Glycolysis: How a 300yr long research journey that started with the desire to improve alcoholic beverages kept revolutionizing biochemistry

Here we review an extraordinary similar to 300-year research journey that produced some of the most interesting debates and ground-breaking discoveries in biochemistry. Triggered by the desire to optimise fermentation for alcoholic beverages, studying the breakdown of glucose resulted in the first metabolic pathway map. The Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway, commonly known as glycolysis, revealed the existence of intracellular enzymes, the first metabolic intermediates, cofactors including ATP and cyclic energy transformation, as well as principles of signaling, metabolic regulation, and aspects of the evolutionary origins of metabolism. Research on central metabolism keeps pushing the boundaries of the biomedical sciences until the present day, and transforms systems biology, biotechnology and the search for innovative therapeutics.