glycolysis
Definition
Glycolysis is a fundamental metabolic pathway that converts glucose into pyruvate through a series of ten enzymatic reactions, generating ATP and NADH in the process. This ancient, oxygen-independent pathway occurs in the cytoplasm of all living cells and serves as the primary route for glucose catabolism. Glycolysis produces two ATP molecules per glucose molecule through substrate-level phosphorylation and generates two NADH molecules that can be used for further energy production. The pathway is tightly regulated at key control points, particularly through enzymes hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, and pyruvate kinase. Glycolysis is critical for cellular energy metabolism, biosynthesis of macromolecules, and is notably upregulated in cancer cells (Warburg effect), making it a significant target for metabolic research and therapeutic intervention.
Visualize glycolysis in Nodes Bio
Researchers can visualize glycolysis as an interconnected metabolic network showing substrate-enzyme-product relationships and regulatory feedback loops. Nodes Bio enables mapping of glycolytic flux changes across experimental conditions, integrating metabolite abundance data with enzyme expression levels and regulatory proteins. Users can overlay transcriptomic and proteomic data onto glycolytic pathway networks to identify rate-limiting steps and visualize how perturbations propagate through the pathway to downstream metabolic processes.
Visualization Ideas:
- Metabolic pathway network showing all ten glycolytic reactions with enzyme nodes and metabolite edges
- Multi-omics integration network connecting glycolytic enzymes with their gene expression, protein abundance, and metabolite levels
- Comparative pathway analysis showing glycolytic flux differences between normal and disease states with color-coded metabolite abundance
Example Use Case
A cancer metabolism researcher investigating tumor cell bioenergetics uses metabolomics to profile glycolytic intermediates in drug-resistant versus drug-sensitive cell lines. By measuring concentrations of glucose-6-phosphate, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, and pyruvate alongside ATP/ADP ratios, they discover that resistant cells exhibit enhanced glycolytic flux with elevated lactate production. Network visualization reveals that upregulation of hexokinase 2 and lactate dehydrogenase A correlates with resistance, identifying potential combination therapy targets to disrupt metabolic adaptation mechanisms in treatment-resistant tumors.