| Term | Definition |
|---|
| transketolase | an enzyme that transfers an activated aldehyde unit from a ketose to an aldose acceptor; one of the enzymes in the nonoxidative portion of the pentose phosphate pathway |
| transaldolase | an enzyme that transfers a three-carbon diydroxyacetone unit from a ketose to an aldose acceptor; one of the enzymes in the nonoxidative portion of the pentose phosphate pathway |
| thioredoxin | a highly potent poison from the fugu (puffer) fish that blocks the conduction of nerve impulses along axons and excitable membranes in nerve fivers, leading to respiratory paralysis |
| sucrose | a disaccharide of glucose and fructose that is readily transportable and stored in many plant cells / commonly known as table sugar |
| starch | a homopolysaccharide that is a storage form of glucose in plant chloroplasts; amylopectin, the branched form of starch, has approximately one alpha-1,6 linkage per thirty alpha-1,4 linkages, while amylose is unbranched, composed of glucose residues in alpha-1,4 linkage |
| rubisco | an enzyme that catalyzes the reaction of carbon dioxide with ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate to form two molecules of 3-phosphoglycerate |
| peroxisomes | small membrane-bound organelles that are present in most eukaryotes and play a role in detoxification, synthesis of plasmalogens and bile salts, and beta-oxidation of long-chain fatty acids |
| pentose phosphate pathway | a metabolic pathway that generates NADPH and five-carbon sugars such as ribose 5-phosphate from glucose 6-phosphate; also refered to as hexose monophosphate shunt and the phosphogluconate pathway / it includes oxidative reactions which produce NADPH and ribose 5-phosphates as well as nonoxidative reactions which together convert five-carbon sugar phosphates to gluconeogenic precursors of glucose 6-phosphate |
| heterotrophs | organisms that obtain energy from chemical fuels only, and which are ultimately dependent on autotrophs for fuel |
| glutathione | this tripeptide plays a role in combating oxidative stress by maintaining the reduced state of the cell / glutathione cycles between the reduced (GSH) and oxidized state (GSSG) |
| glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase | the enzyme that initiates the oxidative phase of the pentose phosphate pathway by oxidizing glucose 6-phosphate to 6-phosphoglucono-delta-lactone to generate one molecule of NADPH |
| crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) | an adaption by plants living in arid environment / the C4 pathway concentrates carbon dioxide at night, and vapor exchange with the environment is curtailed during the heat of the day by closure of the stomata |
| calvin cycle | in plants, a cyclic metabolic pathway in which carbon dioxide is incorporated into ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate to give compounds that can be used for the synthesis of glucose |
| C4 plant | a plant that utilizes the C4 pathway |
| C4 pathway | the transport of carbon dioxide in four-carbon compounds from mesophyll cells to bundle-sheath cells, where carbon fixation occurs; the pathway is found in tropical plants and is designed to prevent photorespiration at high environmental temperatures |
| C3 plant | plants which lack the C4 pathway |
| autotrophs | photosynthetic organisms that synthesize glucose from carbon dioxide and water, using sunlight as an energy source / the glucose is then used as a fuel for cellular metabolism |
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