Cellular respiration has three stages: glycolysis, the Krebs cycle and oxidative phosphorylation. The Krebs cycle represents the oxidation of pyruvate.
The plant cell mitochondria actively oxidize pyruvate and carry out oxidative phosphorylation in ALL cells, with or without light.
Pyruvate is produced during glycolysis and then this molecule is oxidated in the mitochondrial matrix in order to produce energy (ATP).
Oxidative phosphorylation refers to the synthesis of ATP through an electron transport chain which is coupled to the generation of an electrochemical proton gradient.
In aerobic organisms such as plants, cellular respiration is fundamental for all their cells.
On the other hand, light-dependent reactions and light-independent reactions are photosynthetic reactions, which occur in plant chloroplasts.
