Final answer:
The net yield of ATP when a molecule of glucose is completely oxidized to CO₂ via glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation using the glycerol 3-phosphate shuttle is 36 ATP.
Step-by-step explanation:
Calculation of Net ATP Yield
The total net yield of ATP when each of the following substrates is completely oxidized to CO₂ via glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, electron transport, and oxidative phosphorylation using the glycerol 3-phosphate shuttle is as follows:
Glycolysis produces a net of 8 ATP.
Transport of the NADH produced during glycolysis to the mitochondria using the glycerol 3-phosphate shuttle typically reduces the net yield of ATP. However, since the net production of ATP during glycolysis is zero, we do not subtract ATP for the shuttle in this scenario.
The conversion of 2 pyruvate into 2 acetyl-CoA produces 2 NADH, which via the electron transport chain (ETC) will yield 3 ATP each for a total of 6 ATP.
The citric acid cycle generates 24 ATP (12 ATP per cycle for each acetyl-CoA).
Oxidative phosphorylation is the main producer of ATP, relying on the electron transport from NADH and FADH₂. Here, we focus primarily on the NADH yield.
To summarize, for each molecule of glucose, the total yield after these reactions using the glycerol 3-phosphate shuttle would be 38 ATP (8 ATP from glycolysis + 6 ATP from conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA + 24 ATP from citric acid cycle). However, we must consider the net yield after accounting for the glycerol 3-phosphate shuttle, which results in a net gain of 36 ATP. Therefore, the net yield of ATP is 36.