CHAPTER 4: THE CITRIC ACID AND OXIDATIVE PHOSPHORYLATION

Early metabolic steps, including glycolysis and the activity of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, yield a two-carbon fragment called an acetyl group, which is linked to a large cofactor known as coenzyme A (or CoA). It is during the citric acid cycle that acetyl-CoA is oxidized to the waste product, carbon dioxide, along with the reduction of the cofactors NAD+ and ubiquinone