Brandon Kurniawan
Jessica Ly
Milton Ma
Glucose
One of the main essential organic molecules that human body requires is glucose
(C6H12O6), also known as D-glucose, dextrose, and grape sugar. Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, a
German chemist from Berlin and a pioneer of analytical chemistry, was the first to extract
glucose out of beets using a method with alcohol. It was later purified by his student, Franz
Achard. This discovery lead the way to improved advancements in the field of organic
chemistry because of this molecule’s importance in many organisms.
With a molar mass of 180 g/mole, due to the more massive oxygen, its density is 1.54
g/cm3, and can be found in the form of a white powder. Glucose is also colorless and is very
soluble in water as well as acetic acid and several other solvents and can be crystallized from
these solvents into three major forms: alpha-glucopyranose, beta-glucopyranose, and betaglucopyranose hydrate.
Glucose is essential in many life processes, in the human body, and in other living
creatures. These include plants, diabetes, glycogen, gluconeogenesis, glycolysis, alpha-beta
adrenergic receptors, metabolism, glucose uptake in the liver and muscle, and in certain diseases.
In plants, glucose is stored as starch, which are repeating units of sugar. Plants produce sugar
by converting carbon dioxide and water in the presence of light. This process is important in all
photosynthetic organisms so that they may produce this essential molecule to be consumed in our
diet. Starch is the major structural component in cell walls of photosynthetic cells. Plant fibers
are shown to be highly nutritious once broken down into hundreds of thousands of sugar
molecules that are bounded together. Not only animals, but plants also use glucose as an energy
source. When light is unavailable, plants undergo dark reactions for their sugar processing.
Photosynthetic organisms still require energy when they cannot perform photosynthesis. These
organisms acquire energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through aerobic
respiration using oxygen and glucose and breaking it down to water and carbon dioxide.
Glycolysis is a heavily regulated enzymatic process in both animals and plants that
breaks down glucose into small intermediates and ultimately into pyruvate. The breakdown of
glucose into pyruvate results in a net production of 2 ATP and the reduction of 2 NAD+ to
NADH. The entire process is energetically downhill and mediated by 10 enzymes. Despite the
small amount of ATP generated, the high-energy intermediates (NADH and FADH) formed
from glycolysis are moved to the cell’s mitochondria where it is utilized in the oxidative
phosphorylation. Variable concentrations of AMP and ADP control glycolysis by
phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of the enzyme, phosphofructokinase.
Another key process that requires glucose is gluconeogenesis. The main site of
gluconeogenesis is in the liver of animals. Under certain conditions, it occurs in the small
intestine and the kidney to a more limited extent. This process forms substances other than
carbohydrates, such as glucose from fats and proteins. Gluconeogenesis is described by the
following reaction: 2 pyruvate + 2 NADH + 4 ATP + 2 GTP + Glucose + 2 NAD+ + 4 ADP + 2
GDP + 6 Pi. Pyruvate carboxylase expends ATP and bicarbonate to convert pyruvate into
oxaloacetate. GTP’s high energy phosphate bond is broken by PEP carboxykinase to produce
phosphoenolpyruvate. It then turns into 2-phosphoglycerate with the release of water from
Enolase. 2-phosphoglycerate turns into 3-phosphoglycerate by Phosphoglycerate mutase.
Phosphoglycerate kinase uses ATP to convert 3-phosphoglycerate into 1,3-Bisphosphoglycerate.
It then becomes glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate from Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate Dehydrogenase
with the help of NADH. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate can be interchanged with
dihydroxyacetone-phosphate by Triosephosphate isomerase. Aldolase converts glyceraldehyde3-phosphate and dihydroxyacetone-phosphate into fructose-1,6-bisphosphate. This molecule is
then converted into fructose-6-phosphate with the addition of water by fructose-1,6bisphosphatase. Phosphoglucose isomerase transforms fructose-6-phosphate into glucose-6phosphate and then it finally becomes glucose with the addition of water from Glucose-6phosphatase. This pathway is spontaneous, but overall, it consumes six phosphate bonds of GTP
and ATP.
