Photosynthetic organisms use elaborate machinery to incorporate carbon (as CO₂) into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, which is used to synthesize glucose for later metabolism. However, one carbon is lost following glycolysis when the three-carbon pyruvate is converted to acetyl-CoA. The bacterial enzyme pyruvate-formate lyase (also known as formate C-acetyltransferase) catalyzes the reaction

How does this reaction help the cell avoid losing carbon?

Transcribed Image Text:

Pyruvate + HSCOA acetyl-CoA + formate