galactose metabolism

Last reviewed 01/2018

Plasma galactose, after traversing the cell membrane, may enter glycolsis by the following set of reactions:

• galactokinase catalyzes the conversion of galactose to galactose-1-phosphate
• galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferse catalyzes the conversion of galactose-1-phosphate to uridyl diphosphate (UDP) galactose
• UDP galactose-4-epimerase catalyzes the conversion of UDP galactose to glucose-1-phosphate
• phosphoglucomutase catalyzes the conversion of glucose-1-phosphate to glucose-6-phosphate
• glucose-6-phosphate can enter the glycolytic pathway

At times of low plasma galactose, the reversal of pathway flux can form galactose from glucose.