Respiration conversions

In practice, carbon limited chemostat cultures are used to estimate the P/O quotient These conditions are used because they favour the most efficient conversion of the carbon substrate into cellular material, ie the highest efficiency of energy conservation. The steady state respiration rate (qo,) is measured as a function of dilution rate (specific growth rate) and Yq can be obtained from the reciprocal of the slope of the plot. qo, is also known as the metabolic quotient for oxygen or the specific rate of oxygen consumption. 

The role of cell respiration has been taken into account to interpret the azo-dye conversion by particle-supported biofilm under aerobic conditions [5, 24]. The rapid depletion of oxygen expected/measured as one moves inside the biofilm promotes the establishment of the anoxic conditions needed for azo-dye conversion. 

Respiration captures the energy from conversion of complex molecules into simple ones in the form of ATP. 

To vahdate mineralization of toluene to CO under anoxic quinone and humus-respiring conditions, Cervantes et al. (2001) performed additional experiments using emiched phosphate-buffered basal sediments from Amsterdam petroleum harbor. After two weeks of incubation, 85% of added C-labeled toluene was observed as CO. Emiched sediment converted C-labeled toluene to in media supplemented with AQDS or with humic acid (Fig. 16.34A). There was negligible recovery of in the endogenous and sterile controls. The conversion of C-labeled toluene to was coupled to an increase in electrons recovered as AH QDS or as reduced humus (Fig. 16.34B). However, there was no toluene reduction in autoclaved sediments. These results indicate that humic substances... 

On the other hand, particles from fossil fuel combustion and gas-to-particle conversion are generally much smaller (< 2.5-/Am diameter) and fall in the respirable size range. These particles can reach the alveolar region where gas exchange occurs. This region is not coated with a protective mucus layer, and here the clearance time for deposited particles is much greater than in the upper respiratory tract hence the potential for health effects is much greater (Phalen, 1984). 

Some of the carbon released by decomposition may be washed into rivers and the ocean. Some of it may be taken up by other living things for use in their life processes. Some of it maybe buried in sediments and, over long periods of time, converted to fossil fuels. The burial and conversion of carbon compounds to fossil fuels upsets the balance between photosynthesis and respiration because these processes remove the carbon from the cycle for such long periods of time. Some carbon is also removed from the cycle for longs periods of time when the shells of some small ocean-dwelling... 

In the dark, plants also carry out mitochondrial respiration, the oxidation of substrates to C02 and the conversion of 02 to H20. And there is another process in plants that, like mitochondrial respiration, consumes 02 and produces C02 and, like photosynthesis, is driven by light. This process, photorespiration, is a costly side reaction of photosynthesis, a result of the lack of specificity of the enzyme rubisco. In this section we describe this side reaction and the strategies plants use to minimize its metabolic consequences. 

FERMENTATION. A form of respiration that requires no oxy gen. There is an incomplete breakdown of lilod carbon dioxide and oilier products, such as alcohol, are formed. The vsord is commonly used to refer to the conversion of sugars (and sugars derived from starch) into ethyl alcohol by the enzymes of yeast. 

Intermolecular electron transfer plays an important role in the operation of biological systems. For example, electron transfer from one biological molecule to another is the primary act of energy conversion in the processes of respiration and photosynthesis. Despite a large number of works dedicated to the study of intermolecular electron transfer in biological systems, the mechanisms of these reactions have been insufficiently elucidated. This is due to great difficulties in the interpretation of experimental results which are in their turn explained by the very intricate structure of biological systems. 

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