Glycolysis - Overview

Overview

The overall reaction of glycolysis is:

The use of symbols in this equation makes it appear unbalanced with respect to oxygen atoms, hydrogen atoms, and charges. Atom balance is maintained by the two phosphate (P_i) groups:

• each exists in the form of a hydrogen phosphate anion (HPO₄2-), dissociating to contribute 2 H+ overall
• each liberates an oxygen atom when it binds to an ADP (adenosine diphosphate) molecule, contributing 2 O overall

Charges are balanced by the difference between ADP and ATP. In the cellular environment, all three hydroxy groups of ADP dissociate into -O- and H+, giving ADP3-, and this ion tends to exist in an ionic bond with Mg2+, giving ADPMg-. ATP behaves identically except that it has four hydroxy groups, giving ATPMg2-. When these differences along with the true charges on the two phosphate groups are considered together, the net charges of -4 on each side are balanced.

For simple fermentations, the metabolism of one molecule of glucose to two molecules of pyruvate has a net yield of two molecules of ATP. Most cells will then carry out further reactions to 'repay' the used NAD+ and produce a final product of ethanol or lactic acid. Many bacteria use inorganic compounds as hydrogen acceptors to regenerate the NAD+.

Cells performing aerobic respiration synthesize much more ATP, but not as part of glycolysis. These further aerobic reactions use pyruvate and NADH + H+ from glycolysis. Eukaryotic aerobic respiration produces approximately 34 additional molecules of ATP for each glucose molecule, however most of these are produced by a vastly different mechanism to the substrate-level phosphorylation in glycolysis.

The lower-energy production, per glucose, of anaerobic respiration relative to aerobic respiration, results in greater flux through the pathway under hypoxic (low-oxygen) conditions, unless alternative sources of anaerobically oxidizable substrates, such as fatty acids, are found.