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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 ...
To generate energy, the plant hydrolyzes the starch, releasing the glucose subunits. Humans and other animals that eat plant foods also use amylase, an enzyme that assists in breaking down amylopectin, to initiate the hydrolysis of starch. [3] Starch is made of about 70–80% amylopectin by weight, though it varies depending on the source.
The name is also used for any naturally occurring mixture or complex of various such enzymes, that act serially or synergistically to decompose cellulosic material. Cellulases break down the cellulose molecule into monosaccharides ("simple sugars") such as β-glucose, or shorter polysaccharides and oligosaccharides. Cellulose breakdown is of ...
Amylose A is a parallel double-helix of linear chains of glucose. Amylose is made up of α(1→4) bound glucose molecules. The carbon atoms on glucose are numbered, starting at the aldehyde (C=O) carbon, so, in amylose, the 1-carbon on one glucose molecule is linked to the 4-carbon on the next glucose molecule (α(1→4) bonds). [3]
Carbohydrase is the name of a set of enzymes that catalyze five types of reactions, turning carbohydrates into simple sugars, from the large family of glycosidases. [ 1 ] Carbohydrases are produced in the pancreas , salivary glands and small intestine , breaking down polysaccharides .
β-Amylase (EC 3.2.1.2, saccharogen amylase, glycogenase) is an enzyme with the systematic name 4-α-D-glucan maltohydrolase. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] It catalyses the following reaction: Hydrolysis of (1→4)-α- D -glucosidic linkages in polysaccharides so as to remove successive maltose units from the non-reducing ends of the chains
Nearly all organisms that break down glucose utilize glycolysis. [2] Glucose regulation and product use are the primary categories in which these pathways differ between organisms. [2] In some tissues and organisms, glycolysis is the sole method of energy production. [2] This pathway is common to both anaerobic and aerobic respiration. [1]
The first step in the production of high-fructose corn syrup is the treatment of cornstarch with α-amylase, which cleaves the long starch polymers into shorter chains of oligosaccharides. An α-amylase called "Termamyl", sourced from Bacillus licheniformis, is also used in some detergents, especially dishwashing and starch-removing detergents ...