Importance of Lipids

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

From a solitary cell to the largest being on the planet, the entire existence of every form of life there is, has been and will continue to be possible thanks to the conformation of a particular group of organic molecules called lipids.

Its fantastic organization through which the membrane that delimits the cells is created and allows the development of all its organelles – including the nucleus that protects the DNA – In addition to a very extensive number of metabolic functions and participations, it allows us to understand that the importance of lipids extends to all the most essential aspects of the life.

Without the lipids that make up the cell membrane, all the cytoplasmic content would have no way of being contained within a defined space, which we know as a cell, this being a characteristic in common between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, but, on the other hand, from the evolutionary point of view the role played by lipids has been transcendental, precisely so that the latter could allow themselves a genetically more complex organization, which in turn would give rise to individuals that are structurally more advanced.

Serving as a secondary metabolic route to obtain energy, the lipids that are ingested directly through food are a source important nutritional value in the diet of all animals, in the same way, they allow the absorption of liposoluble vitamins and when they are obtained by Through the conversion of sugars to fat, they become a store of metabolic energy that in turn provides protection against low blood pressure. temperatures.

Lipids are not produced and used exclusively by animals, on the contrary, the plant kingdom is full of examples - especially of oils – which can be used both for the creation of the particular aromas that each species possesses, and as energy reservoirs, hence the seeds usually have high lipid contents, with which to sustain its initial development, before the plant can obtain nutrients from other external sources such as soil And the water.

bathing with a fish

The ability to transform lipids into substances of nature completely diverse is certainly more than amazing. In this sense, one of the transmutations that fats and oils can achieve is to experience the process of saponification.

By conjugating a lipid with more than ten carbons in its chain and the correct alkaline inorganic substance, the generation of glycerin and the wonderful soap is achieved, through a phenomenon that It has already had all kinds of studies and uses by science and industry, but in reality it can also be generated by itself in the incredible laboratory of the nature. An example of this is provided by a particular fish, the Grammistes sexlineatus, who when captured in the sea and rubbed against the body, the lipids that cover their scales produce soap by reacting with the salts in the water, and although the idea of being able to bathe with such a little animal, first of all, depending on the area of ​​the world in which you are, it might not be easy to find and capture it, becoming really much cheaper to simply buy any bath soap, and secondly, but not least, rubbing that fish against your body will not be pleasant for him, being able to hurting him with an unnecessary act, so if by one of those chances of life you manage to find a real soap fish, admire him and appreciate him remembering that his life also deserves I respect.

A rich building material

Another type of lipid of great importance are waxes - and surely bees have already come to mind - because precisely as When you think about it, the importance of lipids transcends, for some species, beyond being an indispensable biological resource or a source of food, until they become essential elements for the development of life habits, such as the creation of their own shelters.

The honeycombs of bees, as well as of a large number of wasp species, are built with a very particular type of lipid called waxes, which in their original source represent a powerful nutritional resource that provides benefits for the strengthening of our immune system and, among other things, also for the elaboration of candles which, on the other hand, are today manufactured mostly thanks to the industrial Revolution and the appearance of petroleum derivatives, products that have allowed the synthetic development of a large number of lipids in all their forms, managing to make the bees keep their homes for longer, ceasing to be the primary source for obtaining the wax, with its replacement by the paraffin. The same has happened with a great variety of oils obtained from petroleum, which have achieved replace those that were extracted from animals such as whales, a fact that has threatened many species.

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