Fermentation | Definition, Process, & Facts | Britannica

Home » Where Does Fermentation Occur In The Cell » Fermentation | Definition, Process, & Facts | Britannica

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Anaerobic breakdown of molecules

In the 1920s it was discovered that, in the absence of air, extracts of muscle catalyze the formation of lactate from glucose and that the same intermediate compounds formed in the fermentation of grain are produced by muscle. An important generalization thus emerged: that fermentation reactions are not peculiar to the action of yeast but also occur in many other instances of glucose utilization.

glycolysis
glycolysisThe generation of pyruvate through the process of glycolysis is the first step in fermentation.(more)

Glycolysis, the breakdown of sugar, was originally defined about 1930 as the metabolism of sugar into lactate. It can be further defined as that form of fermentation, characteristic of cells in general, in which the six-carbon sugar glucose is broken down into two molecules of the three-carbon organic acid, pyruvic acid (the nonionized form of pyruvate), coupled with the transfer of chemical energy to the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The pyruvate may then be oxidized, in the presence of oxygen, through the tricarboxylic acid cycle, or in the absence of oxygen, be reduced to lactic acid, alcohol, or other products. The sequence from glucose to pyruvate is often called the Embden–Meyerhof pathway, named after two German biochemists who in the late 1920s and ’30s postulated and analyzed experimentally the critical steps in that series of reactions.

Double exposure of science laboratory test tubes with bokeh and chemical reaction Britannica Quiz Types of Chemical Reactions

The term fermentation now denotes the enzyme-catalyzed, energy-yielding pathway in cells involving the anaerobic breakdown of molecules such as glucose. In most cells the enzymes occur in the soluble portion of the cytoplasm. The reactions leading to the formation of ATP and pyruvate thus are common to sugar transformation in muscle, yeasts, some bacteria, and plants.

Key People: Louis Pasteur Hans von Euler-Chelpin Sir Arthur Harden Eduard Buchner (Show more) Related Topics: cap tank fermentation industrial fermentation bottle fermentation top fermentation (Show more) See all related content

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