a waste product

• Ethanol fermentation occurs in yeast and plant cells

The pathway of ethanol fermentation