Substrate-Level Phosphorylation

II. BACTERIAL GROWTH AND MICROBIAL METABOLISM

C. Energy Conversion in Microorganisms

3. Mechanisms for Generating ATP

b. Substrate-Level Phosphorylation

Learning Objectives for this Section

Substrate-level phosphorylation (def) is the production of ATP from ADP by a direct transfer of a high-energy phosphate group from a phosphorylated intermediate metabolic compound in an exergonic catabolic pathway (def) as shown in Fig. 2. Such intermediate compounds are sometimes called high-energy transfer compounds (HETCs) and several HETCs are found as intermediates during glycolysis (def) and aerobic respiration (def).

Flash animation illustrating substrate-level phosphorylation.

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