Now, coenzymes are important in metabolic reactions. We're going to say the driving force of catabolism is the oxidation of molecules in order to release energy. We're going to say this is accomplished by coenzyme cycling between their oxidized and reduced forms. Now, here we're going to say the reduced forms act as electron carriers that carry energy that is ultimately passed to the bonds of ATP. If we take a look here, we're going to say that we have substrate A. And to show its reduced form and remember, reduction here is in terms of having hydrogen or not, gaining hydrogen or not. So this substrate A would be the reduced form of it. To show that, we just show a hydrogen on it. Here it undergoes oxidation where it will lose its hydrogen. So if this thing here is losing its hydrogen, where is it going? Well, if it's losing its H, it's handing it over to the coenzyme. Here, the coenzyme in its oxidized form doesn't have it, but it gets reduced in this process and now it's in its reduced form. The coenzyme is the carrier of the electrons in the form of this hydrogen component. That hydrogen is not only H, it's the electrons in the bond with it. That reduced form can then take itself, become oxidized back to its oxidized form. When it becomes oxidized, it's basically handing over its H to substrate B. Substrate B gains that H, and now we have it in its reduced form here. So, basically, these coenzymes are kind of acting as a carrier. They're taking electrons from one molecule and handing them over to another one later on. This, again, ultimately is to help us to create lots and lots of ATP at the end. So as we progress through our topics, we'll see how this exactly is done.
21. The Generation of Biochemical Energy
Coenzymes in Metabolism
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