Monosaccharide Metabolism

Abstract

An entry point to understanding the pathways of carbohydrate metabolism is to consider the central position of glucose-6-phosphate. Glucose-6-phosphate lies near the start of two major pathways, glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway, and near the end of the β oxidation/glyoxylate/gluconeogenic pathways, which convert various non-carbohydrate precursors into glucose. Glucose-6-phosphate also acts as the key entry point into metabolism for dietary glucose, the glucose and glucose-1-phosphate released by the phosphorolysis/hydrolysis of glycogen, and galactose. Finally, glucose-6-phosphate is at the start of the biosynthetic pathways for most other sugars. Fructose is a major dietary sug..