Only plant cells do photosynthesis but though animal cells don't, they need something equivalent to it. Cellular respiration is a process that takes place in both animal and plant cells that turns the nutrients (glucose amongst other things) they obtain into ATP (chemical energy), which is also the purpose of photosynthesis (to produce glucose, which can later be converted to ATP). How Cellular Respiration Works. Cellular respiration begins with glycolysis, where a molecule of glucose is split in the cytoplasm of the cell. The most important steps in cellular respiration, however, take place in the mitochondria, the power plants of the cell, where electrons pass along a series of membrane-embedded proteins called the electron transport chain.
Cellular respiration is the process by which cells in plants and animals break down sugar and turn it into energy, which is then used to perform work at the cellular level. The purpose of cellular ...