Differences Between Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Respiration
In this lesson, you’ll learn the difference between the two major types of cellular respiration: aerobic and anaerobic. We’ll go through the basics of each type of respiration, what organisms use them, and what products they create.
Cellular Respiration
Cellular respiration is the process in which organisms break down glucose from food to create a usable form on energy called ATP. Short for adenosine triphosphate, ATP easily transports energy around an organism. When one of ATP’s three phosphate groups breaks off, energy is released for all the cells to use. Clearly, cellular respiration is an important process, and there are two main types of cellular respiration: aerobic and anaerobic. Let’s take a look at these processes.
Aerobic Respiration
Aerobic respiration can only occur in the presence of oxygen. During aerobic respiration, the reactants oxygen and glucose are turned into the products carbon dioxide, water, and ATP.
These products are created during aerobic respiration over the course of three steps: glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation. During glycolysis, glucose molecules are broken down into two smaller pyruvate molecules. In the citric acid cycle, electrons are released and gathered by acceptor molecules. During oxidative phosphorylation, the electrons help make a concentration gradient with hydrogen ions that assist a molecule called ATP synthase in building ATP.
Most eukaryotic organisms use aerobic respiration. Eukaryotic organisms are ones whose cells contain a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. Virtually all plants and animals use aerobic respiration, and some bacteria do as well.
Anaerobic Respiration
Anaerobic respiration occurs when oxygen is not present. It consists of two steps. The first step, like aerobic respiration, is glycolysis, that produces ATP from the reactant glucose. The second step, fermentation, creates lactic acid or ethanol, depending on the type of fermentation. Lactic acid is produced as a result of lactic acid fermentation, while ethanol is produced as a result of alcohol fermentation. That’s why we use yeast in the production of beer to create ethanol, which is what makes people drunk!
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