A heptose is a monosaccharide with seven carbon atoms.
They have either an aldehyde functional group in position 1 (aldoheptoses) or a ketone functional group in position 2, 3 or 4 (ketoheptoses). Ketoheptoses have 4 chiral centers, whereas aldoheptoses have 5.
Examples
There are few examples of seven-carbon sugars in nature, among which are:
- sedoheptulose or D-altro-heptulose (a ketose), an intermediate in the Calvin cycle and in lipid A biosynthesis
- mannoheptulose (a ketose), found in avocadoes
- L-glycero-D-manno-heptose (an aldose), a late intermediate in lipid A biosynthesis.[1]
References
- ^ Patricia L. Taylor, Kim M. Blakely, Gladys P. de Leon, John R. Walker, Fiona McArthur, Elena Evdokimova, Kun Zhang, Miguel A. Valvano, Gerard D. Wright, Murray S. Junop (1 February 2008). "Structure and Function of Sedoheptulose-7-phosphate Isomerase, a Critical Enzyme for Lipopolysaccharide Biosynthesis and a Target for Antibiotic Adjuvants". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 283 (5): 2835–2845. doi:10.1074/jbc.M706163200.