Question

How many reducing ends are in a molecule of glycogen that contains 10,000 residues with a branch every 10 residues?

Short answer

A glycogen molecule has only one reducing end.

Step-by-step solution

Glycogen

Glycogen is made up of glucose molecules with the C1 carbon consisting of carbonyl carbon functional group C=O, and it is involved in the bond formation with the nearby glucose molecule.

Nonreducing end and branching point in glycogen

Glycogen molecules contain 10,000 glucose residues and have a branch point in every 10 residues. This depicts glycogen having 1000 branch points. Thus, glycogen has many nonreducing ends in every branch of the glycogen molecule.

Reducing end in the glycogen

In 100 branch point, the reducing end is formed by the C1 atom of glucose residue,whichis free to react. Thus, there is only one reducing end in the glycogen.

Glycogen has only one reducing end and many nonreducing ends.