The phosphogluconate pathway

Many cells possess, in addition to all or part of the glycolytic pathway that comprises reactions [step [1,2,3,4,5,Step [6,reaction [7,8,step [9,Reaction [10,b11breaction [11a], other pathways of glucose catabolism that involve, as the first unique step, the oxidation of glucose 6-phosphate [12] instead of the formation of fructose 6-phosphate [2]. This is the phosphogluconate pathway, or pentose phosphate cycle. During 12], hydrogen atoms or electrons are removed from the carbon atom at position 1 of glucose 6-phosphate in a reaction catalyzed by glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase. The product of the reaction is 6-phosphogluconate.

The reducing equivalents (hydrogen atoms or electrons) are accepted by nicotine adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+), a coenzyme similar to but not identical with NAD+. A second molecule of NADP+ is reduced as 6-phosphogluconate is further oxidized; the reaction is catalyzed by 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase 12]. The products of the reaction also include ribulose 5-phosphate and carbon dioxide. (The numbers at the carbon atoms in step [13] indicate that carbon 1 of 6-phosphogluconate forms carbon dioxide.)

Ribulose 5-phosphate can undergo a series of reactions in which two-carbon and three-carbon fragments are interchanged between a number of sugar phosphates; this sequence of events can lead to the formation of two molecules of fructose 6-phosphate and one of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate from three molecules of ribulose 5-phosphate (i.e., the conversion of three molecules with five carbons to two with six and one with three). Although the cycle, which is outlined in Figure 4, is the main pathway in microorganisms for fragmentation of pentose sugars, it is not of major importance as a route for the oxidation of glucose. Its primary purpose in most cells is to generate reducing power in the cytoplasm, in the form of reduced NADP+. This function is especially prominent in tissues—such as the liver, mammary gland, fat tissue, and the cortex (outer region) of the adrenal gland—that actively carry out the biosynthesis of fatty acids and other fatty substances (e.g., steroids). A second function of 12] and [step [13] is to generate from glucose 6-phosphate the pentoses that are used in the synthesis of nucleic acids (see below The biosynthesis of cell components).

In photosynthetic organisms, some of the reactions of the phosphogluconate pathway are part of the major route for the formation of sugars from carbon dioxide; in this case, the reactions occur in a direction opposite to that in which they occur in nonphotosynthetic tissues (see photosynthesis).

A different route for the catabolism of glucose also involves 6-phosphogluconate; it is of considerable importance in microorganisms lacking some of the enzymes necessary for glycolysis. In this route, 6-phosphogluconate (derived from glucose via step [1] and [12]) is not oxidized to ribulose 5-phosphate via step [13] but, in an enzyme-catalyzed reaction [14], loses water, forming the compound 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate (KDPG).

This is then split into pyruvate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate [15], both of which are intermediates of the glycolytic pathway.

The catabolism of sugars other than glucose

Release of glucose from glycogen

The main storage carbohydrate of animal cells is glycogen, in which chains of glucose molecules—linked end-to-end, the C1 position of one glucose being linked to the C4 position of the adjacent one—are joined to each other by occasional linkages between a carbon at position 1 on one glucose and a carbon at position 6 on another. Two enzymes cooperate in releasing glucose molecules from glycogen. Glycogen phosphorylase catalyzes the splitting of the 1,4-bonds by adding the elements of phosphoric acid at the point shown by the broken arrow in [16], rather than water, as in the digestive hydrolysis of polysaccharides such as glycogen and starch. The products of [16] are glucose 1-phosphate and chains of sugar molecules shortened by one unit; the chains are degraded further by repetition of 16]. When a bridge linking two chains, at C1 and C6 carbon atoms of adjacent glucose units, is reached, it is hydrolyzed in a reaction involving the enzyme α (1 → 6) glucosidase. After the two chains are separated, 16] can occur again. The glucose 1-phosphate thus formed from glycogen or, in plants, from starch, is converted to glucose 6-phosphate by phosphoglucomutase [78], which catalyzes a reaction very similar to that effected in 8] of glycolysis; glucose 6-phosphate can then undergo further catabolism via glycolysis [2,3,4,5,Step [6,reaction [7,8,step [9,Reaction [10] or via either of the routes involving formation of 6-phosphogluconate [12].

What made you want to look up metabolism?
(Please limit to 900 characters)
Please select the sections you want to print
Select All
MLA style:
"metabolism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
APA style:
metabolism. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from
Harvard style:
metabolism. 2015. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 05 May, 2015, from
Chicago Manual of Style:
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "metabolism", accessed May 05, 2015,


We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles.
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Harvard
  • Chicago
You have successfully emailed this.
Error when sending the email. Try again later.

Or click Continue to submit anonymously: