Understanding Which Metabolic Pathways Produce ATP in Glucose

It's important to know how many ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, are produced per glucose molecule by various metabolic pathways, such as the Krebs cycle, fermentation, glycolysis, electron transport, and chemiosmosis. Take a look at how many net ATP are produced per pathway and which yields the most ATP per glucose.

Here is the breakdown of net ATP production:

• Glycolysis: 2 ATP
• Krebs Cycle: 2 ATP
• Oxidative Phosphorylation (Electron Transport Chain/Chemiosmosis): 28 ATP

• Fermentation: 2 ATP

So, oxidative phosphorylation is the metabolic cycle that produces the most net ATP per glucose molecule.