Question

One glucose molecule, through ETS yields ______ a) 2ATP molecules b) 3ATP molecules
c) 34ATP molecules
d) 38ATP molecules

Answer 1

Option c is the correct answer

Answer 2

Answer:

The correct answer is 38 ATP.

Explanation:

Calculating the contribution from each step of the glucose breakdown process:

1. Glycolysis- 2 ATP + 2 NADH

2. Krebs cycle- 2 ATP+ 8 NADH + 2 FADH2

So total we have: 4 ATP + 10 NADH + 2 FADH2

1 molecule of NADH yields 2.5 ATPs and 1 molecule of FADH2 yields 1.5 ATPs.

In the electron transport chain= 4 ATP+ ( 10*2.5) + ( 2*1.5) = 32 ATP.

So ideally the number of ATP produced should be 32. However, for convenience in school textbooks, we find the value for NADH and FADH2 rounded up to 3 and 2 respectively and thereby the yield of ATP comes as 38.