NCERT Section

14.7 Respiratory Quotient

Let us now look at another aspect of respiration. As you know, during aerobic respiration, O2 is consumed and CO2 is released. The ratio of the volume of CO2 evolved to the volume of O2 consumed in respiration is called the respiratory quotient (RQ) or respiratory ratio.

The respiratory quotient depends upon the type of respiratory substrate used during respiration.

When carbohydrates are used as substrate and are completely oxidised, the RQ will be 1, because equal amounts of CO2 and O2 are evolved and consumed, respectively, as shown in the equation below :

p13.5

When fats are used in respiration, the RQ is less than 1. Calculations for a fatty acid, tripalmitin, if used as a substrate is shown:

p13.6

When proteins are respiratory substrates the ratio would be about 0.9.

What is important to recognise is that in living organisms respiratory substrates are often more than one; pure proteins or fats are never used as respiratory substrates.

Summary

Plants unlike animals have no special systems for breathing or gaseous exchange. Stomata and lenticels allow gaseous exchange by diffusion. Almost all living cells in a plant have their surfaces exposed to air.

The breaking of C-C bonds of complex organic molecules by oxidation cells leading to the release of a lot of energy is called cellular respiration. Glucose is the favoured substrate for respiration. Fats and proteins can also be broken down to yield energy. The initial stage of cellular respiration takes place in the cytoplasm. Each glucose molecule is broken through a series of enzyme catalysed reactions into two molecules of pyruvic acid. This process is called glycolysis. The fate of the pyruvate depends on the availability of oxygen and the organism. Under anaerobic conditions either lactic acid fermentation or alcohol fermentation occurs. Fermentation takes place under anaerobic conditions in many prokaryotes, unicellular eukaryotes and in germinating seeds. In eukaryotic organisms aerobic respiration occurs in the presence of oxygen. Pyruvic acid is transported into the mitochondria where it is converted into acetyl CoA with the release of CO2. Acetyl CoA then enters the tricarboxylic acid pathway or Krebs’ cycle operating in the matrix of the mitochondria. NADH + H+ and FADH2 are generated in the Krebs’ cycle. The energy in these molecules as well as that in the NADH + H+ synthesised during glycolysis are used to synthesise ATP. This is accomplished through a system of electron carriers called electron transport system (ETS) located on the inner membrane of the mitochondria. The electrons, as they move through the system, release enough energy that are trapped to synthesise ATP. This is called oxidative phosphorylation. In this process O2 is the ultimate acceptor of electrons and it gets reduced to water.

The respiratory pathway is an amphibolic pathway as it involves both anabolism and catabolism. The respiratory quotient depends upon the type of respiratory substance used during respiration.