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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jul 5.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Metab. 2017 Jul 5;26(1):131–141. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.06.019

Figure 4. The hexosamines biosynthesis pathway.

Figure 4

The hexosamine biosynthesis pathway is an off-shoot of glycolysis that starts with the conversion of fructose-6-phosphate and the amino group donor glutamine to glucosamine-6-phosphate. Glucosamine-6-phosphate is then linked to the nucleotide UTP and N-acetylated to form the bioactive molecule UDP-N-acetylglucosamine. The enzymes O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA) catalyse addition or removal of the post-translational modification O-GlcNAcylation. O-GlcNAcylation and phosphorylation often compete for the same amino acid residues and their competition influence protein stability and function. On the other hand, the enzymes MGATs use UDP-N-acetylglucosamine to modify the branching of N-glycans, a post-translational modification of surface proteins that regulates cell membrane dynamics.