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Photosynthesis And Cellular Respiration

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Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are two different types of processes that create energy. Cellular Respiration is “the oxidation of glucose to produce ATP (Tortora and Derrickson, 2011, p. 1027).” This process occurs in all living organisms. In comparison, Photosynthesis is “the conversion of sunlight into a chemical form of energy. In the cyanobacteria, the process takes place in special thylakoid membranes, which contain chlorophyll or chlorophyll-like pigments. Among eukaryotes, photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts of such organisms as diatoms, dinoflagellates and green algae. (Pommerville, 2014, p. 185)”.
Both processes have different stages to create energy. Cellular respiration has aerobic and anaerobic processes. In the aerobic process, enzymes break down glucose in “presence of oxygen to produce cell energy”. The stages in cellular respiration include glycolysis, transition, Krebs cycle and the electron transport system. Glycolysis occurs in the cytoplasm. During this stage, there is a “conversion of glucose into pyruvate (Pommerville, 2014, p. 171)”. In addition, “two ATP molecules are required and the net yield is 2 pyruvates and 2 ATPs (Pommerville, 2014, p. 173)”. The transitional stage “occurs in the outer mitochondrial membrane.” According to Pommerville, “Each pyruvate is converted into an acetyl CoA as CO2 is liberated and two NADH are formed. Each acetyl CoA combines with an oxaloacetate to form citrate (p. 174).” Unfortunately, this step did

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