Transketolase is an enzyme of both the pentose phosphate pathway in all organisms and the Calvin cycle of photosynthesis. It catalyzes two important reactions, which operate in opposite directions in these two pathways. In the first reaction of the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, the cofactor thiamine diphosphate accepts a 2-carbon fragment from a 5-carbon ketose (D-xylulose-5-P), then transfers this fragment to a 5-carbon aldose (D-ribose-5-P) to form a 7-carbon ketose (sedoheptulose-7-P). The abstraction of two carbons from D-xylulose-5-P yields the 3-carbon aldose glyceraldehyde-3-P. In the Calvin cycle, transketolase catalyzes the reverse reaction, the conversion of sedoheptulose-7-P and glyceraldehyde-3-P to pentoses, the aldose D-ribose-5-P and the ketose D-xylulose-5-P.

The second reaction catalyzed by transketolase in the pentose phosphate pathway involves the same thiamine diphosphate-mediated transfer of a 2-carbon fragment from D-xylulose-5-P to the aldose erythrose-4-phosphate, affording fructose 6-phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-P. Again, in the Calvin cycle exactly the same reaction occurs, but in the opposite direction. Moreover, in the Calvin cycle this is the first reaction catalyzed by transketolase, rather than the second.

In mammals, transketolase connects the pentose phosphate pathway to glycolysis, feeding excess sugar phosphates into the main carbohydrate metabolic pathways. Its presence is necessary for the production of NADPH, especially in tissues actively engaged in biosyntheses, such as fatty acid synthesis by the liver and mammary glands, and for steroid synthesis by the liver and adrenal glands. Thiamine diphosphate is an essential cofactor, along with calcium.

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