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| Answers to these Questions |
1. Define the term "biochemical pathway".
2. You want to reconstitute the biochemical pathway of glycolysis (also called the "glycolytic pathway") in a test tube rather than in a cell's cytoplasm where it usually resides.
2a. What is the MINIMUM list of enzymes and cofactors you will need in your test tube to produce pyruvate from glucose. List the enzymes and substrate molecules you'll need to have in the tube.
2b. Assuming you have a saturating concentration of glucose in the test tube, and assuming that each of the enzymes in this pathway works with equal efficiency, an assuming that the reaction is running at maximal capacity, at any one moment, how will the concentration of fructose 6-phosphate compare with the concentration of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate in your test tube? Why?
2c. If no Isomerase is present in the reaction, what will happen to the
concentration of Dihydroxyacetone phosphate as the reaction continues? Why?
3. In glycolysis, describe a hypothetical feedback mechanism that could
slow the production of pyruvate, as more and more pyruvate is produced.
4. Explain how, at a molecular level, each enzyme in the glycolytic pathway
can react specifically with only its own substrate.
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Last updated 4/2004.