Types of Monosaccharides Become Integrated into Polysaccharides

Many Types of Monosaccharides Become Integrated into Polysaccharides 

Monosaccharides Are Related through a Network of Metabolic Interconversions 

We discussed the biosynthesis of glucose from simpler starting materials in chapter 12. The biosynthesis of other hex-oses is linked to glucose by a complex network of reactions (fig. 16.2). In fact, glucose serves as the precursor for the synthesis of many other hexoses without any rearrangement of the six carbon core. 

Although the list of hexoses is large, we can make certain generalizations about the pathways by which they 

TV-acetylneuraminic acid (the most common type of sialic acid = Sia), Sialic acid is a more general term including N- and O-substituted derivatives of neuraminic acid. Compounds in capital boldface type are the unmodified sugars or their amine derivatives. 

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