Polysaccharides

We all enjoy eating foods such as potato fritters, aloo bonda, aloo tikki, burgers, pizzas, and other similar dishes served at restaurants. You have to guess which nutrient they are high in. In addition, because starchy foods contain a lot of starch, they are sometimes referred to as starchy vegetables. However, what exactly is starch? Depending on your definition, it’s either sugar, carbohydrate, or polysaccharide. The purpose of this article is to provide additional information on polysaccharides in general.

Polysaccharides

A polysaccharide is a big molecule that is composed of several smaller monosaccharides. In the case of monosaccharides such as glucose, they are simple sugars. Sugar polymers, also known as polysaccharides, are formed when special enzymes bind together small sugar monomers to form larger sugar polymers. A glycan is another name for a polysaccharide. An example of a homopolysaccharide is one in which all the monosaccharides are the same, and an example of a heteropolysaccharide is one in which the monosaccharides differ. 

Polysaccharides can take on a variety of shapes and forms depending on how many monosaccharides are linked together and which carbons in the monosaccharides are linked together. A linear polysaccharide is a molecule that contains a straight chain of monosaccharides, whereas a branching polysaccharide is a molecule that includes arms and turns.

Types of Polysaccharides

Types of polysaccharides include:

• Homopolysaccharides

Homopolysaccharides are polysaccharides that contain the same monosaccharides. Important homopolysaccharides include:

• Glycogen 
• Cellulose 
• Starch 
• Inulin 

• Heteropolysaccharides

Heteropolysaccharides are polysaccharides made up of several monosaccharides. Important heteropolysaccharides include:

• Hyaluronic Acid- Hyaluronic acid has disaccharides as  monomer, which are composed of D-glucuronic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, joined by alternating β-(1→4) and β-(1→3) glycosidic bonds. 
• Heparin 

Starch

In all photosynthetic plants, starch is a constituent that exists in varying degrees. A plant’s roots and seeds are usually where we discover starch. Whenever plants generate glucose, the excess glucose is stored as starch. This starch can be found in all plants.

This means that starch is exclusively made up of glucose molecules bound together in a single structure. It is  (C6H10O5)n in the conventional molecular formula for starch. The letter ‘n’ refers to the number of molecules bonded together in a particular way. The repeating units are alpha-D-glucose.

Plant seeds contain starch granules, which we can see via our microscope. A colloidal suspension is formed when these grains are heated in water. Through this procedure, we receive two components: amylose and amylopectin, which are constituents of adenosine monophosphate.

Amylose

• Amylose is a linear polysaccharide.
• About 10-20 percent of a starch molecule is made up of sugars.
• They are composed of D-glucose units linked together by a -glycosidic bond.
• It is possible to connect one glucose unit to another glucose unit starting at the one-four position, which is represented by the symbol (1-4).
• Amylose is a sugar with the same basic structure as maltose, but it has been increased by n.
• Almost 1000 glucose molecules are found in an amylose structure, establishing a link between the sugar molecules.
• Because they have an alpha-helical structure, they are quite compact even though they are large molecules.
• Amylose molecules are arranged in a helical shape.