Glucose-6-phosphate sucrose synthesis

FIGURE 20-25 Sucrose synthesis. Sucrose is synthesized from UDP-glucose and fructose 6-phosphate, which are synthesized from triose phosphates in the plant cell cytosol by pathways shown in Figures 15-7 and 20-9. The sucrose 6-phosphate synthase of most plant species is allosterically regulated by glucose 6-phosphate and P,. 

After glucose synthesis in photosynthesis, the disaccharide sucrose (a-D-Glc(l —> 2)(3-D-Fru) is used as a readily transportable sugar. Sucrose synthesis successively involves the following UDP-glucose + fructose-6-phosphate —> sucrose-6-phosphate + UDP [via sucrose phosphate synthase] sucrose-6-phosphate + H20 —> sucrose + P [via sucrose-6-phosphatase]. 

The existence of two separate mechanisms for the synthesis of sucrose raises the question of their respective roles in vivo. Experiments in which C Mabeled n-glucose was supplied to plants have shown that the d-fructofuranosyl moiety of sucrose becomes highly labeled before any label appears in the free D-fructose pool, suggesting that this monosaccharide is not an intermediate in sucrose synthesis. On the other hand, d-fructose 6-phosphate becomes labeled before sucrose, and small proportions of sucrose 6 -phosphate have also been detected among the labeled pro-ducts. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that sucrose 6 -phosphate is synthesized first and is subsequently hydrolyzed to free sucrose. Such a pathway would be clearly irreversible, since it includes a hydrolytic step, and could account for the large accumulation of sucrose in many plants. 

This enzyme is very specific it does not react with sorbose, fructose phosphates, glucose, or any other compound tested in place of fructose, and glucose-l-phosphate cannot replace UDPG. Unlike the case of sucrose phosphorylase, the equilibrium of this reversible reaction favors sucrose synthesis, and the presence of this enzyme in the cells of higher plants implicates this reaction in sucrose synthesis. 

The fact that sucrose can be synthesized from -D-glucose 1-phosphate and D-fructose is consistent with the evidence presented by Isbell and Pigman 172) and Gottschalk 173) that D-fructose exists as an equilibrium mixture of the pyranose and furanose forms. The total system of sucrose synthesis can be represented by the equation (Fig. 4) which includes the equilibrium reaction of the two ring forms of D-fructose. The occurrence of D-fructose in the sucrose molecule as D-fructofuranose is an indication that sucrose phosphorylase is specific for the furanose configuration of that ketose 17A, 175),... 

Starch synthesis is closely related to sucrose synthesis (see Chapters IX and XII). Experiments with isotopically labeled sugars have shown that leaves can form starch from externally supplied glucose, fructose, and sucrose, as well as from several other compounds. Starch is also formed from carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. It was found (78) that when labeled carbon dioxide was fed to leaves, the starch became labeled before the free sugars. Labeled glucose and glucose 1-phosphate did not contribute an... 

For example in sucrose synthesis, glucose-6-phosphate produced by the action of G-6-P isomerase on fructose-6-P, an intermediate in the carbon reduction cycle, is converted to glucose-1-phosphate by the enzyme phosphoglucomutase. This compound can then combine with the nucleotide, uridine triphosphate (UTP) to produce... 

The pentose phosphate pathway is an alternative route for the metabolism of glucose. It does not generate ATP but has two major functions (1) The formation of NADPH for synthesis of fatty acids and steroids and (2) the synthesis of ribose for nucleotide and nucleic acid formation. Glucose, fructose, and galactose are the main hexoses absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, derived principally from dietary starch, sucrose, and lactose, respectively. Fructose and galactose are converted to glucose, mainly in the liver. 

Synthesis of sucrose 6 -phosphate by an enzymic method using uridine 5 -(a-D-glucopyranosyl diphosphate) plus D-glucose 6-phosphate has been reported.126-131 The first, unambiguous, chemical synthesis of sucrose 6 -phosphate was achieved by Buchanan and coworkers.18 The reaction of 2,3,4,6,l, 3, 4 -hepta-0-acetylsucrose, prepared by five steps of synthesis, with cyanoethyl phosphate in pyridine gave a crude product from which sucrose 6 -phosphate was isolated as the barium salt. 

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