ABI Bioinformatics Guide 2024
  • INTRODUCTION
    • How to use the guide
  • MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
    • The Cell
      • Cells and Their Organelles
      • Cell Specialisation
      • Quiz 1
    • Biological Molecules
      • Carbohydrates
      • Lipids
      • Nucleic Acids (DNA and RNA)
      • Quiz 2
      • Proteins
      • Catalysis of Biological Reactions
      • Quiz 3
    • Information Flow in the Cell
      • DNA Replication
      • Gene Expression: Transcription
      • Gene Expression: RNA Processing
      • Quiz 4
      • Chromatin and Chromosomes
      • Regulation of Gene Expression
      • Quiz 5
      • The Genetic Code
      • Gene Expression: Translation
    • Cell Cycle and Cell Division
      • Quiz 6
    • Mutations and Variations
      • Point mutations
      • Genotype-Phenotype Interactions
      • Quiz 7
  • PROGRAMMING
    • Python for Genomics
    • R programming (optional)
  • STATISTICS: THEORY
    • Introduction to Probability
      • Conditional Probability
      • Independent Events
    • Random Variables
      • Independent, Dependent and Controlled Variables
    • Data distribution PMF, PDF, CDF
    • Mean, Variance of a Random Variable
    • Some Common Distributions
    • Exploratory Statistics: Mean, Median, Quantiles, Variance/SD
    • Data Visualization
    • Confidence Intervals
    • Comparison tests, p-value, z-score
    • Multiple test correction: Bonferroni, FDR
    • Regression & Correlation
    • Dimentionality Reduction
      • PCA (Principal Component Analysis)
      • t-SNE (t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding)
      • UMAP (Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection)
    • QUIZ
  • STATISTICS & PROGRAMMING
  • BIOINFORMATICS ALGORITHMS
    • Introduction
    • DNA strings and sequencing file formats
    • Read alignment: exact matching
    • Indexing before alignment
    • Read alignment: approximate matching
    • Global and local alignment
  • NGS DATA ANALYSIS & FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS
    • Experimental Techniques
      • Polymerase Chain Reaction
      • Sanger (first generation) Sequencing Technologies
      • Next (second) Generation Sequencing technologies
      • The third generation of sequencing technologies
    • The Linux Command-line
      • Connecting to the Server
      • The Linux Command-Line For Beginners
      • The Bash Terminal
    • File formats, alignment, and genomic features
      • FASTA & FASTQ file formats
      • Basic Unix Commands for Genomics
      • Sequences and Genomic Features Part 1
      • Sequences and Genomic Features Part 2: SAMtools
      • Sequences and Genomic Features Part 3: BEDtools
    • Genetic variations & variant calling
      • Genomic Variations
      • Alignment and variant detection: Practical
      • Integrative Genomics Viewer
      • Variant Calling with GATK
    • RNA Sequencing & Gene expression
      • Gene expression and how we measure it
      • Gene expression quantification and normalization
      • Explorative analysis of gene expression
      • Differential expression analysis with DESeq2
      • Functional enrichment analysis
    • Single-cell Sequencing and Data Analysis
      • scRNA-seq Data Analysis Workflow
      • scRNA-seq Data Visualization Methods
  • FINAL REMARKS
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  • Monosaccharides
  • Dehydration synthesis
  • Polysaccharides
  • Summary

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  1. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
  2. Biological Molecules

Carbohydrates

PreviousBiological MoleculesNextLipids

Last updated 11 months ago

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Carbohydrates are a group of organic molecules encompassing sugars (monosaccharides and disaccharides) and their polymers. Most carbohydrates have a general formula of Cn(H2O)m.

The nutritional sources of carbohydrates include table sugar (a common name for sucrose) and starchy products such as potatoes and cereals.

Monosaccharides

Monosaccharides are simple sugars typically having a general formula of (CH2O)n. The number of carbon atoms in monosaccharides ranges from 3 to 7. The common example is a six-carbon sugar – glucose, with a general formula of C6H12O6. Like most monosaccharides, glucose adopts a ring structure in aqueous solutions.

Glucose is the major source of energy for the cell. The release of energy from monosaccharides occurs through cellular respiration, a process that involves breaking them down into smaller molecules.

Another function of monosaccharides is to serve as building material for other kinds of molecules, such as amino acids.

Dehydration synthesis

Two monosaccharide units can be joined together in a dehydration reaction.

The most common disaccharides formed by the dehydration reaction are sucrose ("table sugar"), maltose and lactose. The addition of more sugar units to the chain results in the synthesis of polysaccharides.

Polysaccharides

Polysaccharides are large polymers consisting of hundreds to thousands of monosaccharide units. Polysaccharides serve either energy storage or structural functions.

Both plant and animal cells use polymers made of glucose monomers to store energy. Glucose can be quickly retrieved from these polymers by a reaction called hydrolysis. Unlike glucose, these polysaccharides are insoluble, resulting in compact storage.

The plant storage polysaccharide is starch. Starch consists of two types of molecules: amylose, a linear molecule, and amylopectin, a more complex, branched molecule. Amylose allows a slower release of glucose, while amylopectin can be broken down faster due to more free ends.

The animal storage polysaccharide glycogen is similar to amylopectin but is more branched. Glycogen is predominantly stored in liver and muscle cells, though other cells also contain a limited amount of glycogen.

Cellulose, another polymer of glucose, is the most abundant structural polysaccharide in the world. Numerous linear and unbranched cellulose molecules align and are connected by weak electrostatic attractions known as hydrogen bonds. Aggregated cellulose molecules, forming structures called microfibrils, constitute a major component of plant cell walls.

Summary

The videos below provide a summary of the topic and some additional details:

Table sugar and starch – the major dietary sources of carbohydrates Image sources: Emilian Robert Vicol from Com. Balanesti, Romania - White-Sugar-Crystals_91637-480x360, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38382827 MoRntashamL GOLD - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125835813
Glucose
Equation summarising cellular respiration Image source: BChristinelmiller - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98216277
Two glucose units are joined via a dehydration reaction to form a disaccharide called maltose Image source: CNX OpenStax - http://cnx.org/contents/GFy_h8cu@10.53:rZudN6XP@2/Introduction, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49922728
Starch consists of two types of molecules Image source: Biorender.com
Glycogen has plenty of branching points Image source: Biorender.com
Cellulose molecules make up microfibrils in the plant cell wall