1,3-BPG has a very similar role in the Calvin cycle to its role in the glycolytic pathway. For this reason both reactions are said to be analogous. However the reaction pathway is effectively reversed. The only other major difference between the two reactions is that NADPH is used as an electron donor in the calvin cycle whilst NAD is used as an electron acceptor in glycolysis. In this reaction cycle 1,3BPG originates from 3-phosphoglycerate and is made into glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate by the action of specific enzymes.
Contrary to the similar reactions of the glycolytic pathway, 1,3BPG in the Calvin cycle does not produce ATP but instead uses it. For this reason it can be considered to be an irreversible and committed step in the cycle. The outcome of this section of the cycle is an inorganic phosphate is removed from 1,3BPG as a hydrogen ion and two electrons are added to the compound.
In complete reverse of the glycolytic pathway reaction, the enzyme phosphoglycerate kinase catalyses the reduction of the carboxyl group of 1,3BPG to form an aldehyde instead. This reaction also releases an inorganic phosphate molecule which is subsequently used as energy for the donation of electrons from the conversion of NADPH to NADP. Overseeing this latter stage of the reaction is the enzyme glyceraldehyde-phosphate dehydrogenase.