The Organization of Glycolysis and the Oxidative Pentose Phosphate Pathway in Plants

The first requirement for the understanding of a metabolic pathway is a knowledge of the sequence of the reactions involved and the way in which they are organized in the cell. The aim of this chapter is to consider the extent to which we have such knowledge for the only two pathways of carbohydrate oxidation known to operate in plants, glycolysis and the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway. I have said little about regulation because we cannot study it effectively until we know the pathways and their organization, and it is better to learn to walk before we try to run, and also because consideration of organization and control would make too large a chapter. Various aspects of the two pathways have been reviewed recently (Turner and Turner 1980, Ap Rees 1980 a, b, Dennis and Miernyk 1982). By and large I have taken the picture presented by these articles as my starting point, and in general I have not dwelt on matters established in them, but have concentrated on recent developments. References have been reduced to those needed to establish the argument in an attempt to produce a review, not a catalogue.