During the fasting or starvation of carbohydrates, glucose can still be obtained. The
source of oxaloacetate or pyruvate for gluconeogenesis is obtained from amino acid catabolism.
Protein obtained from muscle will be broken down to supply the body with essential amino
acids. Amino acids are transferred to the liver and then deaminated to convert to
gluconeogenesis inputs. Fat cells also contribute to gluconeogenesis inputs. They provide
triacylglycerol, which is hydrolyzed to form the glycerol backbone. When the blood glucose
level is low, the hormone glucagon triggers liver cells to activate the effects of the cyclic AMP
cascade. Protein Kinase A or cAMP-Dependent Protein Kinase stimulates gluconeogenesis by
phosphorylating regulatory proteins and enzymes in the liver.
To prevent the unnecessary production of glucose, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase is
inhibited by AMP. When there is a high concentration of AMP and a low concentration of ATP,
glucose will not be synthesized because the cell would have to expend energy.
During exercise, when ATP is needed, the Cori Cycle occurs. In a short span of time, a
lot of ATP is required to produce energy for exercising. The high energy phosphate bond is
taken from phosphocreatine and used by muscle cells. When the supply of phosphocreatine is
out, ATP is taken from glycolysis, obtaining it from the glucose uptake from the body’s blood or
from glycogen breakdown.
The Cori Cycle also operates in the cancer cells of an inflicted organism. This cycle is
activated when the body’s metabolism is changed to anaerobic metabolism due to the
underdevelopment of blood vessels compared to the growth of a tumor. The tumor causes a
decrease in the oxygen concentration. Because of the tumor, this cycle spends six phosphate
bonds from the liver in order to produce two phosphate bonds from glycolysis, resulting in more
energy spent than it is gained. Even with a regular intake of food/glucose, the body is still losing
weight in late-stage cancer.
Another disease that glucose largely impacts is diabetes. Diabetes affects nearly 25.8
million children and adults in the United States. If left untreated, it can result in blindness,
multiple cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, and in serious cases, amputation of limbs.
People with this deadly disease must perform regular checks on their glucose level in their blood.
The most inexpensive and widely used way of monitoring glucose level is to poke their fingers
to draw the blood needed for the test. A 2011 report projected that the global blood glucose test
strips and meters market will reach US$21.5 billion by 2017.
Officially known as diabetes mellitus, this disease/deficiency is caused by a decreased
response to insulin in its target tissues or a deficiency of insulin. Diabetes mellitus is one of the
best-known endocrine disorders, which is marked by elevated levels of blood glucose. There
are two types of diabetes, type 1 diabetes mellitus and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Type 1 diabetes
mellitus is insulin-dependent. This is an autoimmune disorder that occurs when the immune
system destroys the beta cells in the pancreas. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is more common. This
type is non-insulin-dependent. This occurs when there is a deficiency in insulin or there is a
reduced response to the target cells because the insulin receptors have been changed or modified,
which will not recognize insulin at its receptors.
With glucose being so closely linked to diabetes, researchers around the world have been
tirelessly looking for ways to cure this disease. While no known cure was discovered, a great
deal of progress has been made on the tracking of glucose levels. Recently Google has teamed
up with researchers at the University of Washington to develop a contact lens that can measure
the blood glucose levels in a person’s tears and display the reading on their mobile phone. If this
forward-thinking contact lens project is successful, people with or without the disease may be
able to stop drawing blood to measure their sugar levels.
According to Google, the glucose-sensing contact lens will function similarly to an
electronic ID card used to gain access to a building. Like the card, the lens doesn’t contain its
own power supply. Instead, the antenna integrated in the contact lens will pick up the radio
waves from a mobile to provide it with a sustainable power to measure the glucose level. This is
one of the first steps in a new and innovative way towards measuring a person’s glucose level, a
step closer against fighting diabetes.
