Why do cells spend some ATP in the early steps of glycolysis?
This expenditure of ATP releases energy that help to get the process underway. Without the energy made available by “splitting “ATP,” the energy states of the products and the reactants in these early reactions would mean that the reactions would proceed slowly if at all. Down the line more ATP is produced. 5. Why do we die when we can’t breathe and deliver oxygen to the mitochondria? Oxygen accepts the electrons at the end of the electron transport chain. If there’s not enough oxygen or no oxygen available, the flow of electrons down the chain slows or halts and less energy is released. Less energy release means less ATP is produced. All the life sustaining processes that depend on ATP being available slow or halt. We die for lack of sufficient ATP. Some cells can survive on anaerobic catabolism of glucose. Red blood cells do; they have no mitochondria and must. But red blood cells aren’t all that active. Some cells can survive on aerobic catabolism of glucose for awhile; some, such a
