Lesson 2: WHAT PLANTS DO WITH GLUCOSE?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Grade 4: Explain
Grade 3: Describe the
how plants use the
importance of
glucose they
photosynthesis
produce

Grade 5: Compare
and contrast the
uses of glucose in
plants and humans.
STARTER

CO2 H2O C6H12O6 O2

Can you match the symbol to the

materials of photosynthesis?

H20 C6H12O6 O2 CO2

WHAT PLANTS DO WITH GLUCOSE?
 WHY GLUCOSE IS SO
IMPORTANT?

LOOK THE SLIDES AND FILL

THE GAPS
RESPIRATION
carbon
glucose + oxygen > dioxide + water + ENERGY

Plants use some of the glucose they produce for respiration.

Respiration occurs in the mitochondria (in cells).

This chemical reaction releases energy which allows them to

convert the rest of the glucose into other useful substances which
they can use to build new cells and grow.

To produce some of these substances they also

need to gather a few minerals from the soil.
 STORAGE
Glucose which is soluble is converted into
insoluble starch for storage.

This starch can then be stored in roots,

leaves and stems – ready for when
photosynthesis isn’t happening
(at night, in the winter etc).

Potato and carrot plants store a lot of starch

underground over the winter so a new plant
can grow from it the following spring – we
are eating the swollen storage organs.
SEEDS
Glucose is turned into lipids (fats & oils) for storing in
seeds. Seeds also store starch.
Sunflower seeds, for example contain a lot of oil – we get
oil and margarine from them.

A seed is a small embryonic

plant enclosed in a covering
called the seed coat, usually
with some stored food
(starch or lipids).
 FRUIT
Glucose, along with another sugar called
fructose, is turned into sucrose for storing in
fruits.
Fruits deliberately taste
nice so that animals will eat
them and spread the seeds
all over the place in their
poo.
CELLULOSE
Glucose is converted into cellulose for making cell walls,
especially in a rapidly growing plant.
The cell wall is the tough layer that surrounds plant cells.

It is located outside the cell membrane and

provides cells with structural support and
protection.

They allow plants to grow tall without any other

support.

A very important function of the cell wall is to

act as a pressure vessel, preventing over-
expansion when water enters the cell by
osmosis.
PROTEIN SYNTHESIS
Glucose is combined with nitrates (collected
from the soil) to make amino acids, which are
them made into proteins.
Protein is the building blocks of life itself.

Enzymes are proteins, as too are many structural parts of plants, and
even organelles within cells are composed of protein (for instance,
ribosomes which, curiously 'make' proteins themselves).

Nuts and seeds always contain large amounts of protein, as they need
to sustain the plant in its first few days of 'life'.
 Plenary
Choose 3 questions and answer them in your book

In which 3 organs Glucose+

Give theOxygen
Word Where does
Roots, leaves and  Carbon
does a plant
stems
equation for
dioxide+ water +
respiration
Mitochondria
store its starch? respiration
energy occurs?

Whyfordoes plant
when What is cellulose Animals will eat
Why do fruits
store glucosa as
photosynthesis usedcell
Make forwalls
in them and spread
isn’tstarch?
happening taste nice?
the seeds.
plants?