Question

What is anaerobic respiration? How would demonstrate it experimentally?

Answer 1

Anaerobic respiration is the respiration which takes place in the absence of oxygen. It produces two ATP which is comparatively less than aerobic respiration which produces 30 ATP. It mainly takes place in the unicellular organism as they have lesser energy requirement than the eukaryotic organism. In anaerobic respiration, the glucose is changed into pyruvate by glycolysis and it is further reduced to lactic acid or alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Anaerobic respiration can be experimentally proved by the following activity.

• A fermentation tube is filled with 10% sucrose solution and mixed with a small quantity of Baker’s yeast or a few millilitres of suspension of yeast cells.
• The open end of the apparatus is plugged with cotton wool.
• The occurrence of fermentation or anaerobic respiration and collection of CO${}_2$ gas in the back arm of the Kuhne’s tube are observed.
• When the cotton wool is taken off the smell of alcohol may be perceived.