![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Leloir_pathway.png/640px-Leloir_pathway.png&w=640&q=50)
Leloir pathway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Leloir pathway is a metabolic pathway for the catabolism of D-galactose. It is named after Luis Federico Leloir, who first described it.[1] [2] [3] [4]
![Steps in the Leloir pathway of galactose metabolism.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Leloir_pathway.png/640px-Leloir_pathway.png)
In the first step, galactose mutarotase facilitates the conversion of β-D-galactose to α-D-galactose since this is the active form in the pathway. Next, α-D-galactose is phosphorylated by galactokinase to galactose 1-phosphate. In the third step, D-galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase converts galactose 1-phosphate to UDP-galactose using UDP-glucose as the uridine diphosphate source. Finally, UDP-galactose 4-epimerase recycles the UDP-galactose to UDP-glucose for the transferase reaction. Additionally, phosphoglucomutase converts the D-glucose 1-phosphate to D-glucose 6-phosphate.[6]