CARBOHYDRATES fill in the blanks- UNIVERSITY BIOLOGY

POLYSACCHARIDE: (poly which means many)
o Are carbohydrates that are made-up of long chains of sugars.
o Polysaccharides are made-up of three or more monosaccharides.
o Starches perform an important function of energy storage in plants. Starches can be found in such food sources as bread, pasta, and potatoes. Plants convert excess sugars into Starches for long-term storage.

o Glycogen performs the same function as starches but it in animals. Glycogen consists of hundreds of glucose molecules strung together in a highly branched chain. Animals store Glucose in the form of polysaccharide glycogen in the liver and muscles to be used as quick energy.


Q. Note the difference between the structures of starches to that of the glycogen structure. What’s the difference? WHY?

A. The larger amount of branching in glycogen means that glycogen molecules pack more glucose units into a cell that do starch molecules.


o Cellulose which is produced by plants contains an even greater amount of glucose molecules than that of glycogen macromolecule. Plants use cellulose to build their cell walls. Cellulose gives the strength and rigidity to plant cells and is considered a structural molecule because it protects and provides support for the entire plant. Cellulose is a made up of glucose units therefore makes it have a high storage capacity of energy.


Only a few bacterial species produce the digestive chemicals needed to break cellulose down into glucose units and release its energy. These bacteria can be found in the stomach and intestines of certain animals and creatures. However, humans do not host these bacteria; therefore the food energy in cellulose is not directly available to us.
please see text page 12 for diagrams