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Reverse Electron Flow
Reverse electron flow (also known as reverse electron transport) is a mechanism in microbial metabolism. Chemolithotrophs using an electron donor with a higher redox potential than NAD(P)+/NAD(P)H, such as nitrite or sulfur compounds, must use energy to reduce NAD(P)+. This energy is supplied by consuming proton motive force to drive electrons in a reverse direction through an electron transport chain and is thus the reverse process as forward electron transport. In some cases, the energy consumed in reverse electron transport is five times greater than energy gained from the forward process. Autotrophs can use this process to supply reducing power for inorganic carbon fixation. Reverse electron transfer (RET) is the process that can occur in respiring mitochondria, when a small fraction of electrons from reduced ubiquinol is driven upstream by the membrane potential towards mitochondrial complex I. This results in reduction of oxidized pyridine nucleotide (NAD+ or NADP+). Th ...
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Microbial Metabolism
Microbial metabolism is the means by which a microbe obtains the energy and nutrients (e.g. carbon) it needs to live and reproduce. Microbes use many different types of metabolic strategies and species can often be differentiated from each other based on metabolic characteristics. The specific metabolic properties of a microbe are the major factors in determining that microbe's ecological niche, and often allow for that microbe to be useful in industrial processes or responsible for biogeochemical cycles. Types All microbial metabolisms can be arranged according to three principles: 1. How the organism obtains carbon for synthesizing cell mass:Morris, J. et al. (2019). "Biology: How Life Works", 3rd edition, W. H. Freeman. * autotrophic – carbon is obtained from carbon dioxide () * heterotrophic – carbon is obtained from organic compounds * mixotrophic – carbon is obtained from both organic compounds and by fixing carbon dioxide 2. How the organism obtains reducing ...
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Exergonic
An exergonic process is one which there is a positive flow of energy from the system to the surroundings. This is in contrast with an endergonic process. Constant pressure, constant temperature reactions are exergonic if and only if the Gibbs free energy change is negative (∆''G'' < 0). "Exergonic" (from the prefix exo-, derived for the Greek word ἔξω ''exō'', "outside" and the suffix -ergonic, derived from the Greek word ἔργον ''ergon'', "") means "releasing energy in the form of work". In thermodynamics, work is defined as the energy moving from the (the internal region) to the

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Catalyze
Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quickly, very small amounts of catalyst often suffice; mixing, surface area, and temperature are important factors in reaction rate. Catalysts generally react with one or more reactants to form intermediates that subsequently give the final reaction product, in the process of regenerating the catalyst. The rate increase occurs because the catalyst allows the reaction to occur by an alternative mechanism which may be much faster than the noncatalyzed mechanism. However the noncatalyzed mechanism does remain possible, so that the total rate (catalyzed plus noncatalyzed) can only increase in the presence of the catalyst and never decrease. Catalysis may be classified as either homogeneous, whose components are dispersed in the same phase (usual ...
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Nucleotide
Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecules within all Life, life-forms on Earth. Nucleotides are obtained in the diet and are also synthesized from common Nutrient, nutrients by the liver. Nucleotides are composed of three subunit molecules: a nucleobase, a pentose, five-carbon sugar (ribose or deoxyribose), and a phosphate group consisting of one to three phosphates. The four nucleobases in DNA are guanine, adenine, cytosine, and thymine; in RNA, uracil is used in place of thymine. Nucleotides also play a central role in metabolism at a fundamental, cellular level. They provide chemical energy—in the form of the nucleoside triphosphates, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), guanosine triphosphate (GTP), cytidine triphosphate (CTP), and uridine triph ...
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Uncoupler
An uncoupler or uncoupling agent is a molecule that disrupts oxidative phosphorylation in prokaryotes and mitochondria or photophosphorylation in chloroplasts and cyanobacteria by dissociating the reactions of ATP synthesis from the electron transport chain. The result is that the cell or mitochondrion expends energy to generate a proton-motive force, but the proton-motive force is dissipated before the ATP synthase can recapture this energy and use it to make ATP. Because the intracellular supply of protons is replenished, uncouplers actually stimulate cellular metabolism and oxygen consumption (despite their inhibitory effects on oxidative phosphorylation) and increase the energy cost of generating ATP. Uncouplers are capable of transporting protons through mitochondrial and lipid membranes. Description Classical uncouplers have five properties: # the complete release of respiratory control # the substitution of all coupled processes ( ATP synthesis, transhydrogenation, reve ...
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Succinate
Succinic acid () is a dicarboxylic acid with the chemical formula (CH2)2(CO2H)2. In living organisms, succinic acid takes the form of an anion, succinate, which has multiple biological roles as a metabolic intermediate being converted into Fumaric acid, fumarate by the enzyme succinate dehydrogenase in complex 2 of the electron transport chain which is involved in making Adenosine triphosphate, ATP, and as a signaling molecule reflecting the cellular metabolic state. Succinate is generated in mitochondria via the citric acid cycle, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Succinate can exit the mitochondrial matrix and function in the cytoplasm as well as the extracellular space, changing gene expression patterns, modulating epigenetic landscape or demonstrating hormone-like signaling. As such, succinate links cellular metabolism, especially ATP formation, to the regulation of cellular function. Dysregulation of succinate synthesis, and therefore ATP synthesis, happens in some genetic m ...
