Biochemistry 4th Edition by Reginald Garrett, Charles Grisham

Exercise 4

Examining the labelling of glucose from 14C-labeled acetate
Even though acetate units, such as those obtained from fatty acid oxidation, cannot be used for net synthesis of carbohydrate in animals, labeled carbon from 14C-labeled acetate can be found in newly synthesized glucose (for example in liver glycogen) in animal tracer studies. Explain how this can be. Which carbons of glucose would you expect to be the first to be labeled by 14C-labeled acetate