ABSTRACT
Aerobic (‘with O2’) metabolism is much more ecient in the production of biological energy than anaerobic metabolism (‘without O2’) and is the key to complex life on Earth. For example, in the presence of O2, 1 molecule of glucose can produce 38 molecules of the energy storage compound
adenosine triphosphate (ATP), whereas in the absence of O2, 1 molecule of glucose produces only 2 molecules of ATP (via the production of lactic acid). us, anaerobic conditions (hypoxia) drastically reduce the available energy.
