Erythrose

Erythrose is a four-carbon monosaccharide with an aldehyde group, classified as an aldotetrose. Its stereoisomers include D-erythrose and L-erythrose.

Monosaccharide: A simple carbohydrate that cannot be hydrolyzed into smaller carbohydrate units. Erythrose is one sugar unit, not a chain of linked sugars.
Erythrose 4-phosphate: A phosphorylated derivative of erythrose that participates in carbohydrate metabolism. Phosphorylation converts erythrose into a metabolic intermediate.
Shikimate pathway: A metabolic pathway in plants, fungi, and many microorganisms that synthesizes aromatic compounds. Erythrose 4-phosphate supplies carbon to the pathway’s first committed reaction.
Threose: A four-carbon aldose that is a stereoisomer of erythrose. Its configuration differs at one of the two middle carbons.
Aldose: A monosaccharide whose open-chain form contains an aldehyde group. Erythrose belongs to this class because its carbonyl is terminal.
Pentose phosphate pathway: A metabolic pathway that produces NADPH and pentose sugars from glucose 6-phosphate. This pathway produces erythrose 4-phosphate as a branch-point intermediate.
Chorismate: A metabolic intermediate at the branch point for synthesis of aromatic amino acids and other compounds. Carbon from erythrose 4-phosphate contributes to chorismate biosynthesis.
Ribose: A five-carbon aldose found in RNA and many biological molecules. Ribose has one more carbon than erythrose and serves different structural roles.
Tetrose: A monosaccharide containing four carbon atoms. The four-carbon backbone places erythrose in this size class.
Transketolase: An enzyme that transfers two-carbon units between sugar phosphates. Transketolase reactions form and consume erythrose 4-phosphate.

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DiastereomerRelated: It is diastereomeric with threose while sharing the same connectivity.