How do red blood cells perform glycolysis without mitochondria?
Biology · High School · Mon Jan 18 2021
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Explanation: RBCs are responsible for delivering oxygen to the body via hemoglobin.
- As a result, they are designed to incorporate the haemoglobin in order to supply it, and hence they lack cell organelles such as the nucleus and mitochondria.
- However, they require energy just like any other cell, but their energy requirements are relatively minimal and may be met purely by glycolysis, which does not take up as much room in the RBC as a cell organelle would.
- Lack of mitochondria means that the cells use none of the oxygen they transport. Instead they produce the energy carrier ATP by means of fermentation, via glycolysis of glucose and by lactic acid production.