Ketose (Noun)
Meaning
Any monosaccharide sugar that contains a ketone group or its hemiacetal.
Classification
Nouns denoting substances.
Examples
- Ketoses, such as fructose and ribulose, play important roles in metabolic pathways, particularly in the regulation of energy metabolism.
- Ribose, a common sugar in many nucleotides, can isomerize into a ketose under specific conditions, showcasing its flexibility in various biochemical reactions.
- Ketoses have unique optical properties due to their chiral centers, influencing their ability to rotate plane-polarized light.
- Some plants use ketoses, including ribulose, in the carbon-fixing phase of the Calvin cycle to generate organic compounds.
- Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate is an example of a simple aldotriose, whereas dihydroxyacetone phosphate can act as a ketose due to the keto-enol tautomerism equilibrium in biological systems.