Polysaccharides

Hundreds to Thousands of monosaccharides bond together

Polysaccharide --- many saccharides

  • Monosaccharides are bonded by Glycosidic linkages
  • Polyaccharides:

  • Starch
    In plants
  • Amylose
  • Amylopectin


  • Amylose and Amylopectin

    Glycogen
    In animals' liver
  • 1-4 & many 1-6 glycosidic linkages, highly branched
  • Complexer than Amylopectin, because animals doesn't have roots
  • When blood sugar is too high, it's hydrolyzed (directed by blood control hormones) to supply blood sugar
  • When blood sugar is too high, the liver converts glucose to glycogen under Insulin's instruction
  • Could be depleted in one day unless replenished by consumption of food


  • Glycogen

    Cellulose
    Plant cell wall structure
  • b1-4 bond
  • undigestable for animal because we are lack of enzymes to digest it.
  • used in paper manufacture, lumber product and cotton


  • Cellulase

    Chitin
    Exoskeleton of Crustaceans
    Fungi's cell wall
  • b1-4 bond with amino functional group
  • Contains nitrogen and glucose


  • Chitin
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