READ: Respiration Stage 1
Cellular Respiration Stage 1: Glycolysis
Cellular Respiration Stage I: Glycolysis
The first stage of cellular respiration is glycolysis. It takes place in the cytosol of the cytoplasm.
Splitting Glucose
The word glycolysis means “glucose splitting,” which is exactly what happens in this stage. Enzymes split a molecule of glucose into two molecules of pyruvate (also known as pyruvic acid). This occurs in several steps, as shown in Figure below.
You can watch an animation of the steps of glycolysis:
In glycolysis, glucose (C6) is split into two 3-carbon (C3) pyruvate molecules. This releases energy, which is transferred to ATP. How many ATP molecules are made during this stage of cellular respiration?
Results of Glycolysis
Energy is needed at the start of glycolysis to split the glucose molecule into two pyruvate molecules. These two molecules go on to stage II of cellular respiration. The energy to split glucose is provided by two molecules of ATP. As glycolysis proceeds, energy is released, and the energy is used to make four molecules of ATP. As a result, there is a net gain of two ATP molecules during glycolysis. During this stage, high-energy electrons are also transferred to molecules of NAD+ to produce two molecules of NADH, another energy-carrying molecule. NADH is used in stage III of cellular respiration to make more ATP.
Here is a summary of glycolysis:
Anaerobic and Aerobic Respiration
Scientists think that glycolysis evolved before the other stages of cellular respiration. This is because the other stages need oxygen, whereas glycolysis does not, and there was no oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere when life first evolved about 3.5 to 4 billion years ago. Cellular respiration that proceeds without oxygen is called anaerobic respiration. Then, about 2 or 3 billion years ago, oxygen was gradually added to the atmosphere by early photosynthetic bacteria. After that, living things could use oxygen to break down glucose and make ATP. Today, most organisms make ATP with oxygen. They follow glycolysis with the Krebs cycle and electron transport to make more ATP than by glycolysis alone. Cellular respiration that proceeds in the presence of oxygen is called aerobic respiration.
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