Anaerobic Respiration Starting Substrates: Glucose, Sugars, Organic Acids, Amino Acids, Alcohols

Common Starting Chemicals for Anaerobic Respiration

Varies by organism and pathway:

1. Glucose: Broken down enzymatically for energy without oxygen.
2. Other sugars: Fructose, sucrose, lactose.
3. Organic acids: Lactate, pyruvate, succinate used by some bacteria/archaea.
4. Amino acids: Deaminated to ammonia and organic acids for further metabolism.
5. Alcohols: Ethanol fermented by yeast and bacteria as electron donor.

Diverse pathways exist across microorganisms.