Polysaccharides

The most important polysaccharides are starch, glycogen, and cellulose. This is the basic
information about them:
Polysaccharide

Monomer

Type of glycosidic Shape of

bond
molecule

Function

Starch - Amylose

Alpha glucose

Carbohydrate
storage in plants
1,4 links

Unbranched chains
wound into a helix

Carbohydrate
storage in plants

Starch Amylopectin

Alpha glucose

1,4 links
1,6 links (at
branches)

Tightly packed
branched chains

Carbohydrate
storage in plants

Glycogen

Alpha glucose

1,4 links
1,6 links (at
branches)

Very branched
compact molecules

Carbohydrate
storage in animals

Cellulose

Beta glucose

1,4 links

Linear

Structural function
in plant cell walls

Starch:
- Can be found as starch grains in storage organs
- It is a mixture of two substances:
Amylose (20%): It typically consists of about 300 -glucose units joined by glycosidic
bonds. The orientation of the rings around the 1,4 links produces a helical molecule,
whose structure is stabilised by intramolecular hydrogen bonds.
Amylopectin (80%): It is one of the largest molecules found in nature and can consist of
up to 1 million glucose units joined together.
- Starch molecules are well-suited for their storage function because:
1. They are compact and do not take up much space.
2. They are insoluble and therefore cannot move out of the cells in which they are stored.
3. They enable a very large number of glucose units to be stored within cells without
generating a high osmotic pressure.
4. Starch has many ends which allow glucose molecules to be added or taken away very
quickly.
5. They do not become involved in the immediate metabolic processes of the cell.
Glycogen:
- Can clump together to form granules which can be seen in liver and muscle cells.
- It is more extensively branched than amylopectin.
- It is well-suited for its storage functions for the same reasons as starch:
1. They are compact and do not take up much space.
2. They are insoluble and therefore cannot move out of the cells in which they are stored.
3. They enable a very large number of glucose units to be stored within cells without
generating a high osmotic pressure.
4. Starch has many ends which allow glucose molecules to be added or taken away very
quickly.
5. They do not become involved in the immediate metabolic processes of the cell.
Cellulose:
- It is the most abundant organic molecule on the planet because of its role in plant cell walls
and its slow rate of break down.
- The orientation of its glucose units: in order to form a glycosidic bond with carbon 4, where
the -OH group is below the ring, one glucose must rotate 180 relative to the other. (This is
why its molecules do not coil)
- The arrangement of its glucose molecules result in a strong molecule because they
hydrogen atoms in the -OH groups are weakly attracted to the oxygen atoms in the same

cellulose molecules in neighbouring cellulose molecules (cross-linked hydrogen bonds).

Individually these bonds are weak, but together they provide enormous strength.
- 60-70 individual chains can be joined (by hydrogen bonds) to make a microfibril.
> Bundles of microfibrils are assembled (held together by hydrogen bonds) to form
cellulose fibres.
- Cellulose represents 20 - 40% of the cell wall. Other molecules help to cross-link cellulose
fibres.
- Functions:
Helps cell walls withstand high pressures which develop within them as a result of
osmosis. These pressures help provide support for the plant by making tissues rigid and
are responsible for cell expansion during growth.
The arrangement of the fibres around the cell determines its shape as it grows.
Allows water and solutes to reach or leave the cell surface membrane (it is freely
permeable).