The Effect of the Complexity of a Substrate to Their Respiration Rate1

Roslind Anne R. Pantoni

Group 3 Sec. X – 6L

November 16, 2015

1
A scientific paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements in General Biology I laboratory
under Ms. Charo B. Chipeco, 1st sem., 2015-2016.
 ABSTRACT

The problem being observed in the study is how the

complexity of a substrate affects its respiration rate. If the substrate
is more complex, then its respiration rate will be lower. Starch,
lactose, sucrose, glucose, fructose, and distilled water were used in
the experiment to prove whether or not the hypothesis is true. The
complexity of the substrate is based on its molecular size. The
mentioned substances were then mixed with 15 mL distilled water
and 15 mL 10% yeast, and were placed in different Smith
fermentation tubes with cotton balls at the opening as plugs. The
volume of the carbon dioxide which evolved from the mixture was
recorded for thirty minutes with five minute intervals. Significant
changes were observed in the Smith fermentation tube containing
fructose with a calculated respiration rate of 0.18 followed by
sucrose and glucose with relatively the same respiration rate of 0.10,
and distilled water and starch with 2.6 × 10-3. Starch, being the most
complex as it is a complex carbohydrate, did not utilize during the
30 minutes elapsed time. Thus, it can be concluded that the proposed
hypothesis is correct.

INTRODUCTION

Enzymes are protein catalysts that increase the velocity of a chemical reaction, and

are not consumed during the reaction they catalyze (Champe, Harvey, & Ferrier, 2005).

During a chemical reaction, enzymes are the ones which speed up the reaction thus giving

results that will eventually happen. The reactant an enzyme acts on is the substrate (Reece,

Meyers, Urry, Cain, Wasserman, Minorsky, Jackson, & Cooke, 2014). In the experiment,

six substances were used as substrates to test whether or not the complexity of the substrate

can affect the respiration rate of a substance. In this case, yeast was used. The six substrates

used were starch, lactose, sucrose, glucose, fructose, and distilled water. Starch is a

polymer of glucose monomers (Reece, Meyers, Urry, Cain, Wasserman, Minorsky,

Jackson, & Cooke, 2014). Lactose is a disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose.
Glucose and fructose are monomers but they differ in structure. If the complexity of a

substance does affect its respiration rate, then a more complex substance will have a lower

respiration rate. The objectives of this study are

1. to relate the complexity of a substrate to the respiration rate and

2. to determine the other factors affecting the diffusion rate of a substance other than

its molecular weight

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Six Smith fermentation tubes were obtained and were filled with different solutions

namely 15 mL of starch, lactose, sucrose, glucose, fructose, and distilled water. Then

additional 15 mL of distilled water and 10% yeast suspension were also added to the Smith

fermentation tubes. The tubes were gently shook and it was double checked to make sure

that there are no trapped bubbles in the tube before plugging their openings with cotton

balls. The vertical arms where the evolved carbon dioxide will be trapped were tied

together. The tubes were then left under observation with minimal disturbances under thirty

minutes. The volume of the evolve carbon dioxide was measured every five minutes.

After thirty minutes, the final volume of the evolved carbon dioxide was used to

get the respiration rate using the formula final volume over time.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

There was no change in the height (cm) of starch as it remained 0 while minimal

change can be observed from lactose and distilled water from 0 cm to 0.08 cm. Gradually

different changes in sucrose and glucose were observed. By the end of the thirty-minute
elapsed time, both have the same height of 3.06 cm. The said differences can be seen in

Table 1.

Since starch is a complex molecule, its respiration rate is low thus supporting the

hypothesis. The tube with the distilled water and no substrate is the controlled variable

which has the same respiration rate as lactose, a disaccharide. The tubes containing glucose

and sucrose have minimal differences in their heights thus resulting to the same respiration

rate. Fructose, a monomer just like glucose only with different structure, has the highest

respiration rate.
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

In order to prove the hypothesis, an experiment was conducted using the Smith

fermentation tube method. Starch, lactose, sucrose, glucose, fructose, and distilled water

were placed in the Smith fermentation tube together with 15 mL distilled water and 15 mL

10% yeast suspension. After plugging the tubes with cotton balls, minimal disturbance was

made to minimize error in the experiment and the height of the evolved carbon dioxide in

each tubes were measured every five minutes for thirty minutes.

After the elapsed time, it was seen that the fructose has the highest height among

the six setups. Its simple structure can be counted as one of the factors affecting the result.

The next with the highest height are glucose and sucrose, followed by lactose and distilled

water, with starch in the last.

With this result, it can be concluded that the more complex the substance, the lower

its respiration rate. However, the complexity of the substrate is not the only factor that can

affect the results. The condition of the environment should also be taken in account as this

affects the enzyme.

LITERATURE CITED

Bibliography
Champe, P. C., Harvey, R. A., & Ferrier, D. R. (2005). Biochemistry (Lippincott Illustrated Reviews Series).
Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Jane B. Reece, N. M., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V., Jackson, R. B., & Cooke,
B. N. (2014). Campbell Biology Australian and New Zealand version. Australia: Pearson Higher
Education.