Andere Glycolytische Routes

The pentose phosphate pathway operates simultaneously with glycolysis to break down pentoses and glucose.

In the oxidative phase, glucose-6-phosphate is oxidized to generate NADPH, the reduced form of coenzyme NADP, an essential reducing agent for the biosynthesis of nucleic acids, certain amino acids, and fatty acids.

The non-oxidative phase generates ribose-5-phosphate, an essential precursor for nucleotide synthesis and certain amino acids.

The pentose phosphate pathway does not directly produce ATP, but the intermediates can enter glycolysis when the bacteria require ATP.

The Entner-Doudoroff pathway, primarily found in aerobic gram-negative bacteria, provides an alternative to glycolysis, producing one molecule each of pyruvate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.

Further catabolism of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate yields an additional pyruvate.

For each glucose molecule, the EDP produces one ATP, one NADH, and one NADPH.

Though EDP produces less ATP than glycolysis, the NADPH is valuable for biosynthetic pathways.