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The Krebs cycle is a cycle that is after glycolysis which allows the cell to get more ATP and have more ATP efficiency than that of glycolysis itself or fermentation and glycolysis. Infact, it makes the ATP effeciency about 20 times of glycolysis itself!

Here is the Krebs cycle:

Step 1: The acetyl CoA (a two carbon) joins with oxaloacetic acid (a four carbon). The CoA (Coenzyme A) is returned back to the mitochondira. The result is a six carbon called citric acid.

Step 2: The citric acid gives off carbon dioxide and gives a hydrogen ion (H+) to NAD+ resulting in NADH. Since the citric acid gave off a carbon in the form of CO2, (carbon dioxide) it is now a 5-carbon molecule.

Step 3: The 5-carbon molecule then gives off CO2 once again, gives a hydrogen ion(H+) to NAD+ resulting in NADH, and in this process, phosphate joins with ADP to create ATP. The resulting molecule is a 4-carbon.

Step 4: The 4-carbon molecule gives a hydrogen ion (H+) to FAD (similar to NAD), which results to FADH2.

Step 5: The 4-carbon molecule once again gives off H+ to NAD resulting into NADH. The 4-carbon molecule is then known as oxaloacetic acid, and the cycle begins again.

Remember:glycolysis produces 2 pyruvic acid molecules, which produces 2 acetyl CoA molecules (and 2 NADH), which means that for every molecule of glucose, the Krebs cycle happens twice.

The resulting amounts of NADH and FADH2 go through the electron transport chain and the enzyme ATP synthase to produce a waste of water, ATP molecules, and a restoration of the NADH to NAD+ and the FADH2 to FAD+ so that they can be used again in the Krebs cycle.

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15y ago

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