The result of this oxidation is the conversion of the aldehyde group into a carboxylic acid group which drives the formation of an acyl phosphate bond. This is incidentally the only step in the glycolytic pathway in which NAD+ is converted into NADH. read more
The intermediates may also be directly useful. For example, the intermediate dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) is a source of the glycerol that combines with fatty acids to form fat. Glycolysis is an oxygen--independent metabolic pathway. The wide occurrence of glycolysis indicates that it is an ancient metabolic pathway. read more