What is Krebs cycle and what is its role in aerobic respiration
Krebs cycle is a series of reactions that take place in the mitochondria of most living cells and result in the production of energy during aerobic respiration. During Krebs cycle oxygen is metabolised to produce carbon dioxide and water as waste products and ADP is converted to ATP which is the enrgy currency of the cell
During Krebs cycle, citrate (six-carbon melecule mae of oxaloacetate and acetyl CoA) is gradually broken down to reform oxaloacetate (four-carbon acceptor molecule)
To summarize
Two molecules of CO2 are produced
One molecule of ATP is formed
Three molecules of NAD+ are combined with hydrogen (NAD+ → NADH)
One molecule of FAD combines with hydrogen (FAD → FADH2)
Since two acetyl-CoA molecules are produced from each glucose molecule, two cycles are required per glucose molecule. Therefore, at the end of two cycles, the products are: two ATP, six NADH2, two FADH2 two QH2 (ubiquinol) and four CO2.
