Talk:Glycolysis

History
History/Elucidation seems slightly week. I plan on adding citations/expanding the section to give a better overview of the key steps involved in discovering the full pathway Sprisacaru (talk) 06:44, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

Is the Glucose oxidation pathway section out of place?
The section under the heading "Glucose oxidation pathway" is, it seems to me, to be out of place. It is not really about glycolysis, and has in fact been superseded by the subsection "Aerobic regeneration of NAD, and disposal of pyruvate" under the heading of "Post-glycolysis processes".

Are there any objections to it being erased from this article? Cruithne9 (talk) 10:31, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

PG Kinase stereochemistry?
In the PG Kinase step, 1,3-BisPG is shown as being converted to 3-PG but with the 2nd carbon's -OH flipped in stereochemistry compared to 1,3-BisPG. Is there really a change in stereochemistry for this step? Textbooks such as Lehninger's Principles of Biochemistry (6th ed, pg 552) do not show a change on that carbon.

It could be that I am mis-understanding something; the same change in stereochemistry is shown on the page for PG mutase.

However, the Glycolysis Metabolic Pathway at the top of the "Sequence of Reactions" section does NOT show a change in stereochemistry either... Myoglobin (talk) 15:44, 5 March 2016 (UTC)Myoglobin

Update:I've gone ahead and fixed this; it appears the original problem was found, where Iwilcox tried to fix a missing H but also accidentally reversed the stereochemistry at C2. Myoglobin (talk) 03:57, 11 March 2016 (UTC)Myoglobin

Assessment comment
Substituted at 16:26, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

PFK as Rate-Limiting
I'd like to point out that the section on PFK that states: "This is also the rate-limiting step." is incorrect. It has now been shown experimentally multiple times (including very strong theoretical grounds) that PFK is not rate-limiting in all cases examined. References:,, , (See Box 1.1 in the last ref for a brief discussion of the PFK Paradox), etc, etc. This is not to say that PFK isn't important, but it is importrant for other reasons. Also it depends on how one defines rate-limiting, ie how one measures rate-limitingness Rhodydog (talk) 16:28, 8 September 2016 (UTC)

Error in Summery of Reactions pathway/diagram in Sequence of Reactions section
A minor but important one- the reaction catalysed by Phosphoglycerate kinase has ATP and ADP reversed for the reaction inputs/outcomes. The forward reaction should require ADP and produce ATP, rather than the other way round- we'd all be dead otherwise!

All other ATP/ADP related things on that diagram are correct, and it's also a very nice breakdown of the process. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.188.107.24 (talk • contribs)


 * Whoah, indeed, thanks for that! And well spotted. . Adrian J. Hunter(talk•contribs) 12:02, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

In glycolysis, fructose anomer should be α, not β, right?
In glycolysis, fructose anomer should be α, not β, right? — Preceding unsigned comment added by PhoneGor (talk • contribs) 13:33, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

Sugars other than glucose
I think it would be beneficial to see how other sugars can be converted into a molecule that can then enter into glycolysis. Mianb793 (talk) 04:19, 31 January 2020 (UTC)

Enzyme and reaction type in each step
It would be helpful to have this information in a table to easily access it in one location. It would be helpful to list which cofactors, ATP/ADP, NADH/NAD+, H+ moves out of glycolysis. Mianb793 (talk) 04:25, 31 January 2020 (UTC)

Anoxic regeneration of NAD+ section seems copied from a textbook
The entire Post-Glycolytic processes section, to a lesser degree. The Anoxic regeneration of NAD+ section has no citations, and until I removed it, referenced a diagram that does not exist on this page. Any idea what textbook this came from? We should alter the content to be more original and find appropriate sources.

Willmskinner (talk) 21:29, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Merger proposal
I propose merging Complete Glucose Breakdown with this page. The Complete Glucose Breakdown page is a stub on the same topic as the Glycolysis page that does not mention either the TCA cycle or the Electron Transport Chain. Therefore, I propose a merge. Feel free to discuss! I will not do the merge unless someone comments for it.

