D-Xylose is a five-carbon aldose (pentose, monosaccharide) that can be catabolized or metabolized into useful products by a variety of organisms.
There are at least four different pathways for the catabolism of D-xylose: An oxido-reductase pathway is present in eukaryotic microorganisms. Prokaryotes typically use an isomerase pathway, and two oxidative pathways, called Weimberg and Dahms pathways respectively, are also present in prokaryotic microorganisms.