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. 2022 Feb 11;18(2):e1009841. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009841

Fig 5. Glutamine can drive the TCA cycle in the absence of glucose.

Fig 5

(A) Reactions involved in the glutamine-driven TCA cycle when glucose concentration is low. (B) Under low glucose concentrations, malic enzyme 2 (ME2) activity must be upregulated to maintain a significant ATP production rate. (C) In the absence of glucose, the phospholipids synthesis flux remains low, irrespective of the ME2 activity. Thus, cells are unlikely to proliferate under low glucose concentrations [48]. (D) Oxygen is essential for maintaining a significant flux through pathways that consume ATP when glutamine is available, but the glucose concentration is low. Fluxes are in units of mM h-1 (millimolar per hour) and are shown at steady state.