How much ATP can be obtained from one glycerol and three 12 carbon chains?

Answer 1

The http://www.answers.com/topic/oxidative breakdown of fatty acids occurs in mitochondria through a series of reactions known as beta-oxidation. Fatty acids are rich sources of energy; 44 moles of ATP are generated by the complete oxidation of 1 mole of a six-carbon fatty acid, whereas only 38 moles of ATP are generated from 1 mole of http://www.answers.com/topic/glucose, a six-carbon sugar. Glucose is broken down to pyruvate, or pyruvic acid, by way of the glycolytic pathway. Glycolsis process changes one molecule of glucose into two molecules of pyruvate, and makes energy in the form of two net molecules of ATP. There is a net gain of two ATPs per glucose molecule. Four molecules of ATP per glucose are actually produced; however, two are consumed for the preparatory phase. The initial phosphorylation of glucose is required to destabilize the molecule for cleavage into two triose sugars. During the pay-off phase of glycolysis, four phosphate groups are transferred to ADP by substrate-level phosphorylation to make four ATP, and two NADH are produced when the triose sugars are oxidized . There is a net gain of two ATPs per glucose molecule. In short, glucose is a 6 carbon sugar that gets broken down into two 3 carbon compounds. The enzymes of this pathway occur in the cytoplasm of cells, outside the mitochondria. Much more energy, a total of 34 ATPs, depending on how you add them up, is obtained from the complete oxidation of glucose to carbon dioxide and water. This more complete breakdown is accomplished by enzymes of the KREB'S CYCLE. The key features are that acetyl Coenzyme A, formed by the decarboxylation of pyruvic acid, enters the cycle by joining the 2-carbon acetyl unit to a 4-carbon compound to create the 6-carbon citric acid and there is no real end point because of the cyclic nature of the pathway. Rather, carbon dioxide is created at two points in the cycle by decarboxylations and electron carriers become loaded with electrons at 4 points in the cycle. Finally, the equivalent of 1 ATP is generated with each round of the cycle. The enzymes for the decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetyl CoA and the enzymes of the citric acid cycle are all located in the matrix of the mitochondria.

Answer 2

Butterfat = glycerol + three 12 carbon fatty acid chains

Glycerol is converted to Pyruvate (as per the question), which in turn yields 4 NADH, 1 ATP, and 1 FADH2 through the Kreb's Cycle, giving a total energy yield of 15 ATP.

Fatty acids are converted to acetyl-CoA. Each Acetyl-CoA is two-carbons, so you have 6 acetyl-CoA molecules per chain and therefore 18 total acetyl-CoA molecules. For every Acetyl-CoA you will get 3 NADH (3 ATP each), 1 FADH2 (2 ATP) and 1 ATP. Note there is one less NADH since there is no pyruvate to acetyl-CoA conversion. The energy yield per acetyl-CoA is therefore 12 ATP.

To get the total you would use the following formula.

Total Yield = Yield of Pyruvate + 18 (Yield of Acetyl-CoA)

Total Yield = 15 + 18 (12) = 231 ATP per butter fat molecule.