Littleb2009 (talk) 01:01, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Support for reasons mentioned. Better covered here, in the more commonly-used title to describe the breakdown of glucose. Tom (LT) (talk) 04:47, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Also: Woahhhh this article is difficult to understand by virtue of the language used and structure, apart from the contents which themselves are difficult to follow, interspersed with some extraneous information, and seem to be duplicated in different areas. @ if you're knowledgable in this area how would you feel about joining me in making the article easier to read...?Tom (LT) (talk) 04:59, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I know that the Complete Glucose Breakdown page is really hard to read, even for me. (And I study science a lot.) That's exactly why I'm planning a merge with the Glycolysis page. During the merge, I'm planning to put anything new into a reaction diagram with pictures to make it easy to understand. But this will be a rather large project, likely taking multiple days, as is with most merges. Also, there's one double redirect to fix. -- littleb2009 (talk page) 19:53, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Does not appear that anyone is opposing, will go ahead with merge in the next few days. -- littleb 2009 Have a chat? 22:33, 23 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Okay, I finished! I will be de-watchlisting this page, comment on my talk page if you want to say something about the merge.-- littleb 2009 Have a chat? 00:08, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Article Evaluation
The lead section of this article clearly describes an efficient overview of the glycolysis pathway as well as the subsections that are discussed within the article, such as the phases of glycolysis (investment phase / payoff phase). Additionally, all of the information within this section can be found to be developed into more detail within the different sections throughout the article. Nothing is described in too much detail and is kept relatively short, and straight to the point regarding the information that will be discussed in each subsection of the article. For instance, the overall reaction of glycolysis is discussed as opposed to explaining each reaction that leads to the final product of pyruvate from glucose, and also the the idea that enzymes are used within this pathway within each step is mentioned, as opposed to naming and describing each enzyme that is utilized.

All the content that is discussed within this article relates to the process of glycolysis and doesn't stray from the idea or discuss any topics that do not correlate with it. The content on the page appears to be up to date, as the most recent source to be included into the article was posted during March of 2022. Additionally, the most recent edit to the article was made during December of 2022. There is an abundance of images and descriptions that help to both visualize and simplify the process of glycolysis. For example, the article has a diagram for each reaction that takes place within glycolysis and a short explanation of what occurs within each step. The process is even further simplified by showing exactly how the process is split into its two different phases as mentioned within the lead section. There are also explanations on how each reaction is regulated as well as how glycolysis can be related to different topics, such as cancer and diabetes. It doesn't appear that there is anything missing content wise when relating to the process of glycolysis except for the inclusion of underrepresented groups within the field of science, though this can be simply fixed by the inclusion of research that been done by someone of an underrepresented group or relating to an underrepresented group, such as a disease that affects a specific minority group.

The information within the article appears to be supported by secondary sources that are all reliable, including credible biographies of scientists who have worked to further research on glycolysis as well as articles that have been peer reviewed and published by credible scientific journals. There was only one piece of information within the article that doesn't have any citation and it appeared under the "glycolysis in disease" section of the article where it discusses genetic disease. It states that pyruvate kinase deficiency is an example of a mutation within the glycolysis pathway that leads to chronic hemolytic anemia, however there isn't a source that is cited to state that this information is true. Besides this issue, all of the sources seem to show diversity in what they are discussing regarding glycolysis as well as appear to be in abundance as there is a total of 61 different sources that are cited in the article. There appears to be diversity within the ethnicities of the authors that published the different sources used showing representation of often marginalized groups - as there appears to be an African American scientist being KH Alfarouk, an East Asian scientist, being X. Edward Guo, a South Asian scientist, being Karim Bensaad, and the list of different nationalities and ethnicities continues. Furthermore, not only do the all source links work, but they all show high levels of both relevancy and credibility. Majority of the sources discuss research that provides a large amount of information to the article, such as within the source, "Regulation and control of metabolic fluxes in microbes," by Luca Gerosa and Uwe Sauer which discusses the regulators of the glycolysis pathway. Without this article, there would be no evidence to support the section of the article which explains which enzymes are regulated by specific molecules and the result they have on the pathway as well as other downstream pathways.

