Oxygen and it’s Important to Life

Oxygen and it’s Important to Life

Oxygen is a colorless odorless and tasteless gas that supports life on earth. It is formed through the binding of two oxygen molecules to form a diatomic molecule.  Oxygen is essential for generating energy, which is required for biological respiration. Cellular respiration a complex biological process that occurs in all living cells makes use of oxygen molecules to break down complex organic molecules such as sugars, proteins, lipids, and fats into simpler molecules that can be used by cells to generate energy. An example of these simpler molecules is glucose from sugars and amino acids from proteins (Han et al., 2011). In this process, oxygen is the only molecule with a capacity to capture the reactive electron from Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) or Flavin adenine dinucleotide (FADH using the hydrogen transporter molecules during respiration and as a result forms water. Over accumulation of NADH or FADH2 can terminate the process of respiration.

One unique feature of oxygen is that it is relatively soluble in water. This makes it possible to support aquatic plants and animals, which also depend on respiration for energy.  Water bodies such as rivers, lakes, and oceans essentially require a constant supply of oxygen to maintain life. Oxygen also makes the most significant volume of water when it reacts with hydrogen. Any deprivation of oxygen in these bodies, such as due to oil spills, most aquatic organisms end up dying (Heffner, 2013).  Oxygen also has a unique capacity to bind to many other chemicals forming other different unique compounds of importance to human life. For instance, oxygen reacts with hydrogen to form water, which is also essential for life. Also, all organic compounds, which are also the structural components such as proteins, sugars, and fats, contain oxygen as one of their building blocks.

However, not all organisms on other are dependent on oxygen for their survival. Some organisms will still survive on low or no oxygen conditions, especially the anaerobic and facultative microorganisms (Hentges, 2016). These organisms lack or have evolved mitochondrial genomes, which allows obligate anaerobic metabolism.  It is, therefore, possible for them to attain their required respirational energy without requiring oxygen.

Through technology, it is now possible to process oxygen that can be used by humans to aid in their breathing in oxygen deviant environments such as underwater and space. It has now been possible to exploit these environments with the aid of synthetic breathing gas. The pressure in water and space is usually very high, which makes it difficult for humans to breathe comfortably (Wilmshurst, 2008). Breathing gas is delivered at a regulated pressure using specialized equipment such as scuba diving equipment and spacesuits. The gas is made using a mixture of oxygen and other compounds, usually inert gases. The oxygen is the only metabolic active gas in this mixture, while the other compounds are only used as diluents to ensure that the oxygen is delivered at the required concentrations. Oxygen can even be mixed with natural air to make the air used in space suits and deep water diving equipment. The blended breathing gas, however, requires close analysis to ensure that it does not cause any complications to its users due to contaminations (Wilmshurst, 2008). The gas can even be enriched with special compounds to aid breathing in people with other special breathing conditions to reduce any event of a breathing attack. Major possible contaminants of synthetic breathing gas include carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which can induce toxic effects.

References

Han, H., Hemp, J., Pace, L. A., Ouyang, H., Ganesan, K., Roh, J. H., … & Gennis, R. B. (2011). Adaptation of aerobic respiration to low O2 environments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(34), 14109-14114.

Heffner, J. E. (2013). The story of oxygen. Respiratory care, 58(1), 18-31.

Hentges, D. J. (2016). Anaerobes: General Characteristics. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7638/

Wilmshurst, P. (2008). Diving and oxygen. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114047/