Friday, May 23, 2014

Cell Respiration Recap


Cell respiration takes place in the mitochondria of a cell. 

The first step to cell respiration, as we see in the picture above, is glycolysis. Glycolysis takes place in the cytoplasm of the cel and produces 2 ATP. In glycolysis, glucose is broken down into pyruvate and an electron is carried over to the electron transport chain by NADH. 

In between glycolysis and the Krebs Cycle, 2 Acetyl CoA are formed and 2 carbon dioxide molecules are formed as a byproduct. the Acetyl CoA then enters the mitochondria and undergoes the Krebs cycle, where NADH, carbon dioxide, FADH2 and ATP is formed.

The electron transport chain is where most of the ATP is formed. This step takes place in the mitochondrial membrane, or christae. The ETC carries electrons that were given by the NADH and FADH2 from glycolysis and the Krebs Cycle through redox reactions. ATP is formed through oxidative phosporolation and chemiosmosis and six water molecules are biproducts.

The chemical formula for cell respiration is written above in the image. Basically, oxygen molecules and glucose molecules undergo cell respiration to form carbon dioxide, water, and ATP. 

No comments:

Post a Comment