The technology in Google’s glucose lenses goes well beyond electronics – it contains
enzymes and electrodes built into the materials used to make regular contact lenses. This
combines advances made in biochemistry, electronics and material sciences during the past
decades.
So far the problem of this technological advancement is whether or not the sensor can
pick up an accurate reading of the glucose level. While the success of this new glucometer isn’t
guaranteed, this vast improvement in the control of blood glucose would provide health benefits
to diabetes patients. Also the potential expansion on other biological information that the sensor
may be able to obtain makes this glucose contact lens a promising and worthwhile product of the
future.
As an energy storage, glucose is stored in the body in the form of glycogen and broken
down when the body needs it. When glucose levels are low in the blood, the pancreas responds
by producing the hormone, glucagon from alpha cells. Glucagon acts as a ligand and binds to the
glucagon receptors on liver cells. Cyclic adenosine monophosphate acts as a messenger to
promote glycogen degradation into glucose, which brings the blood glucose level back to
homeostasis. When glucose levels are high in the blood, the pancreas responds by producing the
hormone, insulin produced by beta cells of the pancreas. Insulin acts as a ligand and binds to the
insulin receptors located on both muscle and liver cells. As glucose molecules enter both liver
and muscle cells via glucose transporter proteins, glucose is taken up as glycogen. Glycogen
degradation is also promoted when the hormone, epinephrine, binds to alpha-adrenergic
receptors on liver cells, which leads to increased cytosolic calcium ions. These events also bring
the body back to homeostasis.
Insulin from the liver directly stimulates glycogen synthesis by inhibiting the glycogen
synthase kinase 3-beta, which increases the activity of glycogen synthase by decreasing
phosphorylation. Glucose itself inhibits phosphorylase a through binding of the enzyme in its
inactive T state and producing a conformational changes, shifting from the R to T state. As a
result, this shift exposes the serine amino acid’s phosphate group, which will now be open to
dephosphorylation. The new enzyme is then called phosphorylase b. Therefore, a high glucose
concentration stimulates glycogen synthesis by converting phosphorylase a to phosphorylase b.
glycogen synthase is activated by the release of phosphoprotein phosphatase-1. The liver will
store excess glucose in the form of glycogen. Too much glycogen uptake by the liver will result
in a “fatty liver”.
As a relatively small molecule, glucose sure has huge effects on the human body. While
being regulated properly with the cooperation of other molecules, glucose is the key genesis
materials of our body’s essential energy. However, when being mistreated, glucose and its
derivatives can lead to serious health issues like diabetes. As an effect of these mis-regulations,
for decades, scientist and engineers have developed ways of regulating and monitoring of blood
glucose level. It is hopeful that, in the future, these preventative methods will lead to the
ultimate eradication of glucose-related diseases.
Works Cited
Michael McDarby. Online Introduction to the Biology of Animals and Plants. The Basic Needs
for Photosynthesis. 2014. http://faculty.fmcc.suny.edu/mcdarby/Animals&PlantsBook/Plants/01Photosynthesis.htm
Joyce J. Diwan. Gluconeogenesis; Regulation of Glycolysis and Gluconeogenesis. Molecular
Biochemistry I. 2007.
https://www.rpi.edu/dept/bcbp/molbiochem/MBWeb/mb1/part2/gluconeo.htm#intro
TechCrunch. Google Unveils Smart Contact Lens That Lets Diabetics Measure Their Glucose
Levels. 2014. http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/16/google-shows-off-smart-contact-lens-that-letsdiabetics-measure-their-glucose-levels/
Google Blog. Introducing Our Smart Contact Lens Project. 2014.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/introducing-our-smart-contact-lens.html
Voet, Donald, Judith G. Voet, and Charlotte W. Pratt. Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the
Molecular Level. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2013. Print.