Cellular

Respiration
Let’s pray first
 Cellular Respiration
process by which living cells
break down glucose
molecules and release
energy.

occurs in the cells of all

living things

grouped into three stages

 Cellular Respiration

○ A catabolic pathway

○ Oxygen is consumed as a reactant along with organic compounds.

○ Involves three stages:

■ Glycolysis
■ Krebs Cycle
■ Electron Transport Chain
Where Does Cellular Respiration Take Place?

● It actually takes place in two parts of the cell:

○ Glycolysis occurs in the Cytoplasm

○ Krebs Cycle & ETC Take place in the Mitochondria

 Glycolysis

1st stage of cellular “glyco”

respiration
“lysis”

NADH 2 molecules of pyruvate

2 molecules of ATP
 Krebs Cycle

Coenzyme A/ acetyl COA Hans Adolf Krebs

4 molecules of ATP
NADH
10 molecules of NADH
2 FADH
 Electron Transport and
Chemiosmosis
mitochondrion Peter D. Mitchell

Chemiosmotic theory
NADH and FADH
Electron Transport Chain
1. Located in the inner membrane of the mitochondria.
2. Oxygen pulls the electrons from NADH and FADH2 down
the electron transport chain to a lower energy state

3. Process produces 34 ATP or 90% of the ATP in the body.

Electron Transport Chain
4. Requires oxygen, the final electron acceptor.

5. For every FADH2 molecule – 2 ATP’s are produced.

6. For every NADH molecule – 3 ATP’s are produced.

7. Chemiosmosis – the production of ATP using the energy of H+

gradients across membranes to phosphorylate ADP.
The Calvin Cycle

● In the Calvin Cycle, chemical energy (from the light

reactions) and CO2 (from the atmosphere) are used to
produce organic compounds (like glucose).
● The Calvin Cycle occurs in the stroma of chloroplasts.
The Calvin Cycle

● The Calvin Cycle involves the process of carbon fixation.

• This is the process of assimilating carbon from a

non-organic compound (ie. CO2) and incorporating
it into an organic compound (ie. carbohydrates).

CARBON FIXATION
The Calvin Cycle

Step 1: Carbon Fixation

● 3 molecules of CO2 (from the atmosphere) are joined to
3 molecules of RuBP (a 5-carbon sugar) by Rubisco (an
enzyme also known as RuBP carboxylase)

This forms 3
C C C C C C
molecules
which each
have 6 carbons
C Rubisco C C C C C
(for a total of
18 carbons!)
C C C C C C

3 carbon dioxide
3 RuBP molecules
molecules
The Calvin Cycle
Step 2: Reduction
● The three 6-carbon molecules (very unstable) split in
half, forming six 3-carbon molecules.
● These molecules are then reduced by gaining electrons
from NADPH.
● ATP is required for this molecular rearranging

ATP ADP P C C C C C C
C C C C C C

C C C C C C C C C C C C

C C C C C C C C C C C
C
NADPH
NADP+
The Calvin Cycle

● There are now six 3-carbon molecules, which are known as

G3P or PGAL.
● Since the Calvin Cycle started with 15 carbons (three 5-
carbon molecules) and there are now 18 carbons, we have a
net gain of 3 carbons.

• One of these “extra” 3-

C
carbon G3P/PGAL C C C C C

molecules will exit the C C C C C C

cycle and be used to C C C C C

C
form ½ a glucose
molecule.
The Calvin Cycle

● Once the Calvin Cycle “turns” twice (well, actually 6

times), those 2 molecules of G3P (a 3-carbon carbohydrate)
will combine to form 1 molecule of glucose (a 6-carbon
carbohydrate molecule) OR another organic compound.

C C C C C C C C C
C C C

G3P G3P
(from 3 turns of (from 3 turns of glucose
the Calvin Cycle) the Calvin Cycle)
The Calvin Cycle

Step 3: Regeneration of RuBP

• Since this is the Calvin Cycle, we must end up back at
the beginning.
• The remaining 5 G3P molecules (3-carbons each!) get
rearranged (using ATP) to form 3 RuBP molecules (5-
carbons each).

5 G3P molecules 3 RuBP molecules

Total: 15 carbons Total: 15 carbons