The oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway, reactions 1-3, generates NADPH and pentose 5-phosphate. The non-oxidative branch of the pathway, reactions 4-8, converts pentose 5-phosphate to other sugars.
The overall pathway can operate to generate only NADPH (glucose 6-phosphate is converted to pentose 5-phosphates, which are directed to the synthesis of fructose 6-phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, which in turn are converted back to glucose 6-phosphate). The reactions of the non-oxidative branch can operate to generate net amounts of ribose 5-phosphate with no production of NADPH. Net flux through this network of reactions appears to depend on the metabolic state of the cell and the nature of the biosynthetic reactions underway (Casazza and Veech 1987).
G6PD, the enzyme that catalyzes the first reaction of the pathway, is more extensively mutated in human populations than any other enzyme, pehaps because these mutant alleles confer malaria resistance (Luzzatto and Afolayan 1968). Mutations affecting other parts of the pathway are rare, though several have been described and studies of their effects have contributed to our understanding of the normal flux of metabolites through this network of reactions (Wamelink et al. 2008).
Molecular cloning studies have revealed the existence of two additional genes that encode phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase-like proteins, one widely expressed (phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase 2) and one whose expression appears to be confined to the testis (phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase 1-like 1) (Taira et al. 1989; 1991). Neither of these proteins has been purified and characterized enzymatically, nor have variations in the abundance or sequence of either protein been associated with alterations in human nucleotide metabolism (Roessler et al. 1993; Becker et al. 1996), so their dimerization and ability to catalyze the synthesis of PRPP from D-ribose 5-phosphate are inferred here on the basis of their predicted amino acid sequence similarity to phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase 1.