ATP Stoichiometry of the TCA Cycle

By summing the component reactions of the TCA cycle, we arrive at the following overall reaction  

Looking at this summary reaction, you may wonder why it doesn t reflect the substantially greater ATP yield that is supposed to be characteristic of aerobic metabolism. The answer is that energy is stored in the reduced coenzyme molecules on the right-hand side of the reaction. Reoxidation of these compounds liberates a large amount of free energy. It is only as the electrons are transferred stepwise from the coenzymes to molecular oxygen that the coupled 

If we take pyruvate rather than acetyl-CoA as the starting point, the equation for the TCA cycle is 

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Stereochemical Aspects of TCA Cycle Reactions ATP Stoichiometry of the TCA Cycle Thermodynamics of the TCA Cycle... 

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