BRAINCAKEAnaerobic Respiration in Plants and Fungi
Plants and fungi such as yeast can also respire without oxygen, for example yeast in a sealed fermenter or plant roots in waterlogged soil. As in mammals, the problem is regenerating NAD so that glycolysis can continue, but the route is different. It is called alcoholic fermentation.
It happens in two steps in the cytoplasm:
1. Pyruvate (3C) is decarboxylated to ethanal (2C), releasing carbon dioxide. The enzyme is pyruvate decarboxylase.
2. Ethanal is reduced to ethanol by reduced NAD, catalysed by alcohol dehydrogenase. This regenerates NAD.
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Key terms in this lesson
- nad
- A coenzyme (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) that acts as a hydrogen acceptor in respiration, becoming reduced when it accepts hydrogen from a substrate.
More in Cellular Respiration
- Glycolysis
- Anaerobic Respiration in Mammals
- Lactate
- Sprint Athletes
- Discovery of Glycolysis
- Aerobic Respiration: Summary
- The Link Reaction
- The Krebs Cycle
All 20 lessons in Cellular Respiration · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics