Aerobic respiration requires oxygen.
Aerobic respiration is a type of metabolism in which oxygen is required to intervene. It should be noted that respiration consists of exchanging gases with the environment , a process that can be carried out in different ways depending on the living being in question.
The concept of aerobic or aerobic respiration has its etymological origin in Latin and Greek. Starting from this premise we can establish that it is made up of two words. The first of them, respiration , is made up of three Latin parts: the prefix re – which can be translated as "repetition" ; the verb spirare which is equivalent to "blow" ; and the suffix – ción which is synonymous with “action” .
The second word, aerobic , as we said before, comes from Greek. In this case it emanates from the union of aero , which means "air", and bio , which refers to "animal". This adjective is used in the field of biology to refer to someone who requires oxygen to survive. What is related to organisms classified as aerobic is known as aerobic .
Characteristics of aerobic respiration
Through aerobic respiration, living beings obtain energy from organic molecules, where carbon is oxidized and oxygen is used as an oxidant . When oxygen does not function as an oxidant, it is called anaerobic or anaerobic respiration.
In aerobic respiration, oxygen manages to cross the biological membranes (first the plasma membrane and then the mitochondrial membranes) until it joins electrons and protons to form hydrogen atoms and, through them, water. The pyruvic acid obtained in the first anaerobic phase is oxidized with oxygen to also provide energy and carbon dioxide.
Human beings develop aerobic respiration.
Different stages
It is possible to divide aerobic respiration into different stages. The first phase is known as glycolysis and arises when the glucose molecule is oxidized and split into a pair of pyruvic acid molecules.
The second stage is known as oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvic acid . During this period, pyruvic acid enters the matrix of the mitochondria, where the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme complex is responsible for processing it.
Aerobic respiration continues with the so-called Krebs cycle (characterized by the oxidation of acetyls carried by acetyl coenzyme A, from pyruvate), the respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation .
Aerobic respiration vs. anaerobic respiration
In contrast to this type of respiration, and to avoid any type of confusion, it must be emphasized that there is what is known as anaerobic or anaerobic respiration . This can be defined as that process in which oxygen is not required since other types of substances such as nitrogen or sulfate are used. A fact that is precisely what makes the most absolute difference with aerobic respiration.
Thus, while an example of aerobic could be that carried out by human beings since they need oxygen to live, an example of anaerobic would be that carried out by various types of bacteria.
The bacteria that can cause diseases that cause the death of people or others that cause the appearance of botulism or tetanus, for example, are those that have this type of breathing.