Explain the glycolysis in detail.

1.	Explain the glycolysis in detail.
Answer» Carbohydrates are converted to glucose after the process of digestion is completed. The oxidation of glucose for releasing energy is called glycolysis which takes place in cytoplasm. Glycolysis can occur in presence of oxygen or without oxygen too. The first type of glycolysis takes place in aerobic respiration and the second type is in anaerobic respiration. In aerobic respiration, there is step-wise oxidation of glucose molecule forming two molecules each of pyruvic acid, ATP, NADH and water. Later the pyruvic acid formed in this process is converted into molecules of AcetylCoenzyme-A along with two molecules of NADH₂ and two molecules of CO₂. During anaerobic respiration along with glycolysis there is fermentation too. This is incomplete oxidation of glucose and thus it results in formation of lesser energy. The process of glycolysis was discovered by Gustav Embden, Otto Meyerhof, and Jacob Parnas. Therefore, in their honour, glycolysis is also called as Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway (EMP pathway). For the discovery they had performed experiments on muscles.

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