Question

Does glycolysis occur in bacteria?

Answer 1

Hint: Glycolysis is the first step in cellular respiration. It is the process through which a glucose molecule is broken down to produce energy. At the end of the reaction, two molecules of pyruvate, NADH, ATP and water are produced. Glycolysis takes place in the cytosol of the cell cytoplasm. It takes place with or without the presence of oxygen. In this process six enzymes are involved.

Complete answer:
Cellular respiration is a series of metabolic reactions that occurs inside the cells to convert nutrients obtained from the food into a chemical compound called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The ATP molecules provide energy to drive many life processes in the living cells.
Cellular respiration occurs in all living organisms including the bacteria. Glycolysis is the first step of respiration that can occur with or without the presence of oxygen. It is divided into two phases- preparatory phase and pay-off phase.
In the preparatory phase, the phosphorylation of glucose and its conversion to glyceraldehyde-$$3$$-phosphate takes place. Here, two molecules of ATP are consumed to cleave the hexose chain into two triose phosphates.
Next comes the pay-off phase where the conversion of glyceraldehyde-$$3$$-phosphate to pyruvate and formation of ATP take place. Since glucose is split to yield two molecules of glyceraldehyde-$$3$$-phosphate, each step in this phase occurs twice per molecule of glucose.

Note:
After glycolysis, further reactions of respiration including oxidative decarboxylation, citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation take place. At the end of respiration, a total of $$30$$ to $$32$$ ATP molecules are produced from one glucose molecule. In anaerobic organisms, the pyruvate is not metabolized but undergoes a process called fermentation. The pyruvate remains in the cytoplasm instead of entering into the mitochondria. The pyruvate is converted to waste products which are removed from the cell.