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9. Respiratory Substrates
  
Respiratory Substrate: organic substance that can be used for respiration.

      

The more protons, the more ATP is produced. So the more hydrogen atoms there are in a molecule
of respiratory substrate, the more ATP can be generated when that substrate is respired.
If there are more hydrogen atoms (protons) per mole of respiratory substrate, the more oxygen is
needed to respire that substrate. One mole is the gram molecular mass of a substance (180g of
glucose is 1 mol).

  
  
Glucose is the chief respiratory substrate and some mammalian cells can only use glucose for
respiration. Animals store glucose as glycogen, plants for it as starch. Both can be hydrolysed to
glucose for respiration. Other monosaccharides such as fructose are changed to glucose for
respiration.
-Y The theoretical max energy yield for glucose is 2870kJ per mol
-Y It takes 30.6kJ to produce one mol ATP
-Y So respiration of 1mol glucose should theoretically produce nearly 94mol ATP
-Y The actual yield is only about 30mol (32% efficiency)
-Y The remaining energy is released as heat which helps to maintain a suitable body
temperature so enzyme controlled reactions can proceed.

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Any excess amino acids that are released after protein digestion may be deaminated. The amine
group is removed and converted to urea. The rest of the molecule is changed to glycogen orfat
which can be stored and later respired to release energy.
-Y -hen an organism is undergoing fasting/prolonged exercise, protein from the muscle can be
hydrolysed to amino acids which can be respired.
-Y Some can be converted to pyruvate/acetate and be carried to the Krebs cycle
-Y Some may enter the Krebs cycle directly
-Y The number of hydrogen atoms made per mole accepted by NAD and then used in oxidative
phosphorylation is more than the number of hydrogen atoms per mole of glucose, so
proteins release slightly more energy than their equivalent mass of carbohydrate.
 


These are important respiratory substrates for many tissues, in particular muscle tissues.
Triglycerides are hydrolysed by lipase to fatty acids and glycerol. Glycerol can be converted to
glucose and then respired but fatty acids cannot.

†

Glycerol 3 fatty acids

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