Chapter 7, Problem 6SQ

Summary Introduction

Introduction:

Glycolysis is the series of reactions that produce ATP by converting glucose to pyruvate. The glycolysis pathway occurs in the cytoplasm of all cells, and it is the first steps in aerobic respiration. The reactions convert one six-carbon molecule of glucose to two three-carbon molecules of pyruvate. Each of the two pyruvate molecules that formed in glycolysis has two carbon–carbon bonds. The next two steps of aerobic respiration, acetyl-CoA formation and the citric acid cycle break both of these bonds. The energy released when the bond breaks is captured in electrons carried by NADH and in high-energy phosphate bonds of ATP. All the carbon atoms that were once part of glucose end up in CO₂, which diffuses out of the cell.