This class has taught me so much that I have found fascinating.

During

the last 15 weeks I have learned about the scientific method, the difference

between a theory, law, and hypothesis, about monomers and polymers, all

the different properties of water (who knew there were so many!), and so

much more. With everything that I have learned in this class, there are a

couple of concepts that stand out for me. The first is learning about the four

macromolecules, and how important they are, and the second is cellular

respiration.

Until this class I never really thought about just how important the food

you eat is. I knew that eating healthy was important for your overall health,

but I never really thought beyond, about why the types of food you eat are

important for the functioning of your body, on cellular, basic level. The four

macromolecules that your body needs and utilizes are: lipids carbohydrates,

proteins, and nucleic acids, and these are obtained through your diet. Lipids

are used for long term energy storage, carbohydrates are used for energy,

proteins perform most cellular functions, and nucleic acids are the genetic

language to build proteins.

Cellular respiration is a redox reaction that converts glucose into ATP.

Again, what you eat matters. Glucose is the source of electrons for cellular

respiration. There are four phases of CR: 1) Glycolosis, which splits glycose

into pyruvate. You end up with a net of two ATP, and some NADH. Step two,

Oxidation of pyruvate, which splits pyruvate into acetyl-COA. There is no ATP

generated during this phase, but you do get some NADH. Step three is Krebs
cycle, in this stage you get two ATP and both NADH and FADH2. This is the

only step that generates FADH2. All the NADH and FADH2 that was harvested

during the first three phases are shuttled to the ETC for the fourth and final

phase. NADH and FADH2 are reduced to NAD+, FAD+, electrons, and

hydrogens. Electrons move across the cytochrome proteins, which make it

spin. This spinning of the cytochrome pumps hydrogens through the

cytochrome, and into the intermembrane space. The hydrogens that are

accumulated in the intermembrane space, then gets pumped back into the

cell via the ATP synthase. ATP synthase has two arms, one holding a

phosphate, and the other holding ADP. As the hydrogens get pumped

through the ATP synthase, the phosphate arm, and the ADP arm are brought

together to form ATP. This is the phase that generated the majority ATP, up to

34. I think it is AMAZING that all this is happening inside every cell in your

body right now!