A new chiral center formed when a monosaccharide such as galactose assumes the hemiacetal form is called the anomeric carbon. In biological systems, ATP plays a central role in energy transfer since it has an intermediate phosphoryl transfer potential. For a reaction to be spontaneous, the change in free energy, D G, must be positive. Acetyl CoA contains a high energy thioester linkage. Glycolysis involves the breakdown of a 6 carbon sugar into two 4 carbon sugars generating a net of 4 ATP molecules.
Lactose intolerance is due to the lack of b -galactosidase.
High levels of phosphoenolpyruvate indicate that the energy charge of the cell is low and glycolysis speed up. Polysaccharides lack directionality. Coupled reactions allow a thermodynamically unfavored reaction to proceed.