The pentose phosphate shunt oxidizes glucose 6-phosphate to produce NADPH and C4, C5 and C7 sugars. NADPH provides reducing power for reductive biosynthetic processes and redox homeostasis while the various sugars provide precursors for nucleotide and amino acid biosynthesis. The pathway is divided into two branches: the irreversible oxidative branch, which produces NADPH, and the reversible non-oxidative branch, which produces C4, C5 and C7 sugars. The pentose phosphate pathway and glycolysis have three intermediates in common that interconnect them: glucose 6-phosphate, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and fructose 6-phosphate. (Adapted from PMID:37612403.)