Also known as the tricarboxylic acid cycle [TCA cycle because the citric acid molecule contains three (tri) carboxyl (acid) groups]. Also known as the Krebs cycle after H. A. Krebs, who first postulated the existence of the cycle in 1937 under its original name of “citric acid cycle.” A cyclic sequence of chemical reactions that occurs in almost all aerobic (air-requiring) organisms. A system of enzymatic reactions in which acetyl residues are oxidized to carbon dioxide and hydrogen atoms, and in which formation of citrate is the first step.
An important series of events concerning amino acid metabolism, which takes place in the mitochondria in the cell.
A cycle found in mitochondria which produces reducing equivalents for use by the respiratory chain and which also produces carbon dioxide.