Cellular Respiration - Anaerobic Respiration

Anaerobic Respiration

Cellular respiration is the process by which biological fuels are oxidised in the presence of an inorganic electron acceptor (such as oxygen) to produce large amounts of energy, to drive the bulk production of ATP.

Anaerobic respiration is used by some microorganisms in which neither oxygen (aerobic respiration) nor pyruvate derivatives (fermentation) is the final electron acceptor. Rather, an inorganic acceptor such as sulfate or nitrate is used.

Many high-school biology textbooks incorrectly refer to fermentation (e.g., to lactate) as anaerobic respiration.