What is the difference between glucose and galactose and mannose?

Galactose and mannose are epimers of the glucose molecule. The key difference between glucose galactose and mannose is that glucose is a six-carbon structure and galactose is the C4 epimer of glucose whereas mannose is the C2 epimer of glucose.

What is the difference between glucose and mannose?

As nouns the difference between glucose and mannose

is that glucose is (carbohydrate) a simple monosaccharide (sugar) with a molecular formula of c6h12o6; it is a principle source of energy for cellular metabolism while mannose is (organic chemistry) a monosaccharide aldohexose found in manna and other legumes.

What is the relationship between glucose mannose and galactose?

Mannose and galactose are, like glucose, aldohexoses and can form six-membered rings. Mannose is an important part of the complex sugars, or oligosaccharides, that attach to proteins in the formation of glycoproteins. Galactose combines with glucose to form lactose or milk sugar.

What is difference between glucose and galactose?

Glucose and galactose are stereoisomers (have atoms bonded together in the same order, but differently arranged in space). They differ in their stereochemistry at carbon 4. Fructose is a structural isomer of glucose and galactose (has the same atoms, but bonded together in a different order).

Which is the correct relation between glucose and mannose?

(D) Disaccharides: Disaccharides is the sugar that is formed when two monosaccharides are joined by glycosidic linkage. But we can see that glucose and mannose and single compounds. Therefore, they are not disaccharides. Therefore, glucose and mannose are epimers.

Where is mannose found?

Mannose occurs in microbes, plants and animals. Free mannose is found in small amounts in many fruits such as oranges, apples and peaches [12] and in mammalian plasma at 50–100 μM [13].

What is D-mannose derived from?

D-mannose (or mannose) is a type of sugar found in a number of fruits and vegetables, including cranberries, black and red currants, peaches, green beans, cabbage, and tomatoes. It's also produced in the body from glucose, another form of sugar.

Is mannose A hexose sugar?

Mannose is a sugar monomer of the aldohexose series of carbohydrates. It is a C-2 epimer of glucose. Mannose is important in human metabolism, especially in the glycosylation of certain proteins. Several congenital disorders of glycosylation are associated with mutations in enzymes involved in mannose metabolism.

Why D mannose and D galactose are not epimers of each other?

Ans: Epimers are the monosaccharides that differ only in the configuration around one carbon atom. ... So, D-mannose and D-galactose are epimers of glucose. But galactose and mannose are not epimers as the orientation of hydrogen and hydroxyl groups differs around two carbon atoms, i.e. C-2 and C-4.

Is mannose reducing or nonreducing?

The structure of mannose is: It is a monosaccharide having six carbon atoms (aldohexose) and has a free aldehyde group. It is a reducing sugar and can reduce Benedict's reagent. Therefore, mannose is reducing sugar.

Can galactose be converted to glucose?

There are no catabolic pathways to metabolize galactose, so the strategy is to convert galactose into a metabolite of glucose. Galactose is converted into glucose 6-phosphate in four steps.

Is galactose a sugar?

Galactose is a simple sugar that is normally transformed in the liver before being used up as energy. This sugar is quite abundant in human diets and helps in a number of functions. Because galactose is a precursor to glucose production, it is an important energy-providing nutrient.

Which is the sweetest sugar?

Fructose is a basic ketone monosaccharide present in many plants where it is mostly bound with glucose to form disaccharide sucrose. One of the three dietary monosaccharides absorbed directly into the blood along with galactose and glucose during digestion. Fructose is the sweetest sugar.

Plant cells utilize various sugars as carbon sources for growth, respiration and biosynthesis of cellular components. Suspension-cultured cells of azuki bean (Vigna angularis) proliferated actively in liquid growth medium containing 1% (w/v) sucrose, glucose, fructose, arabinose or xylose, but did not proliferate in medium containing galactose or mannose. These two latter sugars thus appeared distinct from other sugars used as growth substrates. Galactose strongly inhibited cell growth even in the presence of sucrose but mannose did not, suggesting a substantial difference in their effects on cell metabolism. Analysis of intracellular soluble-sugar fractions revealed that galactose, but not mannose, caused a conspicuous decrease in the cellular level of sucrose with no apparent effects on the levels of glucose or fructose. Such a galactose-specific decrease in sucrose levels also occurred in cells that had been cultured together with glucose in place of sucrose, suggesting that galactose inhibits the biosynthesis, rather than uptake, of sucrose in the cells. By contrast, mannose seemed to be metabolically inert in the presence of sucrose. From these results, we conclude that sucrose metabolism is important for the heterotrophic growth of cells in plant suspension-cultures.

