Question #a29bb
1 Answer
Usually in anoxic environments
Explanation:
Fermentation is used to regain the balance within the cell. Take for example glucose digestion:
Glucose undergoes various biochemical reactions, until it becomes pyruvate (glycolysis). This yields 2 ATP. From pyruvate, 2 pathways exist: the oxic pathway and the anoxic pathway. The oxic (oxidative phosphorylation) pathway creates much more ATP (36 ATP is produced during oxidative phosphorylation)
Oxidative phosphorylation requires oxygen, however. As a lot of microbes live in anoxic conditions, another way was needed to regain the redox balance. These organisms use pyruvate to produce various organic compounds (think about acetate, lactate and the like). This does not yield any ATP for the cell, however, so their net ATP production is only 2 ATP (oxidative pathway + glycolysis yields 38 ATP)
