Facilitating understanding of the purine nucleotide cycle and the one-carbon pool: Part II: Metabolism of the one-carbon pool

Some metabolic processes such as glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and lipogenesis are readily understood because they are circumscribed in metabolic pathways that have clearly identifiable beginning points, end products, and other features. Other metabolic pathways that do not appear to be straightforward pose difficulties for students. In part I of this two-part series, one such metabolic process, the purine nucleotide cycle, was discussed (I. J. Arinze (2005) Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ. 33, 165–168). In the present article, the focus is on the metabolism of one-carbon fragments, the so-called one-carbon pool. As with the first article in this series, the intent of this article is to facilitate teaching and learning of this rather complex area of metabolism.