{"id":242406,"date":"2025-07-04T07:23:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T07:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=242406"},"modified":"2025-07-04T07:24:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T07:24:00","slug":"how-many-atp-and-nadh-are-produced-during-the-glycolytic-pathway-for-each-molecule-of-glucose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/04\/how-many-atp-and-nadh-are-produced-during-the-glycolytic-pathway-for-each-molecule-of-glucose\/","title":{"rendered":"How many ATP and NADH are produced during the glycolytic pathway for each molecule of glucose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How many ATP and NADH are produced during the glycolytic pathway for each molecule of glucose?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer and explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During glycolysis, the breakdown of one molecule of glucose results in the production of 2 ATP molecules<\/strong> and 2 NADH molecules<\/strong>. Here is a breakdown of the process:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. ATP Consumption<\/strong>: In the early steps of glycolysis, glucose is phosphorylated twice, consuming 2 ATP molecules. First, glucose is converted into glucose-6-phosphate, using 1 ATP. Then, fructose-6-phosphate is phosphorylated to fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, consuming a second ATP. These steps are essential for activating the glucose molecule to enable further breakdown.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Cleavage<\/strong>: Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is split into two three-carbon molecules: dihydroxyacetone phosphate<\/strong> and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate<\/strong>. Dihydroxyacetone phosphate is quickly converted into another molecule of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. Now, two molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate will undergo the subsequent reactions of glycolysis.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. ATP Production<\/strong>: In the later stages of glycolysis, ATP is generated. Each glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate molecule is oxidized by NAD+ to produce 1 NADH<\/strong>. Then, each molecule of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate is converted into 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate<\/strong>, which generates 2 ATP<\/strong> molecules via substrate-level phosphorylation. Since there are two molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, the total ATP production from this step is 4 ATP.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Net ATP<\/strong>: Although 2 ATP molecules are consumed in the first half of glycolysis, 4 ATP molecules are produced in the second half. The net ATP gain per glucose molecule is 2 ATP<\/strong> (4 ATP produced – 2 ATP consumed).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. NADH Production<\/strong>: During the oxidation of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, each molecule generates 1 NADH, so for two molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, 2 NADH<\/strong> molecules are produced in total.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In summary, glycolysis yields 2 ATP<\/strong> and 2 NADH<\/strong> per molecule of glucose, with NADH carrying high-energy electrons to be used later in the electron transport chain during oxidative phosphorylation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    How many ATP and NADH are produced during the glycolytic pathway for each molecule of glucose? The correct answer and explanation is: During glycolysis, the breakdown of one molecule of glucose results in the production of 2 ATP molecules and 2 NADH molecules. Here is a breakdown of the process: In summary, glycolysis yields 2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}