Question

What is a triacylglycerol ? Discuss the advantages of organisms having triacylglycerol as energy storage molecule?

Answer 1

Answer:

Triacylglycerols are acylglycerols with three fatty acid molecules, generally long chain, which can be the same or different; we speak of simple triacylglycerols when there is the same fatty acid in all three glycerol positions, but most are mixed triacylglycerols, with at least two different fatty acids. The properties of triacylglycerols will depend on the type of fatty acids they contain.

Most of the fats and oils of both animal origin (tallow, butter) and vegetable (olive, corn, sunflower, palm, and coconut oils) are formed almost exclusively by triacylglycerols.

Physiologically, triacylglycerols are an important energy reserve. In most eukaryotic cells, triacylglycerols are stored in the cytosol as microscopic fat droplets. In vertebrates there are specialized cells in the storage of fat, adipocytes. In humans, the presence of fatty tissue under the skin, in the abdominal cavity and in the mammary gland stands out.