Cellular Respiration Cheat Sheet - Just the highlights of Cellular Respiration
General formula: C6H12O6 + 6 O2 → 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + 32 ATP
Overall Point: Cellular respiration uses Oxygen to break down sugar and make ATP (cell energy)
Note : Very few cells actually produce 32ATP, most produces some number less than that.
There are four major steps to Cellular Respiration
Step 1. Glycolysis
C6H12O6 is broken in half using 2 ATP → 2 Pyruvate + 2 NADH + 4 ATP
Where does this step occur?: In the cell's cytoplasm
Overall Point of this step: To break sugar and produce a small amount of ATP (cell energy)
Step 2. Oxidation of pyruvate to produce Acetyl-CoA
For each Pyruvate created in step 1 (so 2 times per glucose)
Pyruvate +NAD + CoEnzyme A (CoA) → Acetyl-CoA + NADH + CO2
Where does this step occur?: Crossing from the cells cytoplasm into the Mitochondria
Overall Point of this step: To take the Pyruvate created in Glycolysis and make it smaller, and shaped
correctly to enter the Mitochondria.
Step 3. Krebs Citric Acid Cycle :
For each Acetyl-CoA from step 2 (so 2 times per glucose)
Acetyl -CoA + 3 NAD+ 1 FAD+ → 1 ATP + 3 NADH + 1 FADH2
Where does this step occur?: In the Stroma (fluid part) of the mitochondria
Overall Point of this step: To break up the remainder of the original glucose (the Acetyl-CoA) to create
NADH and FADH2 (the electron carriers)
Before you go on, we need to figure out what we have created so far:
6 CO2 (this actually accounts for all of the Carbon in glucose that we started with!)
10 NADH (electron carrier)
2 FADH2 (also an electron carrier)
4 ATP (cellular energy)
