Glycolysis

The reactions of glycolysis (e.g., van Wijk and van Solinge 2005) convert glucose 6-phosphate to pyruvate. The entire process is cytosolic. Glucose 6-phosphate is reversibly isomerized to form fructose 6-phosphate. Phosphofructokinase 1 catalyzes the physiologically irreversible phosphorylation of fructose 6-phosphate to form fructose 1,6-bisphosphate. In six reversible reactions, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate is converted to two molecules of phosphoenolpyruvate and two molecules of NAD+ are reduced to NADH + H+. Each molecule of phosphoenolpyruvate reacts with ADP to form ATP and pyruvate in a physiologically irreversible reaction. Under aerobic conditions the NADH +H+ can be reoxidized to NAD+ via electron transport to yield additional ATP, while under anaerobic conditions or in cells lacking mitochondria NAD+ can be regenerated via the reduction of pyruvate to lactate.

Summary from Reactome (R-HSA-70171), read 2026-09-23.