Dr. Smith tells you that she loved biochemistry as an undergrad, and with a grin

Question

Dr. Smith tells you that she loved biochemistry as an undergrad, and with a grin, asks you to tell her whether fructose, galactose, or mannose would be a suitable treatment to help prevent the red blood cell death that results in Sarah's anemia. You do a quick mental calculation of the ATP yield you would predict for these sugars in RBCs that are completely deficient in pyruvate kinase activity. Which of these sugars would give a higher yield of ATP than glucose and thus be a potential treatment?

a) fructose b) galactose c) mannose e)none of the above

Explanation / Answer

The answer is galactose. It inhibits glycolytic pathway and directs cells to undergo oxidative phosphorylation to yiels ATP. This process occurs when mitochondrial enzymes are inhibited. Mannose completely inhibites glycolytic pathway and ATP production. Fructose undergoes similar pathway as glucose. It is converted to Fructose -1 - p by hexokinase and undergoes similar pathway like glucose. So the answer must be galactose. Option B

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