Pyruvate is an essential chemical component in biochemistry and human bodies.
It's the result of glycolysis, which is the process of converting glucose to energy.
Pyruvate's carboxylate group is eliminated as CO2.
The generated acetyl group is activated by attaching it to Coenzyme-A, resulting in Acetyl Coenzyme-A.
The TCA cycle produces 15 ATPs by oxidizing acetyl CoA.
By performing processes like oxidative decarboxylation and the Krebs cycle, one molecule of pyruvate, a three-carbon chemical, creates four molecules of NADH, one molecule of FADH2, and one molecule of ATP.
In the electron transport system, oxidation of one molecule of FADH2 and four molecules of NADH produces 2 and 12 (43) ATP molecules, respectively (ETS).
As a result, we can say that one molecule of pyruvate produces 15 ATPs in total.