GLYCOLYSIS

Glycolysis is the metabolic pathway that converts glucose into pyruvate, a three-carbon
sugar. The free energy released in this process is used to form ATP and NADH.

Glycolysis is a sequence of ten reactions, which can be grouped into two main phases: an
energy-requiring one and an energy-releasing one.

 In the energy-requiring phase the starting molecule of glucose gets rearranged,

and two phosphate groups are attached to it, using two molecules of ATP and
forming fructose-1,6-bisphosphate. The phosphate groups make the sugar unstable,
allowing it to split in half and forming two molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.

 In the energy-releasing phase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate is oxidized and NAD+

is reduced to NADH and H+. Each molecule of this sugar is converted into another
three-carbon molecule, pyruvate, through a series of reactions. In these reactions,
two ATP molecules and one NADH molecule are made for each molecule of
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.

Overall, the products of glycolysis are two molecules of pyruvate, two molecules of ATP and
two molecules of NADH.

Glycolysis doesn’t require oxygen. At the end of it, if oxygen is available, it is followed by
cellular respiration, an aerobic process; if oxygen is absent, the next step is an anaerobic
process called fermentation.

CELLULAR RESPIRATION

For those organisms in which fermentation does not happen, glycolysis is the first step of
the oxidation of the glucose. Cellular respiration occurs in the mitochondria and it consists of
three phases:

1. pyruvate oxidation;
2. Krebs cycle;
3. oxidative phosphorylation.

1. Each pyruvate from glycolysis goes into the mitochondrial matrix. There, it’s
converted into acetyl, a two-carbon molecule, bound to Coenzyme A, forming acetyl
CoA. One molecule of carbon dioxide is released and one NADH is generated for
each molecule of pyruvate.
2. The acetyl CoA combines with oxaloacetate, a four-carbon molecule and goes
through a cycle of reactions, ultimately regenerating oxaloacetate, which combines
with another molecule of acetyl CoA, restarting the cycle.
After four oxidation, one molecule of ATP, three NADH and one FADH2 are produced,
and carbon dioxid is released.
Krebs cycle occurs twice for each molecole of glucose.

3. The NADH and FADH2 deposit their electrons in the electron transport chain, turning
back into NAD+ and FAD. At the end of the electron transport chain, oxygen accepts
electrons and forms water.
During the process, energy is released, forming 28 ATP.