Problem 26
What are some of the main differences between the cell walls of plants and those of bacteria?
Problem 27
How does chitin differ from cellulose in structure and function?
Problem 28
How does glycogen differ from starch in structure and function?
Problem 30
What is the main structural difference between glycogen and starch?
Problem 31
How do the cell walls of bacteria differ from those of plants?
Problem 36
An amylose chain is 5000 glucose units long. At how many places must it be cleaved to reduce the average length to 2500 units? To 1000 units? To 200 units? What percentage of the glycosidic links are hydrolyzed in each case? (Even partial hydrolysis can drastically alter the physical properties of polysaccharides and thus affect their structural role in organisms.)
Problem 37
Suppose that a polymer of glucose with alternating \(\alpha(1 \rightarrow 4)\) and \(\beta(1 \rightarrow 4)\) glycosidic linkages has just been discovered. Draw a Haworth projection for a repeating tetramer (two repeating dimers) of such a polysaccharide. Would you expect this polymer to have primarily a structural role or an energy-storage role in organisms? What sort of organisms, if any, could use this polysaccharide as a food source?
Problem 41
How do the sites of cleavage of starch differ from one another when the cleavage reaction is catalyzed by \(\alpha\) amylase and \(\beta\) -amylase?
Problem 42
What is the benefit of fiber in the diet?
Problem 46
Why is it advantageous that polysaccharides can have branched chains? How do they achieve this structural feature?
