"Whenever I'm near you I undergo Anaerobic Respiration because you take my breath away."             

In the previous article, it tackled about Aerobic Respiration where oxygen is a vital element in the process. However, what happens when oxygen doesn't exist? This would mean that the Kreb's cycle and electron transport chain would not function likewise when mitochondria is absent.

Anaerobic cellular respiration or Fermentation undergoes only one process which is the glycolysis stage since it does not use oxygen. This process is used to continually produce ATP when there is insufficient amount of oxygen for aerobic respiration which occurs in the cytoplasm. Many bacteria and yeast undergo fermentation. Humans use this organisms to produce bread, yogurt, cheese, vinegar, soy sauce, and biofuels. Even human muscle cells undertake fermentation. This happens when muscle cells cannot acquire immediate oxygen to meet its energy need through aerobic respiration.

Background About Fermentation

The word 'fermentation' is derived from a Latin verb 'fervere'  meaning 'to boil'. In the 19^th century, Louis Pasteur used the term fermentation to depict the changes on the yeast and other microorganisms growing anaerobically (absence of air).

There are two types of fermentation that will be discussed in this article: lactic acid fermentation and alcoholic fermentation. Each type will be discussed in the next articles.