Sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids are all essential macromolecules in biological systems, and they can be broken down into smaller building blocks:
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Sugars:
- Sugars are primarily carbohydrates, and they can be broken down into monosaccharides. For example, polysaccharides (like starch and glycogen) are broken down into disaccharides (like sucrose and lactose), and ultimately into monosaccharides (like glucose, fructose, and galactose).
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Amino Acids:
- Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. They are not broken down further in terms of structure for energy or synthesis, as each amino acid is already a fundamental unit. However, they can undergo processes like deamination and transamination, which convert amino acids to various other compounds or forms for energy metabolism.
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Fatty Acids:
- Fatty acids can be broken down into acetyl-CoA through a process known as beta-oxidation. This process involves the sequential removal of two-carbon units from the fatty acid chain. These acetyl-CoA units can then enter the citric acid cycle (Krebs cycle) for further energy production.
In summary, sugars break down into monosaccharides, amino acids themselves are the building blocks of proteins, and fatty acids are broken down into acetyl-CoA for energy metabolism.