The Fate of Glucose
Glucose is the first food chemical which plants make. This is often stored as the complex carbohydrate, starch. Plants though need more than just this chemical in order to grow. Glucose is used as a starting material to make all the different chemicals plants need.
For example, glucose is combined with ammonia (which plants absorb from the soil in the form of nitrates) to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, vital for growth and maintenance.
The diagram below shows what glucose can be converted into.