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Britton Chance
Britton "Brit" Chance (July 24, 1913 – November 16, 2010) was an American biochemist, biophysicist, scholar, and inventor whose work helped develop spectroscopy as a way to diagnose medical problems. He was "a world leader in transforming theoretical science into useful biomedical and clinical applications" and is considered "the founder of the biomedical photonics." He received the National Medal of Science in 1974. He also was an Olympic athlete who won a gold medal in sailing for the United States at the 1952 Summer Olympics in the 5.5 Metre Class. Early life and education Chance was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His parents were Eleanor Kent and Edwin Mickley Chance, president of United Engineers and Constructors, Inc, which built power plants. His father was also a mining engineer, chemist, and inventor who held a number of metallurgical patents and created a device that detected carbon monoxide in coal mines using a chemical reaction. Chance's paternal grandf ...
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Proton-motive Force
Chemiosmosis is the movement of ions across a semipermeable membrane bound structure, down their electrochemical gradient. An important example is the formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the movement of hydrogen ions (H+) across a membrane during cellular respiration or photosynthesis. Hydrogen ions, or protons, will diffuse from a region of high proton concentration to a region of lower proton concentration, and an electrochemical concentration gradient of protons across a membrane can be harnessed to make ATP. This process is related to osmosis, the movement of water across a selective membrane, which is why it is called "chemiosmosis". ATP synthase is the enzyme that makes ATP by chemiosmosis. It allows protons to pass through the membrane and uses the free energy difference to convert phosphorylate adenosine diphosphate (ADP) into ATP. The ATP synthase contains two parts: CF0 (present in thylakoid membrane) and CF1 (protrudes on the outer surface of thylakoid ...
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Catabolism
Catabolism () is the set of metabolic pathways that breaks down molecules into smaller units that are either oxidized to release energy or used in other anabolic reactions. Catabolism breaks down large molecules (such as polysaccharides, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins) into smaller units (such as monosaccharides, fatty acids, nucleotides, and amino acids, respectively). Catabolism is the breaking-down aspect of metabolism, whereas anabolism is the building-up aspect. Cells use the monomers released from breaking down polymers to either construct new polymer molecules or degrade the monomers further to simple waste products, releasing energy. Cellular wastes include lactic acid, acetic acid, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and urea. The formation of these wastes is usually an oxidation process involving a release of chemical free energy, some of which is lost as heat, but the rest of which is used to drive the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This molecule acts as a way ...
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Oxidation
Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a decrease in the oxidation state. The oxidation and reduction processes occur simultaneously in the chemical reaction. There are two classes of redox reactions: * Electron-transfer – Only one (usually) electron flows from the atom, ion, or molecule being oxidized to the atom, ion, or molecule that is reduced. This type of redox reaction is often discussed in terms of redox couples and electrode potentials. * Atom transfer – An atom transfers from one substrate to another. For example, in the rusting of iron, the oxidation state of iron atoms increases as the iron converts to an oxide, and simultaneously, the oxidation state of oxygen decreases as it accepts electrons released by the iron. Although oxidati ...
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Complex I
Respiratory complex I, (also known as NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase, Type I NADH dehydrogenase and mitochondrial complex I) is the first large protein complex of the respiratory chains of many organisms from bacteria to humans. It catalyzes the transfer of electrons from NADH to coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and translocates protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane in eukaryotes or the plasma membrane of bacteria. This enzyme is essential for the normal functioning of cells, and mutations in its subunits lead to a wide range of inherited neuromuscular and metabolic disorders. Defects in this enzyme are responsible for the development of several pathological processes such as ischemia/reperfusion damage (stroke and cardiac infarction), Parkinson's disease and others. Function Complex I is the first enzyme of the mitochondrial electron transport chain. There are three energy-transducing enzymes in the electron transport chain - NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (comp ...
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Respiratory Chain
An electron transport chain (ETC) is a series of protein complexes and other molecules which transfer electrons from electron donors to electron acceptors via redox reactions (both reduction and oxidation occurring simultaneously) and couples this electron transfer with the transfer of protons (H+ ions) across a membrane. Many of the enzymes in the electron transport chain are embedded within the membrane. The flow of electrons through the electron transport chain is an exergonic process. The energy from the redox reactions creates an electrochemical proton gradient that drives the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In aerobic respiration, the flow of electrons terminates with molecular oxygen as the final electron acceptor. In anaerobic respiration, other electron acceptors are used, such as sulfate. In an electron transport chain, the redox reactions are driven by the difference in the Gibbs free energy of reactants and products. The free energy released when a higher- ...
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