Glucose enters our body from the foods that we eat. Our food is digested and broken down into sugars which then enter the blood stream. This sugar (glucose) converts into pyruvate by a reaction pathway called Glycolysis. Our body makes ATP during Glycolysis. Using Glucose as the starting material we end up with 2 usable ATP (energy source). Using Glycogen as the starting material we end up with 3 usable ATP.
Glycolysis is a system of 10 steps starting with Glucose + ATP. Glucose gets a phosphate added onto it from the ATP. Then this glucose-phosphate molecule gets rearranged to give you a fructose-phosphate molecule. The fructose-phosphate molecule + ATP molecule to add another phosphate, giving a fructose-bisphosphate molecule. The fructose-bisphosphate molecule is then split into two molecules which are both then rearranged to give 2 G3P's (which we all learned about in high school). The -CHO group on the G3P is oxidized (lose electrons) then there is a transfer of phosphate from these new molecules to ADP creating 2 ATP! Molecules are then rearranged again in these new molecules that gave up their phosphate. Our bodies then remove a water molecule from the rearranged molecule. Water is then added to this molecule producing the pyruvate that we wanted and an inorganic phosphate. ADP reacts with the inorganic phosphate and gives us an ATP molecule and water.
After that long process (that actually happens very quickly) we are left with 2 ATP molecules that our bodies can use as energy!
The pyruvate that we made can be converted to lactate and sent to the liver. The liver then converts the lactate to glucose which can enter Glycolysis!
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This was a very thorough posting. I liked how you summed it up. It was clear and easy to follow. I liked how it was upbeat and the exclamation points gave it something extra/ highlighted the main information. It seems that you understand this process and how it works.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and i would agree with the previous comment that this is a very thorough posting but at the same time very easy to read and understand. This is actually the third post I have looked at on this particular question and I would say yours is the most complete as far as the information presented. I myself completly forgot to talk about how pyruvate was made but also how its your liver that converts this. Great job with this post and you definetly know what your talking about.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. You covered the process in detail without making it intimidating or hard to read.As I read your post, I realized how much I have learnt through this course because if I read this a few months ago I wouldn't be making the same comment. It is well guided and I enjoyed reading it very much.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Very clear and succinct explanation. Would make it very easy for a new-comer of biochemistry or biology to understand. Great job.
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