Consider the complete aerobic oxidation of one molecule of glucose. How many molecules of NADH + H ⁺ and CO ₂ are produced exclusively during the step catalyzed by the Mg ²⁺ -dependent pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme?

Step-by-step solution

The enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase catalyzes the link reaction (oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetyl CoA) in the mitochondrial matrix, which requires Mg ²⁺ ions. During glycolysis, one molecule of glucose is broken down into two molecules of pyruvate. Therefore, the link reaction occurs twice for every glucose molecule entering aerobic respiration. Each single reaction of pyruvate forming acetyl CoA produces 1 NADH + H ⁺ and 1 CO ₂ . For two molecules of pyruvate (derived from one glucose molecule), the t