Triose
Sugar containing three carbon atoms
A triose is a monosaccharide, or simple sugar, containing three carbon atoms. There are only three possible trioses: the two enantiomers of glyceraldehyde, which are aldoses; and dihydroxyacetone, a ketose which is symmetrical and therefore has no enantiomers.
Trioses are important in photosynthesis and cellular respiration. During glycolysis, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is broken down into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and dihydroxyacetone phosphate. Lactic acid and pyruvic acid are later derived from these molecules.
Importance of triose in animal physiology:
- Trioses serve as metabolic intermediates in various different metabolic pathways such as glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and the pentose phosphate pathway.
- Trioses contribute to the synthesis of essential biomolecules including lipids, amino acids, nucleotides, and carbohydrates.
- Trioses are small carbon molecules and can therefore be easily modified into various molecules.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Triose”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- D-glyceraldehyde-2D-skeletal.svg by Vectorization: Alhadis, Public domain
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