| map00030 |
Pentose phosphate pathway |
The pentose phosphate pathway is a process of glucose turnover that produces NADPH as reducing equivalents and pentoses as essential parts of nucleotides. There are two different phases in the pathway. One is irreversible oxidative phase in which glucose-6P is converted to ribulose-5P by oxidative decarboxylation, and NADPH is generated [MD:M00006]. The other is reversible non-oxidative phase in which phosphorylated sugars are interconverted to generate xylulose-5P, ribulose-5P, and ribose-5P [MD:M00007]. Phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate (PRPP) formed from ribose-5P [MD:M00005] is an activated compound used in the biosynthesis of histidine and purine/pyrimidine nucleotides. This pathway map also shows the Entner-Doudoroff pathway where 6-P-gluconate is dehydrated and then cleaved into pyruvate and glyceraldehyde-3P [MD:M00008]. |
| map00010 |
Glycolysis / Gluconeogenesis |
Glycolysis is the process of converting glucose into pyruvate and generating small amounts of ATP (energy) and NADH (reducing power). It is a central pathway that produces important precursor metabolites: six-carbon compounds of glucose-6P and fructose-6P and three-carbon compounds of glycerone-P, glyceraldehyde-3P, glycerate-3P, phosphoenolpyruvate, and pyruvate [MD:M00001]. Acetyl-CoA, another important precursor metabolite, is produced by oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate [MD:M00307]. When the enzyme genes of this pathway are examined in completely sequenced genomes, the reaction steps of three-carbon compounds from glycerone-P to pyruvate form a conserved core module [MD:M00002], which is found in almost all organisms and which often corresponds to operon structures in bacterial genomes. Gluconeogenesis is a synthesis pathway of glucose from noncarbohydrate precursors. It is essentially a reversal of glycolysis with minor variations of alternative paths [MD:M00003]. |
