Which substance carries energy within cells and is produced as a result of cellular respiration?

• A. Glucose
• B. ATP
• C. DNA
• D. NAD+

Answer: (B)

Energy within cells is stored and delivered by ATP, adenosine triphosphate. During cellular respiration, the energy captured from glucose is packaged into ATP molecules. This molecule acts like the cell’s energy money: it earnestly stores energy in the bonds of its phosphate groups, and when energy is needed, the cell breaks a phosphate off ATP to form ADP and release usable energy for processes like muscle movement, active transport, and biosynthesis. Glucose is a fuel source that provides energy when it’s broken down, but it isn’t the energy carrier that moves energy around inside the cell. DNA stores genetic information, not energy, and NAD+ (with its reduced form NADH) are electron carriers involved in redox reactions rather than the primary energy currency. So ATP best fits the description of the substance that carries energy within cells and is produced as a result of cellular respiration.