Question

Briefly explain how the Citric Acid cycle generates CO2 ATP, NADH and FADH Give the total theoretical yield of each of these molecules during this cycle for one glucose molecule oxidized

Answer 1

Citric acid cycle plays a role in the process of energy production and photosynthesis. When acetyl CoA coupled with oxaloacetate, a six-carbon molecule citrate is formed. Oxidation reaction takes place and transferring the electrons to NAD+ to produce NADH to release CO2. Oxidative phosphorylation leads to the phosphorylation of ADP thereby producing ATP.

The cycle produces 2 CO2 molecules. One molecule of ATP is being produced in every turn of the cycle. The energy yield by complete oxidation of glucose are the following:

2 FADH2 from the citric acid cycle will yield 2 ATP per FADH2 and 4 ATP

6 NADH from the citric acid cycle will yield 3 ATP per NADH and 18 ATP