{"id":259108,"date":"2025-07-18T17:51:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=259108"},"modified":"2025-07-18T17:51:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:51:41","slug":"from-one-glucose-during-the-prep-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/18\/from-one-glucose-during-the-prep-reaction\/","title":{"rendered":"From one glucose, during the prep reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>From one glucose, during the prep reaction, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>a. how many ATPs are formed during substrate-level ATP synthesis? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>b. how many ATPs are formed during oxidative phosphorylation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-6-color\">The correct answer and explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">a. Substrate-Level ATP Synthesis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>During the <strong>preparatory reaction<\/strong> of <strong>cellular respiration<\/strong>, which includes <strong>glycolysis<\/strong> and the conversion of <strong>pyruvate to Acetyl-CoA<\/strong>, <strong>2 ATPs<\/strong> are produced through substrate-level phosphorylation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Glycolysis<\/strong> occurs in the cytoplasm, where glucose (a 6-carbon molecule) is broken down into two molecules of pyruvate (3 carbons each). During this process, two ATP molecules are invested at the beginning of the pathway, but four ATP molecules are generated later through substrate-level phosphorylation, resulting in a net gain of <strong>2 ATPs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, in the preparatory phase (including the conversion of pyruvate to Acetyl-CoA), <strong>no further ATP<\/strong> is generated directly through substrate-level phosphorylation. The key role here is the decarboxylation of pyruvate, which forms Acetyl-CoA while generating <strong>1 NADH<\/strong> per pyruvate (so, 2 NADH total per glucose). The production of ATP directly in the preparation reaction does not occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">b. ATPs Formed During Oxidative Phosphorylation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Oxidative phosphorylation<\/strong> occurs in the <strong>mitochondria<\/strong>, specifically in the <strong>electron transport chain (ETC)<\/strong> and <strong>ATP synthase<\/strong>. The electron transport chain uses electrons from NADH and FADH2 (produced earlier in glycolysis, the preparatory reaction, and the Krebs cycle) to create a proton gradient across the mitochondrial membrane, which drives ATP synthesis via chemiosmosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For each <strong>glucose molecule<\/strong> (which generates <strong>2 NADH<\/strong> during glycolysis and <strong>2 NADH<\/strong> and <strong>2 FADH2<\/strong> during the Krebs cycle), a total of about <strong>32 to 34 ATPs<\/strong> are produced during oxidative phosphorylation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a breakdown:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>NADH<\/strong> generates 2.5 ATP each through the electron transport chain, contributing about <strong>20 ATPs<\/strong> from NADH.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>FADH2<\/strong> generates 1.5 ATP each, contributing about <strong>4 ATPs<\/strong> from FADH2.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the total ATP generated during <strong>oxidative phosphorylation<\/strong> from one glucose molecule is <strong>32 to 34 ATPs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In summary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Substrate-level ATP synthesis:<\/strong> 2 ATPs (via glycolysis).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Oxidative phosphorylation:<\/strong> 32-34 ATPs (via the electron transport chain and ATP synthase).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From one glucose, during the prep reaction, a. how many ATPs are formed during substrate-level ATP synthesis? b. how many ATPs are formed during oxidative phosphorylation? The correct answer and explanation is: a. Substrate-Level ATP Synthesis During the preparatory reaction of cellular respiration, which includes glycolysis and the conversion of pyruvate to Acetyl-CoA, 2 ATPs [&hellip;]<\/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-259108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259108","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=259108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}