Explain the ways in which glucose is broken down in absence of oxygen

CBSE Class 10 CBSE Class 10 Science
1

Explain the ways in which glucose is broken down in absence of oxygen.

2

Glucose can be broken down in two ways in the absence of oxygen or in anaerobic conditions:

(i)First step is breakdown of glucose molecule into pyruvate which takes place in cytoplasm.

(ii)

  • The anaerobic breakdown in bacteria is called Fermentation. During fermentation, pyruvate is broken down to ethyl alcohol and CO2
  • Whenever there is lack of oxygen in our muscle cells (due to excessive exercise), pyruvate is broken down to lactic acid.

Very less amount of energy is released in both the above cases.