Corn Journal
  • Corn Journal
  • Author
  • Stalk Rot Booklet
  • Seed Testing
  • Corn Genetics
  • Pathology
  • Sponsors
  • Contact
"You can see a lot by just looking"-Yogi Berra

Glucose use in corn leaves

6/7/2018

 
​Glucose molecules are the immediate product of photosynthesis.  They represent the transfer of light energy into a form of molecular energy holding carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms together, available for release during cellular respiration in the mitochondria as ATP.  This energy is useful to drive further metabolism resulting in construction of more plant structures.
 
Glucose, and atom components, does more than only supplying energy for plant growth.  Cellulose and its chemical relatives such as hemicellulose, lignin and pectin are mostly long chains of glucose molecules.  Cellulose may be composed of 2000 glucose molecules held together in tight chemical bonds.  These become the main component of cell walls, giving strength to plant structure.  These chemical bonds are strong, allowing specific enzymes or considerable energy, such as from fire, to break up the bonds into its components.  Humans cannot directly break down the cellulose to retrieve the energy locked up in the glucose components.  It is the enzymes in certain microbes such as bacteria in animal guts.  Many fungi thrive by feeding on the complex cell wall components of living or dead plants. Evolution favored construction of complex carbohydrate molecules to expose more tissue to light with plant growth and it also favored the production of enzymes in bacterial and fungi to capture the energy locked up in these structures.
 
Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from the glucose molecules also become major components of proteins used as part of plant structure and as enzymes.  Actual structure of these proteins is guided by the nucleic acid pattern in DNA.  This is ‘read’ when a gene is turned on as it is duplicated into RNA, moved to ribosomes resulting in the hooking amino acids in a specific pattern. Amino acids are composed of nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The order of specific amino acids in the protein affect its enzymatic effect on construction of other cellular parts, including cellulose.
 
Photosynthesis resulted in energy transfer from light into glucose but also allowed a series of construction processes to make a corn plant.

Comments are closed.

    About Corn Journal

    The purpose of this blog is to share perspectives of the biology of corn, its seed and diseases in a mix of technical and not so technical terms with all who are interested in this major crop. With more technical references to any of the topics easily available on the web with a search of key words, the blog will rarely cite references but will attempt to be accurate. Comments are welcome but will be screened before publishing. Comments and questions directed to the author by emails are encouraged.

    Archives

    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
  • Corn Journal
  • Author
  • Stalk Rot Booklet
  • Seed Testing
  • Corn Genetics
  • Pathology
  • Sponsors
  • Contact