Pathway

The pathway of cellular respiration by glycolysis can be considered firstly in terms of:

• entry of glucose into the cell or
• production of glucose from another source e.g. glycogen, galactose

Then, there are the sequential enzyme reactions:

• hexokinase converts glucose into glucose-6-phosphate
• glucose-6-phosphate isomerase converts glucose-6-phosphate into fructose-6-phosphate
• 6-phosphofructokinase converts fructose-6-phosphate into fructose-1,6-biphosphate
• fructose biphosphate aldolase converts fructose-1,6-biphosphate into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and dihydroxyacetone phosphate
• triose phosphate isomerase converts dihydroxyacetone phosphate into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate
• glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase converts glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate into 3-phosphoglyceroyl phosphate
• phosphoglycerate kinase converts 3-phosphoglyceroyl phosphate into 3-phosphoglycerate
• phosphoglycerol mutase converts 3-phosphoglycerate into 2-phosphoglycerate
• enolase converts 2-phosphoglycerate into phosphoenolpyruvate
• pyruvate kinase converts phosphoenolpyruvate into pyruvate

Following glycolysis, one of the following two forward reactions may occur:

• pyruvate dehydrogenase converts pyruvate into acetyl CoA
• lactate dehydrogenase converts pyruvate into lactate - anaerobic glycolysis

Individual enzymes are considered in the submenu.