(glīkŏl'ĭsĭs), term given to the metabolic pathway utilized by most microorganisms (yeast and bacteria) and by all “higher” animals (including humans) for the degradation of glucose . Glycolysis means, literally, the dissolution of sugar. The process is a series of consecutive chemical conversions that require the participation of eleven different enzymes , most of which have been crystallized and thoroughly studied. Glycolysis begins with a single molecule of glucose and concludes with the production of two molecules of pyruvic acid. The pathway is seen to be degradative, or catabolic, in that the six-carbon glucose is reduced to two molecules of the three-carbon pyruvic acid. Much of the energy that is liberated upon degradation of glucose is conserved by the simultaneous formation of the so-called high-energy molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Two reactions of the glycolytic sequence proceed with the concomitant production of ATP, thus ATP synthesis is said to be coupled to…