Oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is a key metabolic pathway that provides
reducing power (NADPH) for biosynthetic reactions as well as carbon precursors for the
biosynthesis of amino acids, nucleic acids, secondary plant products, etc. The PPP shares
many of the sugar phosphate intermediates with the glycolytic pathway (Fig. 3.5). The PPP
is characterized by the interconversion of sugar phosphates with three (glyceraldehyde-
3-phosphate), four (erythrose-4-phosphate), five (ribulose, ribose, xylulose phosphates),