Chapter 7, Problem 7SQ

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 is the first step 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 is the acetyl-CoA formation and the citric acid cycle (Krebs reactions) that break both of these bonds. Energy released at the bond break is captured in electrons carried by NADH and in high-energy phosphate bonds of ATP. All carbon atoms that were once a part of glucose end up in CO₂, which diffuses out of the cell.