The respiration reaction sequence is also known as the electron transport chain.

Theprocess of forming ATP from the electron transport chain is known as oxidative
phospho-rylation. Electrons carried by NADH +H + and FADH2 are transferred to
oxygen via a se-ries of electron carriers, and ATPs are formed. Three ATPs are
formed from each NADH + H+ and two ATPs for each FADH2 in eucaryotes. The
details of the respiratory (cy-tochrome) chain are depicted in Fig. 5.6. The major
role of the electron transport chain isto regenerate NADs for glycolysis and ATPs for
biosynthesis. The term P/O ratio is used to indicate the number of phosphate bonds
made (ADP + Pi -> ATP) for each oxygenatom used as an electron acceptor
(e.g., O2 +NADH+H+H2O+NAD+).
The energy deposited in 36 mol of ATP is 263 kcal/mol glucose. The freeenergy change in the direct oxidation of glucose is 686 kcal/mol glucose. Therefore,
the energyefficiency of glycolysis is 38% under standard conditions. With the
correction for non-standard conditions, this efficiency is estimated to be greater
than 60%, which is signifi-cantly higher than the efficiency of man-made machines.
The remaining energy stored inglucose is dissipated as heat. However, in
procaryotes the conversion of the reducingpower to ATP is less efficient. The
number of ATP generated from NADH+H+is usually2, and only one ATP may be
generated from FADH2. Thus, in procaryotes a single glu-cose molecule will yield
less than 24 ATP, and the P/O ratio is generally between 1 and 2.
Formation of NADH+H+, FADH2, and ATP at different stages of the aerobic catabolism of glucose are summarized in Table 5.1. The overall reaction (assuming 3
ATP/NADH) of aerobic glucose catabolism in eucaryotes
Figure 5.6. Electron transport and electron transport phosphorylation.Top:Oxidation
of NADH and the flow of electrons through the electron transport system, leading to
thetransfer of protons (H+) from the inside to the outside of the membrane. The
tendency of protons to return to the inside is called proton-motive force.Bottom:ATP
synthesis occursas protons reenter the cell. An ATPase enzyme uses the protonmotive force for the syn-thesis of ATP. The proton-motive force is discussed in
Section 4.7. (With permission, fromT. D. Brock, K. M. Brock, and D. M. Ward,Basic
Microbiology with Applications, 3d ed.,Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ,
1986, p. 71.)