The Citric Acid Cycle--an overview of...THE HUB

The citric acid cycle is the "hub" of metabolism; meaning that most every other type of catabolism has the goal of looking like one of the intermediates in the cycle.  After pyruvate goes through the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex another CO2 is lost, and we are now down to the 2 carbon acetyl-CoA.  This two carbon molecule joins with
oxaloacetate to form citrate...and
so it begins:)

There's two ways to learn this, first, you could approach it like memorizing the C section of the phone book... that would be boring... OR if you focus on the principles of why and how, you'll be able to                     derive the steps.

The citric acid cycle is the "hub" of metabolism for a reason, and you'll need to be fluent with the intermediate products, not just familiar, in order to be able to stay  not feel lost in subsequent lectures.


Here are the links...

Simplified CAC:  THE HUB OF METABOLISM!!!

Detailed CAC:  THE HUB OF METABOLISM!!!