Carbohydrates perform a range of functions including providing energy, structural support, and cellular communication. They can be sugars (monosaccharides) or polymers of sugars. The most important role of carbohydrates is as a source of energy, with plants using sunlight to create carbohydrates that form the foundation of ecosystems. Carbohydrates are also involved in cell recognition and structural support of cells.
Carbohydrates perform a range of functions including providing energy, structural support, and cellular communication. They can be sugars (monosaccharides) or polymers of sugars. The most important role of carbohydrates is as a source of energy, with plants using sunlight to create carbohydrates that form the foundation of ecosystems. Carbohydrates are also involved in cell recognition and structural support of cells.
Carbohydrates perform a range of functions including providing energy, structural support, and cellular communication. They can be sugars (monosaccharides) or polymers of sugars. The most important role of carbohydrates is as a source of energy, with plants using sunlight to create carbohydrates that form the foundation of ecosystems. Carbohydrates are also involved in cell recognition and structural support of cells.
Carbohydrates perform a range of functions including providing energy, structural support, and cellular communication. They can be sugars (monosaccharides) or polymers of sugars. The most important role of carbohydrates is as a source of energy, with plants using sunlight to create carbohydrates that form the foundation of ecosystems. Carbohydrates are also involved in cell recognition and structural support of cells.
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CARBOHYDRATES
Carbohydrates are one of the four main categories of molecules found in living things - the other three being proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. They are vital for life on Earth and perform a range of functions such as providing energy, structural support and cellular communication. A carbohydrate is either a sugar or a polymer of sugars. A polymer is two or more simple sugars joined together. Carbohydrates are carbon based molecules with hydrogen and oxygen bonded to a chain of carbon atoms.
A simple sugar is known as a monosaccharide. Monosaccharides can bond
together to form disaccharides and polysaccharides. These are the three different types of carbohydrates and all three are important for different purposes in the natural world.
WHY ARE CARBOHYDRATES IMPORTANT?
All life on Earth requires carbohydrates. They have found their way into the lives of not only animals and plants but also fungi, bacteria,.
The most important role of
carbohydrates is as a source of energy. The chemical energy in sugars is the main source of energy for most living things.
Plants use the sun’s energy and CO₂ to create carbohydrates. These carbohydrates form the foundations of almost all ecosystems on Earth. Using carbohydrates for energy prevents proteins being used for energy. This is important because it allows proteins to be used for other purposes such as metabolism and muscle contraction.
Some of the more complex carbohydrates provide structural support and
protection. Plant and fungal cells have cell walls made from carbohydrates. These cell walls provide protection and support for the cell and the whole organism.
Carbohydrates are also involved in cell-cell recognition. Cells have
carbohydrates on the external surface of their cell membranes that act as receptors. The receptors may interact with the carbohydrates on the membranes of other cells and help cells to identify each other.
STRUCTURE OF CARBOHYDRATES The chemical structure and composition of a carbohydrate is relatively simple compared to proteins and lipids. Most carbohydrates are composed entirely of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. A carbohydrate has three or more carbon atoms, at least two oxygen atoms and multiple hydrogen atoms. Some carbohydrates also contain nitrogen atoms, such as chitin which is found in insect shells.
Carbon atoms have the ability to bond to four other atoms. In carbohydrates, carbon atoms form a linear chain by bonding to two other carbon atoms. The chain ends when a carbon uses three of their bonds with oxygen and hydrogen rather than bonding to two carbons.
MONOSACCHARIDES - SIMPLE SUGARS
Monosaccharides are the most basic carbohydrates and are commonly known as simple sugars. They include well-known sugars such as glucose and fructose.
Monosaccharides are the building blocks for larger carbohydrates and are also used in cells to produce proteins and lipids. Sugars that aren’t used for their energy are often stored as lipids or more complex carbohydrates. It is the monosaccharides that are mostly used by cells to get energy. Glucose is arguably the most important monosaccharide because it is used in respiration to provide energy for cells.
DISACCHARIDES A disaccharide is a carbohydrate made from two monosaccharides joined together. They are still considered sugars but are no longer simple sugars.
Monosaccharides bond together in what is known as a dehydration reaction
because a water molecule is removed as the two sugars bond together. The reaction occurs between two hydroxyl groups (-OH) of the two monosaccharides.
The best known disaccharide is sucrose, which we use in our homes as sugar because of its sweetness. Sucrose is made by bonding together one fructose and one glucose molecule.
glucose + fructose = sucrose
Another well-known disaccharide is lactose, the sugar found in dairy products.
Lactose is made from one molecule of glucose and one molecule of galactose.
It is not uncommon for humans to have difficulties breaking down lactose into glucose and galactose after eating dairy products. This is the cause of the health condition known as lactose intolerance which can cause diarrhea, bloating, gas.
The names of monosaccharide and disaccharide carbohydrates finish with the
suffix -ose. For example fructose, glucose, galactose, sucrose and lactose.
POLYSACCHARIDES A polysaccharide is three or more monosaccharides joined together.
A single monosaccharide in a polysaccharide is referred to as a monomer. A
polysaccharide, which is made from many monomers, can be called a polymer. Some polymers are more than 1000 monomers (or monosaccharides) long.
Polysaccharides have a range of biological functions. A key function they fill is
as a temporary storage of energy. Plants store energy in the form of the polysaccharide known as 'starch'. Many crops, such as corn, rice and potatoes, are important because of their high starch content. Humans and other animals store energy in our muscles and liver using a polysaccharide known as 'glycogen'.
A second important role of polysaccharides is providing structural support.
Plants have two very important structural polysaccharides: cellulose and lignin.
Cellulose is the key compound that makes up the cell walls of plant cells. Cell walls are responsible for protecting and maintaining the shape of plant cells.
Animals and fungi also use polysaccharides as structural materials. Chitin is a
polysaccharide found in the exoskeletons of insects, spiders etc
