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Article: Krebs Cycle
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- Biology
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Krebs Cycle
When
glucose
is converted to
pyruvate
during
glycolysis
, two adenosine triphosphates (
ATPs
) are formed, but most of the energy in the original glucose remains in pyruvate. In most
aerobic
cells, the pyruvate formed by glycolysis is further degraded in a pathway called the Krebs cycle (also called the tricarboxylic acid cycle or citric acid cycle). In the Krebs cycle, the carbon of pyruvate is fully oxidized to carbon dioxide in a series of
oxidationreduction
reactions. During these reactions, much of the energy in the original pyruvate is carried as high-energy electrons by the electron shuttles NADH and FADH
2
. These electrons will ultimately be passed to the ...