Count the number of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in pyruvic acid and acety
ID: 89490 • Letter: C
Question
Count the number of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in pyruvic acid and acetyl CoA. Write the chemical formula for pyruvic acid and acetyl CoA below. How is the number of carbon and oxygen atoms in acetyl CoA different from the number in pyruvic acid? Account for this difference. In this reaction, NAD^+ is reduced by the addition of 2 hydrogen atoms. Where do these hydrogen atoms come from? What 2 cellular processes does the conversion of pyruvic acid to acetyl CoA link together. Explain how this reaction contributes to the goal of harvesting energy from glucose.Explanation / Answer
Answer:
1) Count the number of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms in pyruvic acid and acetyl CoA. Write the chemical formula for Pyruvic acid and acetyl CoA below:
Pyruvic acid: C3H4O3, number of carbon = 3, Hydrogen =4 and Oxygen = 3
Acetyl CoA: 2 carbon compound with attached CoA OR C23H38N7O17P3S, total number of carbon (including CoA) = 23, Hydrogen = 38 and Oxygen = 17
2) How is the number of carbon and oxygen atoms in acetyl CoA different from the number in pyruvic acid. Account for this difference.
Number of carbon and oxygen differ significantly in Acetyl CoA vs Pyruvic acid
At the end of glycolysis, Pyruvate is oxidatively decarboxylated to Acetyl CoA. In the first step the carboxylate group is removed and then oxidized two carbon molecule attaches with Coenzyme A (organic molecule derived from Vitamin B5) leading to the formation of acetyl-CoA. This reaction is performed by Pyruvate dehydrogenase.
3) In this reaction, NAD+ is reduced by the addition of 2 hydrogen atoms. Where do these hydrogen atoms come from?
Hydrogen is removed from each acetyl group (by dehydrogenation) and added to NAD+
4) What 2 cellular processes does the conversion of pyruvic acid to acetyl CoA link together.
5) Explain how this reaction contributes to the goal of harvesting energy from glucose.
The energy produced in glycolysis is meagre based on the net production of only 2 ATP and NADH molecules respectively. Through this process, 8 NADH molecules are produced and each one is convertible to 3 ATPs. This makes it possible to extract a large amount of energy from the starting glucose molecule.