Advantages and disadvantages of triglycerlos for energy storage based on concept fatty acid catabolism?
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Triacylglycerols are highly concentrated stores of metabolic energy because they are reduced and anhydrous. The yield from the complete oxidation of fatty acids is about 9 kcal g-1 (38 kJ g-1), in contrast with about 4 kcal g-1 (17 kJ g-1) for carbohydrates and proteins. The basis of this large difference in caloric yield is that fatty acids are much more reduced. Furthermore, triacylglycerols are nonpolar, and so they are stored in a nearly anhydrous form, whereas much more polar proteins and carbohydrates are more highly hydrated. In fact, 1 g of dry glycogen binds about 2 g of water. Consequently, a gram of nearly anhydrous fat stores more than six times as much energy as a gram of hydrated glycogen, which is likely the reason that triacylglycerols rather than glycogen were selected in evolution as the major energy reservoir. Consider a typical 70-kg man, who has fuel reserves of 100,000 kcal (420,000 kJ) in triacylglycerols, 25,000 kcal (100,000 kJ) in protein (mostly in muscle), 600 kcal (2500 kJ) in glycogen, and 40 kcal (170 kJ) in glucose. Triacylglycerols constitute about 11 kg of his total body weight. If this amount of energy were stored in glycogen, his total body weight would be 55 kg greater. The glycogen and glucose stores provide enough energy to sustain biological function for about 24 hours, whereas the triacylglycerol stores allow survival for several weeks.
In mammals, the major site of accumulation of triacylglycerols is the cytoplasm of adipose cells (fat cells). Droplets of triacylglycerol coalesce to form a large globule, which may occupy most of the cell volume (see Figure 22.1). Adipose cells are specialized for the synthesis and storage of triacylglycerols and for their mobilization into fuel molecules that are transported to other tissues by the blood.
The utility of triacylglycerols as an energy source is dramatically illustrated by the abilities of migratory birds, which can fly great distances without eating. Examples are the American golden plover and the ruby-throated sparrow. The golden plover flies from Alaska to the southern tip of South America; a large segment of the flight (3800 km, or 2400 miles) is over open ocean, where the birds cannot feed. The ruby-throated hummingbird can fly nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico. Fatty acids provide the energy source for both these prodigious feats.
Triacylglycerols fuel the long migration flights of the American Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominica).