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All polymers are made of repetitive units called monomers. Biopolymers often have a well-defined structure, though this is not a defining characteristic (example: lignocellulose): The exact chemical composition and the sequence in which these units are arranged is called the primary structure, in the case of proteins.
Starch (a polymer of glucose) is used as a storage polysaccharide in plants, being found in the form of both amylose and the branched amylopectin. In animals, the structurally similar glucose polymer is the more densely branched glycogen, sometimes called "animal starch". Glycogen's properties allow it to be metabolized more quickly, which ...
Lectins, or proteins that bind carbohydrates, can recognize specific oligosaccharides and provide useful information for cell recognition based on oligosaccharide binding. [citation needed] An important example of oligosaccharide cell recognition is the role of glycolipids in determining blood types.
Amylopectin / ˌ æ m ɪ l oʊ ˈ p ɛ k t ɪ n / is a water-insoluble [1] [2] polysaccharide and highly branched polymer of α-glucose units found in plants. It is one of the two components of starch, the other being amylose. Relation of amylopectin to starch granule. Plants store starch within specialized organelles called amyloplasts. To ...
For example, a glucose polymer is named glucan, a mannose polymer is named mannan, and a galactose polymer is named galactan. When the glycosidic linkages and configurations of the monosaccharides are known, they may be included as a prefix to the name, with the notation for glycosidic linkages preceding the symbols designating the ...
α(1→4)-glycosidic linkages in the glycogen oligomer α(1→4)-glycosidic and α(1→6)-glycosidic linkages in the glycogen oligomer. Glycogen is a branched biopolymer consisting of linear chains of glucose residues with an average chain length of approximately 8–12 glucose units and 2,000-60,000 residues per one molecule of glycogen.
N-Linked glycans are attached in the endoplasmic reticulum to the nitrogen (N) in the side chain of asparagine (Asn) in the sequon.The sequon is an Asn-X-Ser or Asn-X-Thr sequence, where X is any amino acid except proline and the glycan may be composed of N-acetylgalactosamine, galactose, neuraminic acid, N-acetylglucosamine, fucose, mannose, and other monosaccharides.
Chitin is used in many industrial processes. Examples of the potential uses of chemically modified chitin in food processing include the formation of edible films and as an additive to thicken and stabilize foods and food emulsions. [28] [29] Processes to size and strengthen paper employ chitin and chitosan. [30] [31]