How are glycolysis and the citric acid cycle used in cellular respiration?

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Cellular respiration is a complex biological process involving many elements. There has been considerable research on the process. All living organisms, plants, bacteria, animals and human beings need food in order to survive. The food is absorbed by the body and broken down into energy that the body then utilizes to ensure its continued functioning and to allow for continued growth and development. The body’s cells also need energy. The single most efficient mechanism that the body has that allows its cells to absorb the energy contained in food is cellular respiration. It is also known as oxidative metabolism.

Cellular respiration occurs in all plants and animals; it is a process that every cell undergoes. There is no set timetable or sequence of events that initiates or stops the process. Each cell works independently of others. No matter what activity the body is experiencing, the body’s cells are constantly working to release the energy stored in food. The process that the cells go through transforms the consumed material into nutrients that the cells can use to the fullest.

Cellular respiration is a catalytic process whereby high energy molecules of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, are produced and used by the cells. ATP is a compound rich in necessary energy. The catalytic process consists of three stages: glycolysis, the citric acid cycle and electron transportation.

Glycolysis is defined as the process whereby sugars are split or broken down into a compound more easily used by the body. In this case, glucose, a sugar containing six carbon units, is broken down into two separate molecules, each with three carbon units. This process results in the production of two ATP molecules, two molecules of pyruvic acid and two high energy electrons that carry molecules of NADH. These molecules help in the complicated process of energy extraction and utilization.

The citric acid cycle is also known as the Krebs Cycle and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. This part of the process is a complex series of chemical reactions that utilize oxygen as part of the respiration process. This part of cellular respiration begins following the spitting of the six carbon unit sugars and after the molecules of the three carbon unit sugars produced by the glycolysis process are converted to a compound known as Acetyl CoA. What happens next is a process involving a number of stages and steps during which high energy compounds, known as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), are produced alongside two molecules of ATP. The nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide compounds are further reduced and changed during this process. This allows them to receive high energy electrons and transport them to the next, final stage of the cellular respiratory process.

The final stage of the cycle, and the one that releases the most energy from the compounds produced by these processes, is the electron transportation process. In the electron transportation process, electron-carrying proteins pass electrons from one to the other, during which high energy ATP is produced and used to feed the cells.

Resource by A.Moore

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