<P> Cellular respiration ( both aerobic and anaerobic ) utilizes highly reduced chemical compounds such as NADH and FADH2 ( for example produced during glycolysis and the citric acid cycle ) to establish an electrochemical gradient ( often a proton gradient ) across a membrane , resulting in an electrical potential or ion concentration difference across the membrane . The reduced chemical compounds are oxidized by a series of respiratory integral membrane proteins with sequentially increasing reduction potentials with the final electron acceptor being oxygen ( in aerobic respiration ) or another chemical substance ( in anaerobic respiration ) . A proton motive force drives protons down the gradient ( across the membrane ) through the proton channel of ATP synthase . The resulting current drives ATP synthesis from ADP and inorganic phosphate . </P>
what is the role of anaerobic respiration in living things
ATP synthesis from ADP and inorganic phosphate