• What is glycolysis?
• Phases of glycolysis
• Functions of glycolysis
• Importance of glycolysis
• Glycolysis and gluconeogenesis

We explain what glycolysis is, its phases, functions and importance in metabolism. Also, what is gluconeogenesis.

Glycolysis is the mechanism for obtaining energy from glucose.

What is glycolysis?

Glycolysis or glycolysis is a metabolic pathway that serves as the initial step for the catabolism carbohydrates in living beings. It consists fundamentally in the rupture of the molecules glucose through the oxidation of the glucose molecule, thus obtaining amounts of chemical energy usable by cells.

Glycolysis is not a simple process, but consists of a series of ten chemical reactions consecutive enzymes, which transform one molecule of glucose (C6H12O6) into two of pyruvate (C3H4O3), useful for other metabolic processes that continue to provide Energy to the organism.

This series of processes can occur in the presence or absence of oxygen, and occurs in the cytosol of the cells, as an initial part of cellular respiration. In the case of plants, it is part of the calvin cycle.

The reaction rate of glycolysis is so high that it has always been difficult to study. It was formally discovered in 1940 by Otto Meyerhoff and the same years later by Luis Leloir, although all this thanks to previous work from the late nineteenth century.

This metabolic route is usually named after the last names of the greatest contributors to its discovery: the Embden-Meyerhoff-Parnas route. On the other hand, the word "glycolysis" comes from the Greek glycos, "Sugar", and lysis, "breaking off".

Phases of glycolysis

Glycolysis is studied in two different phases, which are:

• First phase: energy expenditure. In this first stage, the glucose molecule is transformed into two glyceraldehyde, a low-energy-yielding molecule. For this, two units of biochemical energy are consumed (ATP, Adenosine Triphosphate). However, in the next phase the energy obtained from this initial investment will be doubled.
  Thus, from ATP phosphoric acids are obtained, which contribute phosphate groups to glucose, composing a new and unstable sugar. This sugar soon divides, resulting in two similar molecules, phosphated and with three carbons.
  Despite having the same structure, one of them is different, so it is additionally treated with enzymes to make it identical to the other, thus obtaining two identical compounds. All this happens in a chain of reactions of five steps.
• Second phase: obtaining energy. The glyceraldehyde in the first phase is converted into a high-energy biochemical compound in the second. To do this, it couples with new phosphate groups, after losing two protons Y electrons.
  Thus, these intermediate sugars are subjected to a process of change that gradually releases their phosphates, thus obtaining four ATP molecules (twice the amount invested in the previous step) and two pyruvate molecules, which will continue their cycle. on your own, glycolysis finished. This second phase of reactions consists of five more steps.

Functions of glycolysis

Glycolysis obtains the necessary energy for simple and complex mechanisms.

The main functions of glycolysis are simple: obtaining the biochemical energy necessary for the different cellular processes. Thanks to the ATP obtained from the breakdown of glucose, many forms of life get the energy to survive or to trigger much more complex chemical processes.

For this reason, glycolysis usually acts as a biochemical trigger or detonator for other major mechanisms, such as the Calvin cycle or the Krebs cycle. So much eukaryotes What prokaryotes are practitioners of glycolysis.

Importance of glycolysis

Glycolysis is a very important process in the field of biochemistry. On the one hand, it has great evolutionary importance, since it is the base reaction for increasingly complex life and for the support of cellular life. On the other hand, their study reveals details about the various existing metabolic pathways and about other aspects of the life of our cells.

For example, recent studies at universities in Spain and the University Hospital of Salamanca detected links between neuronal survival in the brain and increased glycolysis at which neurons they can be found subdued. This could be key in understanding diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease.

Glycolysis and gluconeogenesis

If glycolysis is the metabolic pathway that breaks down the glucose molecule for energy, gluconeogenesis is a metabolic pathway that goes the opposite way: the construction of a glucose molecule from non-carbohydrate precursors, that is, not linked at all with sugars.

This process is almost exclusive to the liver (90%) and kidneys (10%), and takes advantage of resources such as amino acids, lactate, pyruvate, glycerol and any carboxylic acid as a carbon source. In the absence of glucose, such as fasting, they allow the body to be stable and functioning for a reasonable period, while the glycogen stores in the liver last.