Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
5 main uses of glucose. - Coggle Diagram
5 main uses of glucose.
RESPIRATION
This chemical reaction releases energy which allows them to convert the rest of the glucose into other useful substances which they can use to build new cells and grow.
-
-
-
-
SEEDS
-
Sunflower seeds, for example contain a lot of oil – we get oil and margarine from them.
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food (starch or lipids).
STORAGE
Starch is a great storage molecule because it is insoluble, so it doesn’t affect the osmotic potential (water content) of cells
Potato and carrot plants store a lot of starch underground over the winter so a new plant can grow from it the following spring – we are eating the swollen storage organs.
This starch can then be stored in roots, leaves and stems – ready for when photosynthesis isn’t happening
-
CELLULOSE
-
A very important function of the cell wall is to act as a pressure vessel, preventing over-expansion when water enters the cell by osmosis.
-
-
Glucose is converted into cellulose for making cell walls, especially in a rapidly growing plant.
PROTEIN SYNTHESIS
-
Enzymes are proteins, as too are many structural parts of plants, and even organelles within cells
are composed of protein (for instance, ribosomes which, curiously 'make' proteins themselves).
Glucose is combined with nitrates (collected from the soil) to make amino acids, which are them made into proteins.
Nuts and seeds always contain large amounts of protein, as they need to sustain the plant in its
first few days of 'life'.