Concept 5.2: Carbohydrates serve as fuel and building material

Flashcards from Concept 5.2 of Pearson's Campbell Biology, Twelfth Edition.

Carbohydrates

Class of macromolecules that consists of sugars and polymers of sugars

Monosaccharides

The simplest forms of carbohydrates that make up the building blocks of polysaccharides (carbohydrate macromolecules)

• Usually have molecular formulas that are multiples of CH₂O, such as in glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆)

• Classified by the location of the carbonyl group or the number of carbons in the carbon skeleton

Polysaccharides

Polymers of monomer monosaccharides, creating complex carbohydrate molecules that serve storage and structural roles

Glucose

The most common monosaccharide with the chemical formula C₆H₁₂O₆

Disaccharides

Formed when a dehydration reaction joins two monosaccharides

Starch

A storage polysaccharide of plants consisting of glucose monomers, such as in potatoes, in granules within chloroplasts and other plastids

Glycogen

A storage polysaccharide in animals, stored mainly in liver and muscle cells for easy utilization and hydrolysis during periods of high demand (like exercise)

Cellulose

A major component of the tough wall of plant cells, it is a polysaccharide

Chitin

Another structural polysaccharide found in the exoskeleton of arthropods as well as the cell walls of many fungi