Topic 10.

4 Plant cell structure

Polysaccharides; plant cells

Aims
To use your knowledge from the textbook, elsewhere, and from the information provided, to answer the questions on polysaccharides and aspects of plant cells.

Task
Answer the questions in the spaces provided. The early questions require brief answers based on a basic knowledge of the biochemistry of polysaccharides. Later questions require careful understanding of the information provided, before you apply what you know to answer the questions.

Questions
1 Glycogen is a very large, branched polymer of alpha-glucose units/residues. The branch points occur every 10 units or so. The main enzyme that breaks down glycogen is called glycogen phosphorylase. It removes glucose units, one at a time, from the end of each branch (i.e. the end with the free carbon-4 of a glucose unit). This involves a type of reaction called a phosphorolysis as it uses inorganic phosphate rather than water to split the bond between glucose units, forming glucose phosphate (glucose 1-phosphate). a) With reference to their chemical formulae, why is it more correct to say that glycogen is composed of glucose units (or residues) than glucose? b) Why would molecules of glycogen phosphorylase work more quickly on one molecule of glycogen than on one molecule of an unbranched polymer of alpha glucose (i.e. amylose) of a similar molecular mass? c) Suggest why more than one type of enzyme is needed to break down glycogen completely to glucose phosphate (i.e. glucose 1-phosphate).

d) What is the role of glycogen in skeletal muscle fibres?

AQA Biology AS Level Extension Activity Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008

Topic 10.4 Plant cell structure

2 In an experiment, a potato tuber was cut in half and a small knife was used to excavate one cavity in the centre of each of the two domed ends of the cut potato. Each half of the potato was put into a Petri dish base, as shown in Figure 1. Then a spatula measure of sucrose crystals was put into one cavity and a spatula measure of starch powder was put into the other. Within 10 minutes, the sucrose crystals were wet and by 15 minutes there were several millimetres of liquid within the cavity. But the starch powder remained dry.

Figure 1 A section through a potato with a cavity containing sucrose crystals or starch powder a) Explain why the cavity that initially contained sucrose crystals went on to contain a liquid within 15 minutes. b) How does the result in the cavity that contained starch relate to its role as a storage compound that occurs in chloroplasts?

AQA Biology AS Level Extension Activity Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008

Topic 10.4 Plant cell structure

Plant cells, such as the palisade cells of leaves, may contain features that do not occur in animal cells, e.g. a cell wall, chloroplasts, and a large, sap-filled vacuole. Complete Table 1 with an explanation why each plant cell in the table lacks a feature that is said to be typical of plant cells.

Table 1 Why some cells of flowering plants lack features that are typical of plant cells Plant cell type The male gamete of a flowering plant Root hair cell Missing feature Cell wall Explanation

Chloroplasts

Dividing cells of the root tip

Large, sap-filled vacuole

AQA Biology AS Level Extension Activity Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008