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- Newsgroups: sci.bio
- Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!nntp.Stanford.EDU!leland.Stanford.EDU!kksng
- From: kksng@leland.Stanford.EDU (Kenneth Kai-Sing Ng)
- Subject: Re: Krebs cycle
- Message-ID: <1993Jan8.174736.11471@leland.Stanford.EDU>
- Sender: news@leland.Stanford.EDU (Mr News)
- Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
- References: <726020993snz@lrts1.demon.co.uk>
- Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 17:47:36 GMT
- Lines: 31
-
- In article <726020993snz@lrts1.demon.co.uk>, grmd@lrts1.demon.co.uk ("Gareth R. M. Davies") writes:
- |> Please can somebody give me an explanation of the Krebs (TCA)
- |> cycle, and where it occurs. I understand it occurs in the
- |> mitochondria and may be connected with aerobic respiration in
- |> cells. Any easily readable references would also be helpful.
- |> If you prefer to send to me directly, my email address is
- |> grmd@lrts1.demon.co.uk
- |> --
- |> Gareth R. M. Davies Work tel. +44 753 696777 x2613
- |> Home tel. +44 344 21729 Work fax. +44 753 696254
- |>
- |>
-
- The Krebs or TCA cycle is a series of enzymatic reactions found in nearly all
- organisms ranging from bacteria to plants to animals. It has two main roles.
- One is to oxidize a two carbon compound carried by a cofactor (acetyl-CoA)
- derived from sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids (FOOD!), thus liberating a
- source of high energy electrons which can be used to drive oxidative
- phosphorylation, a means of generating energy for the cell. In aerobic
- organisms, oxidative phosphorylation typically requires oxygen as a terminal
- electron acceptor. A second role of the TCA cycle is to generate, again from
- acetyl-CoA, four carbon building blocks for the synthesis of amino acids and
- glucose. In eukaryotic organisms (plants, animals, and other non-bacteria),
- the location of the enzymes of the TCA cycle is the matrix of the
- mitochondria. In bacteria, these enzymes presumably reside in the cytosol.
-
- Any biochemistry text will have gobs of detail on the TCA cycle. I like
- Stryer's "Biochemistry", especially his chapter on the integration of
- metabolism.
-
- Why are you wondering about the Krebs cycle?
-