Answer :
Answer: Glucose is a sugar produced by autotrophs during photosynthesis.
Explanation: Let's discuss the reactants and products of both photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Photosynthesis
- In photosynthesis, the reactants are light energy from the sun, carbon dioxide, and water. In return, photosynthesis produces glucose and oxygen.
- Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts of cells
- Using light energy from the sun, plants create glucose using the carbon and oxygen from carbon dioxide and the hydrogen from water.
- Since creating a glucose molecule from smaller molecule requires energy, photosynthesis converts the light energy from the sun into chemical energy in the form of ATP so that there is chemical energy available to create glucose.
Cellular Respiration
- In cellular respiration, glucose and oxygen are the reactants. In return, cellular respiration creates ATP, water, and carbon dioxide.
- As we can see, the products of cellular respiration are the reactants of photosynthesis, and vice-versa.
- Cellular respiration occurs in the mitochondria of cells.
- In cellular respiration, glucose is repeatedly broken down into smaller molecules in order to release hydrogen ions and ATP. The hydrogen ions are then used to form a proton gradient, where facilitated diffusion through ATP synthase once again creates additional ATP for survival
Based on the information above, we can conclude that glucose is a product of photosynthesis and reactant of cellular respiration.