Hexokinase
To lock glucose inside a cell
Permeability will serve us well
To perform this trick
Add phosphate to C-6
Plasma membranes give ions hell
Phosphoglucose isomerase
An isomerase will then arrive
Fructose phosphate to which it will strive
Ketose is the next thing
So it alters the ring
Turning six-membered ring into five
Phosphofructokinase-1
Now I know preparation’s a chore
But an ATP we’ll need one more
Here comes PFK-1
Which can’t be undone
Our investment will pay off I’m sure
Fructose bisphosphate aldolase
Seeing all that kinases achieved
Aldolase swings in sword unsheathed
Fructose in its path
Gets sliced right in half
And that’s how hexoses get cleaved
Triose phosphate isomerase
Dihydroxyacetone’s one we despise
While his brother’s a saint in our eyes
So if we do our worst
By the end of the verse
That triose will isomerize
Glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase
We enter the payoff phase thus
With glyceraldehyde so kind to us
It isn’t surprised
When it gets oxidized
While reducing some NAD+
Phosphoglyerate kinase
With our patience for payoff worn thin
Let’s kinase ADP for the win
It’s been nothing but bliss
To work with you bis
One phosphate still left to do in
Phosphoglycerate mutase
A mutase does just what we need
Phosphate 3 to 2 is the deed
With two histidines
The transfer is clean
An elegant enzyme indeed
Enolase
Our glucose approaches its fate
When enolase proceeds at a rate
To produce PEP
At high energy
PEP’s phosphoenolpyruvate
Pyruvate kinase
There’s tautomerization to do
And production of ATP too
The journey’s been great
We have pyruvate
Our glycolysis pathway is through