Full explanation
Glycolysis involves an energy-investment phase and an energy-payoff phase.
In the investment phase, 2 ATP molecules are consumed (used to phosphorylate glucose and fructose-6-phosphate).
In the payoff phase, each of the two 3-carbon molecules produced generates 2 ATP via substrate-level phosphorylation — for a total gross production of 4 ATP (2 ATP × 2 molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate going through the payoff phase).
This means 4 ADP molecules are phosphorylated to ATP during the payoff phase, even though the net ATP yield of glycolysis is only 2 (4 produced − 2 invested).
The statement refers to the gross phosphorylation events, which is correctly four.
Other options
A) Two glucose molecules are needed to obtain one molecule of pyruvic acid This has it backwards.
Glycolysis breaks down one molecule of glucose (a 6-carbon sugar) into two molecules of pyruvic acid (3-carbon each), not the other way around.
One glucose molecule is sufficient to produce two pyruvate molecules.
B) From each glucose molecule, two molecules of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate are produced Each glucose molecule produces only one molecule of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, not two.
This single 6-carbon molecule is then split into two 3-carbon molecules (dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate) in a later step.
C) Phosphoenolpyruvate is converted to pyruvate by the enzyme isomerase The conversion of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to pyruvate is catalyzed by pyruvate kinase, not an isomerase.
This step is a substrate-level phosphorylation reaction, generating ATP — it's a kinase-mediated transfer of a phosphate group, which is mechanistically distinct from an isomerization reaction (isomerases rearrange atoms within a molecule without transferring phosphate groups to ADP).
E) From each glucose molecule, one molecule of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate is produced From each glucose molecule, two molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) are ultimately produced, not one.
This happens because fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is split into two 3-carbon molecules, and the other one (dihydroxyacetone phosphate) is also converted into G3P, so both 3-carbon fragments funnel into the same pathway.