Question

The use of arsenate instead of phosphate by glyceraldehyde 3‑phosphate dehydrogenase produces 1‑arseno‑3‑phosphoglycerate, which rapidly and spontaneously hydrolyzes.If 1‑arseno‑3‑phosphoglycerate spontaneously hydrolyzes to form 3‑phosphoglycerate, what is the ATP yield from the glycolysis reaction catalyzed by phosphoglycerate kinase?

Answer 1

In glycolysis, the generation of ATP takes place at the time of the transformation of 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate to 3-phosphoglycerate and at the time of the transformation of phosphoenolpyruvate to pyruvate. However, when arsenate is used in place of phosphate it results in the generation of 1-arseno-3-phosphoenolpyruvate to pyruvate that further gets dissociated into 3-phosphoglycerate without generating any ATP.

However, in the process, the transformation of phosphoenolpyruvate to pyruvate does not get hampered, and therefore, the reaction will produce two ATP from one glucose. Although at the time of the preparatory phase of glycolysis, two ATPs are used that signifies that the net gain of ATP will be zero.