Carbohydrates, Biology

Assignment Help:

Carbohydrates

Fifty five to seventy per cent of the required energy in animals is derived from carbohydrates. However, fats and proteins can also be broken down and used for supplying energy. In most animals this happens only when the dietary intake of carbohydrates is low. In contrast, Drosophila uses only carbohydrates as a source of energy for its flight muscles and when the supply is exhausted the insect cannot fly even though it uses stored fat for other metabolic processes. Whereas, locusts are known to use only lipids for their long migratory flights. Most animals, however, use a variety of hexose sugars like glucose, fructose, mannose, and galactose as interchangeable sources of energy.

In this way no particular carbohydrate is really considered essential in a way similar to amino acids. But even if no carbohydrate is considered essential, growth of certain animals will be better on one type of sugar than on another. This can be explained better by the results of the following experiment. Young locusts showed that when dietary sugar was maltose growth was maximum or optimum and growth was minimum when no carbohydrate was given. Other sugars supported sub-optimal growth. What could be the reason for this difference? One of the main causes is the difference in the rate of movement of sugars across the gut wall into the blood. From the above experiment we can conclude that certain insects have a preference for a certain carbohydrate which can be called an essential or preferred nutrient. In the above experiment with locusts, maltose was the preferred nutrient.


Related Discussions:- Carbohydrates

Define thermal coagulation and film formation, Define Thermal Coagulation a...

Define Thermal Coagulation and Film Formation? 1. Thermal Coagulation and Film Formation: Concentrated soy proteins can be thermally coagulated on a flat metallic surface, such

Explain the dark adaptation of vitamin a, Explain the Dark Adaptation of Vi...

Explain the Dark Adaptation of Vitamin A? In the early stages of VAD, the individual cannot see objects in dim light. This' phenomenon is used as a criterion for assessment in

Experiments of dobzhansky and spassky, Theodosius Dobzhansky and Boris Spas...

Theodosius Dobzhansky and Boris Spassky demonstrated the working of normalising selectioion a behavioural trait in two populations of Drosophida pseudobscura. The two populatiors w

What is meant by substrates of enzymatic reactions, What is meant by substr...

What is meant by substrates of enzymatic reactions? Substrates are reagent molecules upon which enzymes act. The enzyme has spatial binding sites for the attachment of its s

Male reproductive disorders due to infections, Male reproductive disorders ...

Male reproductive disorders due to infections Septicemic infections have a greater affinity for vesicular glands than other regions of the reproductive tract viz. prostate, am

Noteworthy features of the nervous system of arthropods, Q. What are the no...

Q. What are the noteworthy features of the nervous system of arthropods? In arthropods the nervous system has more sophisticated sensory receptors with well-advanced cephalizat

Potential and excitation threshold for neurons, Q. How different are the co...

Q. How different are the concepts of action potential, resting potential and excitation threshold concerning neurons? Action potential is the maximum positive voltage level ach

Plant, what is the scientific explanation of "touch me not" plant that can ...

what is the scientific explanation of "touch me not" plant that can react due to any touch

Describe procedure for preparation of bacterial smear, Explain Procedure fo...

Explain Procedure for Preparation of Bacterial Smear? Now carry out the exercise using the steps enumerated herewith: 1. Collect swab samples from the suitable sampling site

Poly-functional enzymes, Bi-and Poly-Functional Enzymes These enzymes a...

Bi-and Poly-Functional Enzymes These enzymes are generated by genes obtained by fusion of the coding regions of two or more genes encoding various enzymes. In simple words, the

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd