Krebs cycle - A series of enzymatic reactions in aerobic organisms involving oxidative metabolism of acetyl units and producing high-energy phosphate compounds, which serve as the main source of cellular energy. Also called citric acid cycle, tricarboxylic acid cycle.
The Krebs cycle is a series of biochemical changes that occur during the metabolism of nutrients, facilitating the storage of energy for further use. It is named after Hans Adolph Krebs (1900–1981), the biochemist who identified it. The alternative, and more descriptive, name is the tricarboxylic, or citric acid, cycle. The fundamental process involves oxidizing acetate molecules to carbon dioxide (CO2) and water with transfer of the metabolic energy to "high energy" bonds for later use by the body. In the process, acetate is attached biochemically to a dicarboxylic acid to produce citric acids—the tricarboxylic acid from which the cycle derives its name. The citric acid then goes through a number of biochemical steps to oxidize the two carbons from acetate, and to regenerate the dicarboxylic acid to which the acetate was originally attached.
In biology,
The Krebs cycle (also referred to as the citric acid cycle) is central to aerobic metabolism. It is an adaptation that allows cells to gain increased energy from glucose. The process is critical to the development of multicellular organisms, and is essential to the harvesting of high energy electrons during the final breakdown of the glucose molecule. By-products of this cycle are carbon dioxide and water. It is named in recognition of the German chemist Hans Krebs (1900-1981), who received the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Definition: Krebs cycle is a series of enzymatic reactions in aerobic organisms involving oxidative metabolism of acetyl units and producing high-energy phosphate compounds, which serve as the main source of cellular energy. Also called citric acid cycle, tricarboxylic acid cycle.
