Back in the 1940s, Efraim Racker had just figured out the mechanism by which cells glean a little energy from the breakdown of glucose in the absence of oxygen, a pathway known as glycolysis.

Plants are also able to breakdown the larger, more complex molecules they have made to make glucose. This diagram shows the metabolism of glucose in plants - how glucose can be made from starch ...

The breakdown of glucose, in addition to contributing to ... Another factor that dramatically affects the metabolism is the nutritional status of the individual — for instance, during fasting ...