• After glycolysis, if there is not enough oxygen present, an anaerobic pathway is used to breakdown pyruvic acid called fermentation.

alcoholic fermentation • Yeasts, some bacteria, and even some

plants can use this process. Bread rises due to the CO2 produced during yeast fermentation.

• The alcohol in beer & wine is a result of yeast fermentation, as discovered by Louis Pasteur.

Bees have been found drunk from fermented nectar.

• Cells that engage in alcoholic fermentation convert pyruvic acid to ethyl alcohol. NADH is oxidized to NADH+.

• This is the importance of fermentation. It recycles NADH+ back to glycolysis in order to produce ATP. This way glycolysis can keep producing ATPs, even though the mitochondrion will not be involved.

Lactic Acid Fermentation Pyruvic acid can build up in muscles

tissue after strenuous exercise, because there is not enough oxygen to meet the demands of the cells.

Here again, NADH is oxidized to NADH+to keep glycolysis going and make ATPs.