Inorganic Phosphate and the Rate of Glycolysis in Insect Muscle

Abstract

CHANGES in the level of inorganic phosphate are believed to be responsible for the Pasteur effect in various cells metabolizing glucose, for example, in yeast¹, ascites tumour cells², and bacteria³. A similar mechanism is, however, difficult to accept for insect thoracic musculature where the anaerobic increase of glycogen breakdown was shown to occur without any simultaneous change in the level of inorganic phosphate⁴. In experiments reported here, evidence was found that the level of inorganic phosphate is rate-limiting for the anaerobic glycolysis in this tissue.