The metabolic process in which glucose-6-phosphate is oxidized to form carbon dioxide (CO2) and ribulose 5-phosphate, coupled to reduction of NADP+ to NADPH; ribulose 5-P then enters a series of reactions that can yield biosynthetic precursors (ribose-5-phosphate and erythrose-4-phosphate) and glycolytic intermediates (fructose-6-phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate).
pentose-phosphate pathway