Glucose

Glucose is a six-carbon monosaccharide with formula C₆H₁₂O₆. Cells use it as a major energy source and as a building block for larger carbohydrates.

Glycolysis: A metabolic pathway that converts glucose into pyruvate while producing ATP and NADH. It begins glucose breakdown in the cytosol and can proceed without oxygen.
Monosaccharide: A carbohydrate consisting of a single sugar unit that cannot be hydrolyzed into simpler carbohydrates. Glucose is one of the most abundant members of this simplest carbohydrate class.
Blood glucose: The concentration of glucose circulating in the blood. It is the regulated pool that supplies glucose-dependent tissues.
Pentose phosphate pathway: A metabolic pathway that generates NADPH and ribose-5-phosphate from glucose-6-phosphate. It diverts glucose-derived carbon toward antioxidant defense and nucleotide synthesis.
Photosynthesis: The process by which organisms convert light energy into chemical energy, often fixing carbon dioxide into sugars. Photosynthetic carbon fixation produces carbohydrate precursors that can be converted into glucose.
Cellular respiration: The set of pathways by which cells extract energy from molecules, often using oxygen. It includes glucose oxidation beyond glycolysis, yielding much more ATP.
Aldose: A monosaccharide whose open-chain form contains an aldehyde group. Glucose is an aldohexose because its open-chain structure has an aldehyde and six carbons.
Diabetes mellitus: A group of metabolic disorders characterized by chronic elevation of blood glucose. Impaired insulin production or action disrupts glucose control.
Glycogen: A branched polymer of glucose used for energy storage in animals and fungi. It is the principal compact storage form of glucose in animals.
Calvin cycle: A series of reactions that fixes carbon dioxide into organic molecules using ATP and NADPH. Its carbon products supply the materials from which glucose can be synthesized.

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