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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.
Carbohydrate metabolism is the whole of the biochemical processes responsible for the metabolic formation, breakdown, and interconversion of carbohydrates in living organisms. Carbohydrates are central to many essential metabolic pathways . [ 1 ]
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Carbohydrate synthesis is a sub-field of organic chemistry concerned with generating complex carbohydrate structures from simple units (monosaccharides). The generation of carbohydrate structures usually involves linking monosaccharides or oligosaccharides through glycosidic bonds, a process called glycosylation .
In a simple open-chain monosaccharide, every carbon is chiral except the first and the last atoms of the chain, and (in ketoses) the carbon with the keto group. For example, the triketose H(CHOH)(C=O)(CHOH)H (glycerone, dihydroxyacetone ) has no stereogenic center, and therefore exists as a single stereoisomer.
The term "oligosaccharide" encompasses carbohydrates that are larger than simple di- or tri-saccharides, but smaller than polysaccharides (greater than 10 units).Isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMO) are glucose oligomers with α-D-(1,6)-linkages, including isomaltose, panose, isomaltotriose, isomaltotetraose, isomaltopentaose, nigerose, kojibiose, and higher branched oligosaccharides. [1]
There are three principal classes of macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein and fat. [1] Macronutrients are defined as a class of chemical compounds which humans consume in relatively large quantities compared to vitamins and minerals which provide humans with energy.
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 .