Are lipids a store of energy?

All living organisms require a form of energy to sustain life. Whereas the basic mechanisms for powering the life-sustaining anabolic chemical reactions through the high energy bonds of ATP and similar molecules are common to animals and plants, the primary sources of energy are very different. Plants use sunlight as the primary fuel source to enable them to synthesize carbohydrates. They are then able to synthesize fatty acids from the degradation products of carbohydrates as described in section 3.2. Animals do not have the facility directly to use sunlight but must take in their fuel in the diet as lipid or carbohydrate from plants or from other animals that have themselves synthesized their body tissues from plant materials.

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Keywords

Adipose Tissue
Phosphatidic Acid
Glycerol Phosphate
Glyceryl Ether
Lipase Hydrolysis

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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References

Glycerides

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Wax esters

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Authors and Affiliations

Nutrition Consultant and Visiting Professor, University of Reading and Oxford Polytechnic, USA
M. I. Gurr
Professor of Biochemistry, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK
J. L. Harwood

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M. I. Gurr
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J. L. Harwood
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