Carbohydrates are the major components of all living organisms. Glucose and galactose are carbohydrates. Monosaccharides are the building blocks of larger carbohydrate molecules. The main difference between Glucose and Galactose is the position of each hydroxyl group in the 4th carbon; the position of hydroxyl group (-OH) in the 4th carbon is horizontal in the chair confirmation of the Glucose whereas the position of hydroxyl group (-OH) in the 4th carbon is upward in the chair confirmation of the Galactose.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Glucose
      – Definition, Molecular Formula, Chemical Structure, Properties
2. What is Galactose
      – Definition, Molecular Formula, Properties
3. What are the Similarities Between Glucose and Galactose
      – Outline of Common Features
4. What is the Difference Between Glucose and Galactose
      – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms: Aldohexose, Carbohydrates, D-Glucose, Galactose, Glucose, Hexose, Molecular Formula, Monosaccharides

What is the difference between glucose and galactose and mannose?

What is Glucose

Glucose is a simple sugar. It is a monosaccharide. The molecular formula of Glucose is C6H12O6. Its chemical structure has four –OH groups along with a -CH2OH group. Since it has six –OH groups, glucose is called a Hexose. In the Fischer projection, glucose has a terminal aldehyde group. Therefore, glucose is called an aldohexose.

What is the difference between glucose and galactose and mannose?

Figure 1: The chair confirmation of D-Glucose

The above image shows the general structure of glucose. This image indicates that glucose has four chiral centers. (A chiral center is a carbon atom having four different groups attached to it.) Therefore, glucose has stereoisomers. 

The naturally occurring glucose is known as D-Glucose. The isomer of D-Glucose is L-Glucose. But the L-Glucose does not occur naturally. Glucose is water soluble and is colorless when dissolved in water. Glucose can occur as an open chain or as a cyclic structure. But the open chain is typically unstable and spontaneously converts into cyclic form. The melting point of glucose is about 1460C (for alpha-D-Glucose).

Aqueous solutions of glucose are able to rotate plane polarized light. D-Glucose rotates light clockwise and L-Glucose rotates light anticlockwise. Glucose act as a monomer for the formation of a number of important polysaccharides. Some polymers that have glucose as the monomer include starch, cellulose, and glycogen.  

Galactose is a simple sugar and a monosaccharide. The molecular formula of galactose is also C6H12O6.  Its chemical structure has four –OH groups along with a -CH2OH group. Same as glucose, galactose is also an aldohexose due to the presence of six carbon atoms and a terminal aldehyde group.

What is the difference between glucose and galactose and mannose?

Figure 2: Fischer Projection of D-Galactose

Galactose can exist either in the open chain form or the cyclic form. Galactose contributes to the formation of some disaccharides such as Lactose (Glucose + Galactose) and Galactan (composed of Galactose). The melting point of galactose is about 1670C. Galactose is also soluble in water, but the solubility is less than that of glucose.

Similarities Between Glucose and Galactose

  • Glucose and Galactose have six carbon atoms.
  • The molecular formula is the same for both molecules.
  • Both are Monosaccharides and simple sugars.
  • Both are aldohexose molecules.

Definition

Glucose: Glucose is a simple sugar composed of C, H, and O atoms and tastes sweet.

Galactose: Galactose is a simple sugar composed of C, H, and O atoms and is less sweeter than glucose.

Position of –OH Group

The main difference between glucose and galactose is the chemical structure; the position of each –OH group present in both molecules. This difference occurs in the 4th carbon atom. The following image shows this in detail.

What is the difference between glucose and galactose and mannose?

Figure 3: Glucose vs. Galactose

Glucose: The –OH group of the 4th carbon (from the top) of D-Glucose is directed towards right side.

Galactose: The –OH group of the 4th carbon of D-Galactose is directed towards the left side.

Stability

Glucose: Glucose is more stable.

Galactose: Galactose is less stable.

Sweetness

Glucose: Glucose is sweeter.

Galactose: Galactose is less sweeter than Glucose.

Melting Point

Glucose: The melting point of glucose is about 146-150oC.

Galactose: The melting point of galactose is about 167oC.

Conclusion

Glucose and Galactose are very important simple sugars as monosaccharides as well as polysaccharides, which are formed after their polymerization. The chemical formula and the molar mass of both molecules are the same, but the difference between glucose and galactose lies in the arrangement of –OH groups along the carbon chain.

References:

1. Steane, Richard. “Molecular structure of glucose and other carbohydrates.” Structure of glucose and other carbohydrate molecules. N.p., n.d. Web. Available here. 29 June 2017. 
2. “Galactose.” Chemistry LibreTexts. Libretexts, 04 Mar. 2017. Web. Available here. 29 June 2017.

Image Courtesy:

1.”Beta-D-Glucose” By Yikrazuul – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Methyl-α-D-galactose” By Andromeas – Own work (CC0) via Commons Wikimedia
3. “GlucoseGalactose”By Lord Biro – Glucosetatuetata.jpg (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia

What is the difference between glucose and galactose and mannose?