Figure 1.

Glucose and glutamine are critical inputs for major anabolic pathways. In proliferating cells, glucose and glutamine (highlighted in grey) are taken up from the extracellular environment and catabolized through major metabolic pathways including glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle to provide the reducing equivalents (purple) and high-energy carriers (ATP, red) required to synthesize major macromolecules (green). A subset of the non-essential amino acids that are synthesized from glucose and glutamine are shown. Reducing equivalents (NADH, FADH₂) in the mitochondria fuel the electron transport chain and enable synthesis of ATP through oxidative phosphorylation (oxphos). TCA cycle intermediates such as citrate and oxaloacetate (OAA, converted to aspartate) likewise contribute to lipid and nucleotide biosynthesis, respectively.