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

What is the turnover number of the enzyme, Hydrolytic driving force. The hy...

Hydrolytic driving force. The hydrolysis of pyrophosphate to orthophosphate is important in driving forwards biosynthetic reactions such as the synthesis of DNA. THis hydrolytic re

Multidisciplinary approach to solving nutrition problems, Define Multidisci...

Define Multidisciplinary Approach to Solving Nutrition Problems? You must have realized by now that solving public nutrition problems represents a multidisciplinary challenge o

Which is the first heart chamber into which blood en, Which is the first (h...

Which is the first (human) heart chamber into which blood enters? Where does the blood go after passing that chamber? What is the name of the valve that separates the compartments?

Schematic representation of curser position of pulse wave, A lot of hemodyn...

A lot of hemodynamic information including maximum and mean velocity, maximum and mean pressure gradients and pressure half time can be obtained from Doppler trace that helps in

Antibody structure, Antibody Structure: An antibody molecule consist of...

Antibody Structure: An antibody molecule consist of two alike light chains ( 220  amino acids each) ad two similar heavy chains (about  440-450  amino acids each) held together

How is carbon dioxide made by producers and consumers, Q. How is carbon dio...

Q. How is carbon dioxide made by producers and consumers? The Carbon dioxide is made by consumers and producers through cellular respiration.

In which lysosomic enzymes play a fundamental role, Q. What are the various...

Q. What are the various biological examples in which lysosomic enzymes play a fundamental role? The remodelation of the osseous tissue, the function of the elimination of the t

State about electric field lines, State about Electric Field Lines Ele...

State about Electric Field Lines Electric Field Lines (lines of force) - show direction of force on a positive test charge from a distribution of charges.  The electric field

Controlled percussive instruments, Percussive instruments -this method...

Percussive instruments -this method used a selected and controlled percussive removal force -Instruments delivers an impact either directly to a restorative or indirectly t

Acyanotic congenital heart disease, Acyanotic Congenital Heart Disease   ...

Acyanotic Congenital Heart Disease   In this infant has no cyanosis because there is no abnormal communication between pulmonary and systemic circulation or there  is no mixing

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