Question

How many ATP's are gained by complete oxidation of glucose.

Answer 1

• A total of 36 ATPs are gained by complete oxidation of glucose.
• During glycolysis, a total 4 ATPs are formed out of which 2 are consumed.

Conversion of pyruvate to Acetyl CoA does produce any ATP. However, the 2 molecules of NADH+H${}^{+}$ are produced per glucose, which will yield 06 ATP in the ETC.

• The Krebs cycle produces two molecules of ATP for every molecule of glucose. The Krebs cycle also produces eight molecules of NADH and two molecules of FADH${}_2$ per molecule of glucose. As each molecule of NADH is equivalent to three ATPs and each FADH${}_2$ is equal to two ATPs, we get 2+ 8×3 + 2×2 = 30 ATPs from Krebs cycle.

2 ATP is required to transport NADH + H+ formed by glycolysis from the cytoplasm through the inner mitochondrial membrane. Since 2 ATP are used, therefore only 36 ATP are produced instead of 38 ATP.