The tone throughout the entirety of the article remains neutral. There aren't any instances in which the author states his opinion relating to any topic nor is there space for any form of bias to become apparent as the majority of the article has to deal with the facts of the pathway. For instance, the part of the article which discusses the history of glycolysis and the scientists responsible for producing the mechanisms of the reactions as well as the general idea of glycolysis avoids excessive crediting of one scientist over another. For example, Louis Pasteur is described as discovering the fermentation activity of yeast, without showing any connotation towards his work similarly to how Eduard Buchner discovered the intermediate known as fructose 1,6-bisphosphaste as well as regulation of glucose consumption by ATP without any connotation being asserted. Additionally, there doesn't appear to be any unnecessary discussion of any specific topic that doesn't require a more dense explanation - such as something extensive like the explanation of the entirety of the payoff phase of glycolysis compared to something minimal such as the relevance of glycolysis with diseases including, diabetes, genetic diseases, and cancer. To further this point, each disease is almost equally explained besides cancer, which has a rather complex involvement of glycolysis with its involvement of the Warburg effect which must be explained.

The article has a very concise and strong organizational structure. It contains all of the essential components of an article relating to a metabolic process, such as the reactions and enzymes involved, the methods of regulation, the different phases involved, connection to other pathways, implication within illnesses, the result of end products, and even the history leading to the discovery of the pathway. The language that is utilized is simplified which makes it easy for the reader to understand and maintains a grammatically sound structure. All the information within the article is located within the proper subsection that it correlates to and there isn't any irrelevancy seen within its entirety. For instance, within the overview section, it gives only the general concept of glycolysis - relaying the net equation and simple conditions that are involved within glycolysis, such as under either anaerobic conditions or aerobic conditions.

The media and images within the article are all necessary in helping to simplify and explain the process of glycolysis. It would be difficult to follow along with the process without the inclusion of how all the components within each reaction look and how each reaction occurs. The article includes images of the structures of enzymes within the pathway, structures of intermediates within the pathway, the reaction mechanisms of the pathway, the researcher's who developed the pathway, the Fischer projections and polygonal models for the intermediates of the pathway, and the crossover between glycolysis and gluconeogenesis which involves similar intermediates. There are also charts within the article that show the free energy changes in each step of glycolysis as well as discussing the alternate nomenclatures for the intermediates of the pathway. There are two detailed captions within the article - one which explains the overview of the image that shows the flow of reactions within glycolysis and another that explains the structures of each Fischer projection as well as the enzymes they correspond to. The other captions within the article simply relay the named of the structures, the reaction, or the person within the image that the caption correlates to. There are no copyright regulations that are violated by the utilization of the images within the article.

The talk page of this article includes various recommendations that should be considered in order to improve the organization and clarity of the article. The article is rated as a B-class article and is said to have mid-importance. It is within the molecular biology WikiProject. The way that the Wikipedia discusses the topic of glycolysis leaves a large room for consistent addition of information as there are constantly new findings about the topic as well as every other topics on Wikipedia which can be used to increase the depth of its information. However, within a classroom setting, topics normally follow a set curriculum and tend to change very minimally if at all. Within the talk page, there is a lot of constant replies to issues regarding the information on the page and resolutions of the issues. There mostly appears to have been issues in the past with a lack of citation as well as diagrams that weren't descriptive enough, as there was a recommendation to replace the section about anoxic regeneration since it appeared to be copied from a textbook with no citation provided and also a recommendation on the accuracy of the reactions pathway diagram as well as adding a diagram to relay the enzyme that correlates to each step of the pathway.

I believe that the article is strong as it has a detailed description of the pathway of glycolysis with inclusion of many visuals that allow for further clarification for the reader. The article does a good job of including only relevant information as well as finding as many ways to expand upon the topic. There page doesn't just state the simple steps within glycolysis but also includes topic overlaps, information about all the components of the pathway and how they worth together. I believe the article can be improved by making sure that everything is cited going forward with the article as there have been complaints about lack of citation in the past and there still remains a lack of citation for the genetic diseases sub-section of the article. There doesn't appear to be any information that is missing from the article in terms of the overview and description of glycolysis, but there lacks the presence of any research on glycolysis that could relate to the diseases discussed within the article. I think that the addition of research that has been conducted on the glycolysis pathway, besides that which is discussed within the history pathway, could improve the article as it would show findings that aren't necessarily common information about glycolysis, but new, still evolving information.

What medication or treatment would be used if there were a lack of glycolysis or excessive amount of glycolysis occurring within an individual?

Meirrak2001 (talk) 01:33, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

Hans Krebs
In the image file Aerobic respiration summary.jpg the biochemist's name is misspelt twice. The apostrophe does not belong! Dasyornis (talk) 05:44, 22 July 2023 (UTC)