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].
Pentose phosphate pathway - Azoarcus sp. DD4
