Question

In humans, most NADPH is produced by the following reaction (not discussed in this course):

Glucose 6-phosphate + H₂O + NADP⁺à 6-phosphogluconate +NADPH +H⁺. This reaction is catalyzed by an enzyme called glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase.

Would you expect glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase to be activated or inhibited by an insulin signal? Explain.

Answer 1

When blood glucose level is high insulin is released and the main job of insulin is to decrease blood glucose level. Insulin do this job in following 3 ways.

It increase the flux of glucose through glycolysis.

It activate the process of glycogenesis to make glycogen.

It activate glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase to make NADPH.

As a result of this blood glucose level immediately becomes normal.

So insulin activates glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase so that high blood glucose could be normal