Long chains of sugar units, including starch, glycogen, cellulose and chitin, used for storage and structure.
Starch (amylose plus branched amylopectin) is the plant store, glycogen is a more highly branched animal store, cellulose forms plant walls, and chitin forms fungal walls and arthropod exoskeletons. Branching gives many ends for rapid release of glucose.
Polysaccharides are insoluble or only slightly soluble and have little osmotic effect, making them ideal stores.
Long chains of sugar units, including starch, glycogen, cellulose and chitin, used for storage and structure.
Polysaccharides is one of the 51 topics in Biomolecules & Biochemistry. It is rated Beginner, so it suits learners who are starting out in biology. Related topics in this area include Carbohydrates, Glycosidic Bond, Starch vs Cellulose.
A marathon runner relies on glycogen in the muscles and liver, which runs low after about 90 minutes of hard exercise.
Polysaccharides is a Beginner topic, so no earlier topic is required. Other Beginner topics in Biomolecules & Biochemistry that pair well with it include Water Properties, Carbon Chemistry, Carbohydrates.
The closest topics to Polysaccharides are Carbohydrates, Glycosidic Bond, Starch vs Cellulose, Carbon Chemistry. Comparing them side by side is a good way to see how the ideas connect.
Read the summary and the in-depth section, then use the quick check on the interactive lesson for Polysaccharides. To practise the whole of Biomolecules & Biochemistry, use the Biomolecules & Biochemistry quiz.
Polysaccharides: Long chains of sugar units, including starch, glycogen, cellulose and chitin, used for storage and structure. Carbohydrates: Sugars and starches built from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that serve as fuel and structural material. Read both side by side and note what each one explains.
First, read the summary and write the definition in your own words. Second, read the in-depth section and note any example. Third, compare it with Carbohydrates and explain the difference aloud. Finally, take the Biomolecules & Biochemistry quiz and come back to this page for any question you miss.
Sugars and starches built from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that serve as fuel and structural material.
⚗️ Biomolecules & BiochemistryThe covalent link between sugar units formed by condensation, alpha in starch and beta in cellulose.
⚗️ Biomolecules & BiochemistryStarch has alpha-glucose helices for storage; cellulose has straight beta-glucose chains forming strong fibres.
⚗️ Biomolecules & BiochemistryCarbon forms four covalent bonds, allowing chains, rings and the huge variety of organic molecules in living things.
⚗️ Biomolecules & Biochemistry