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DraconiticBiochemistryBiomolecules · Catabolism · Biosynthesis · Metabolism
Data

Field guide

Read the network before tracing the line: carbon exchange, energy conversion, lipid and amino-acid chemistry, nucleotide economy, cofactors, and the mechanistic scale revealed by oxalosuccinate.

Guide chapters
1
Metabolic domains
12
Pathway districts
58
Map edition
human-metabolism-r97-expanded-20261025, 2,039 events
AMINO ACIDS

Amino-acid carbon

Amino-acid-specific transformations that connect carbon skeletons to central metabolism while preserving nitrogen handling as a separate question.

AMINO ACIDS8 pathway backbones
These routes occupy a stable territory in the publication map and link to their source records for closer inspection.

Amino-acid catabolism begins by redistributing or removing nitrogen, then channels the remaining carbon skeleton into a smaller set of metabolic entry points. Those products include pyruvate, acetyl-CoA, acetoacetate, 2-oxoglutarate, succinyl-CoA, fumarate and oxaloacetate.

Branched-chain amino acids share an initial transamination and oxidative-decarboxylation logic but then diverge into chain-specific reactions. Phenylalanine and tyrosine retain aromatic chemistry much longer, while tryptophan follows the chemically diverse kynurenine route.

The familiar labels glucogenic and ketogenic summarize possible carbon destinations; they do not specify a measured whole-body flux. Reaction-level detail is needed to see where cofactors, organelles and irreversible steps constrain each route.

Ideas to carry into the map

  1. Nitrogen handling precedes many carbon-skeleton routes.
  2. Several amino acids converge on a small set of central intermediates.
  3. Glucogenic and ketogenic labels summarize destinations, not flux.

Pathways in this field note

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