Question

How is oxygen used in cellular respiration?

Answer 1

Role of oxygen in cellular respiration:

1. Oxygen is used to break down glucose to harness energy via aerobic respiration.
2. The energy produced is stored in the cells in the form of ATP.
3. There are three major steps in the aerobic respiration process.
   1. Glycolysis is the sequential breakdown of one molecule of glucose to convert it into pyruvate releasing four molecules of ATP.
   2. The TCA (tricarboxylic acid cycle) is a process that converts the pyruvic acid from glycolysis into oxalate while producing ATP and NADH.
   3. ETC (electron transport chain) is a cycle composed of redox reactions for transferring electrons from one complex to another while generating a proton gradient for producing ATP from the F0-F1 complex.
4. Oxygen acts as the final electron acceptor in the aerobic respiration process of oxidative phosphorylation.
5. Hence, ETC or oxidative phosphorylation is directly dependent on oxygen.