The previous tutorial concentrated on the first stage of cellular respiration - glycolysis. You should know that glycolysis produces 2 molecules of pyruvate, 2 molecules of ATP, and 2 molecules of NADH. The pyruvate can be used in fermentation, but it can also be further metabolized in the presence of oxygen. There are many high-energy electrons left in pyruvate and thus it contains energy that can be utilized by the respiring cell.
In this tutorial you will learn how cells complete cellular respiration by oxidizing pyruvate to carbon dioxide. You will also learn that these electrons are conveyed to an electron transport chain where they can participate in the synthesis of ATP.
The Learning Objectives for this tutorial are that by the end of this tutorial you should be able to: