Glycolisis and Energy Related Pathways

Abstract

Glycolysis is the main pathway to converted sugars to pyruvic acid. In plant cells, pyruvic acid may enter the mitochondria and degrades to carbon dioxide and water through tricarboxylic acid cycle (TAC), where oxidative phosphorylation occurs with the concomitant generation of high energy molecules such as ATP or phosphorylated sugars (Ap Rees and Hill, 1994). Glycolysis and TAC include several metabolites (i. e. lipids, proteins and other nitrogenated compounds) which may act as regulatory molecules for these pathways, and may also serve as a connection between these processes and other energy related ones such as glyoxylate cycle and pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). We aim to provide easy, reproducible and relatively costless assays to study the most frequently referred reactions of glycolysis, TAC, glyoxylate cycle and PPP in plant tissues.