READ: Respiration Stage 1
Structure of the Mitochondrion
Structure of the Mitochondrion: Key to Aerobic Respiration
Before you read about the last two stages of aerobic respiration, you need to know more about the mitochondrion, where these two stages take place. A diagram of a mitochondrion is shown in Figure below.
The structure of a mitochondrion is defined by an inner and outer membrane. This structure plays an important role in aerobic respiration.
As you can see from Figure above, a mitochondrion has an inner and outer membrane. The space between the inner and outer membrane is called the intermembrane space. The space enclosed by the inner membrane is called the matrix. The second stage of cellular respiration, the Krebs cycle, takes place in the matrix. The third stage, electron transport, takes place on the inner membrane.
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