Ophthalmology

Understanding the metabolites underlying eye development

Aerobic glycolysis, the process by which cells transform glucose into lactate, is key for eye development in mammals, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study published in Nature Communications.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Potential treatment of autoimmune diseases revealed in new study

Scientists in Japan have revealed a chemical compound that could be used for the treatment of various autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. These diseases occur when the body's immune response ...

Oncology & Cancer

Shedding light on 100-year-old cancer mystery

For almost a century, scientists have observed a strange behavior in cancer cells: They prefer a less-efficient pathway to produce energy. While normal cells utilize aerobic glycolysis to use glucose to produce 36 energy-storing ...

Oncology & Cancer

Chemists determine one way tumors meet their growing need

Behaving something like ravenous monsters, tumors need plentiful supplies of cellular building blocks such as amino acids and nucleotides in order to keep growing at a rapid pace and survive under harsh conditions. How such ...

Medications

Research points to potential new medical therapy for Lyme disease

A medical therapy that inhibits the growth of cancer cells may one day be effective at treating Lyme disease, according to new research by a University of Massachusetts Amherst team at the New England Regional Center of Vector-borne ...

Oncology & Cancer

Fundamental cancer metabolism dogma revisited

A new paper in Nature Communications reveals new insights into adaptations made by cancer cells to rewire their metabolism to achieve growth and survive. Among the discoveries include a challenge to a well-known feature in ...

Oncology & Cancer

Researchers continue to seek strategy for starving brain tumors

In an effort to starve brain cancer cells and put the brakes on tumor development, University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers blocked the main pathway that brain tumor cells use to convert ...

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Glycolysis

Glycolysis (from glycose, an older term for glucose + -lysis degradation) is the metabolic pathway that converts glucose C6H12O6, into pyruvate, CH3COCOO− + H+. The free energy released in this process is used to form the high-energy compounds ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and NADH (reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide).

Glycolysis is a definite sequence of ten reactions involving ten intermediate compounds (one of the steps involves two intermediates). The intermediates provide entry points to glycolysis. For example, most monosaccharides, such as fructose, glucose, and galactose, can be converted to one of these intermediates. The intermediates may also be directly useful. For example, the intermediate dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) is a source of the glycerol that combines with fatty acids to form fat.

It occurs, with variations, in nearly all organisms, both aerobic and anaerobic. The wide occurrence of glycolysis indicates that it is one of the most ancient known metabolic pathways.

The most common type of glycolysis is the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway (EMP pathway), which was first discovered by Gustav Embden, Otto Meyerhof and Jakub Karol Parnas. Glycolysis also refers to other pathways, such as the Entner–Doudoroff pathway and various heterofermentative and homofermentative pathways. However, the discussion here will be limited to the Embden-Meyerhof pathway.

The entire glycolysis pathway can be separated into two phases:

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