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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Sep 21.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Chem Biol. 2017 Sep 21;24(9):1161–1180. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2017.08.028

Figure 6. Serine Biosynthesis and Folate Cycle.

Figure 6

The glycolytic intermediate 3-phophoglycerate (3-PG) is metabolized to serine in a three-step pathway where the first step is catalyzed by the enzyme phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH), which can be inhibited by NCT-503 and CBR-5884. Serine metabolism to glycine by serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) transfers a one carbon unit to tetrahydrofolate (THF) to form N5,N10-methylene-tetrahydrofolate (CH2-THF). CH2-THF is the methyl donor for thymidine nucleotides, or it can be converted to N10-formyl-tetrahydrofolate (CHO-THF) for purine biosynthesis or to N5-methyl-THF (CH3-THF) to support methionine production and numerous methylation reactions via the S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) cycle.