Question

Plant- physiology (subject)

Find five compounds of constitutive compounds, their synthetic pathway and potential (human) uses.

Answer 1

CarbohydratesEdit

Carbohydrates are an essential energy source for most life forms. In addition, polysaccharides formed from simpler carbohydrates are important structural components of many organisms such the cell walls of bacteria and plants.

Carbohydrate are the products of plant photosynthesisand animal gluconeogenesis. Photosynthesis produces initially 3-phosphoglyceraldehyde, a three carbon atom containing sugar (a triose)This triose in turn may be converted into glucose (a six carbon atom containing sugar) or a variety of pentoses (five carbon atom containing sugars) through the Calvin cycle. In animals, the three carbon precursors lactate or glycerolcan be converted into pyruvate which in turn can be converted into carbohydrates in the liver.

Fatty acids and polyketides

Through the process of glycolysis sugars are broken down into acetyl-CoA. In an ATP dependent enzymatically catalyzed reaction, acetyl-CoA is carboxylated to form malonyl-CoA. Acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA undergo a Claisen condensation with lose of carbon dioxide to form acetoacetyl-CoA. Additional condensation reactions produce successively higher molecular weight poly-β-keto chains which are then converted into other polyketides.The polyketide class of natural products have diverse structures and functions and include prostaglandinsand macrolide antibiotics.

One molecule of acetyl-CoA (the "starter unit") and several molecules malonyl-CoA (the "extender units") are condensed by fatty acid synthase to produce fatty acids.Fatty acid are essential components of lipid bilayers that form cell membranes as well as fat energy stores in animals.