Functions of monosaccharides

Answer 1

All your cells in the body need these sugars to eat and dispose of wastes. This includes your immune system cells, ie, NK, kpuffer, macrophages, t-cells, etc.They are essential for the creation of new stem cells in the body.They also act as the main source of energy in our bodies.

Answer 2

Monosaccharides are the basic units of carbohydrates. Many are synthesized in a process known as gluconeogenesis, others are product of photosynthesis in plants. Its metabolic breakdown provides most of the energy used by the biological processes. Monossc¡acharides are also principal components of nucleic acids, as well as of complex lipids.

Disaccharides provides a source of monosaccharide molecules from its degradation. For example, sugar, composed by a glucose and a fructose, the most common disaccharide, is the main source of glucose in the diet. In a similar way, maltose, an enzymatic product of starch breakdown, is an important source of glucose too. In infants, lactose or milk sugar, a disaccharide of galactose and glusose and that occurs naturally only in milk, is digested by the intestinal enzyme lactase for absorption into the blood stream. Some other disaccharides are present in plant as structural molecules, such as cellobiose, a disaccharide of glucose with a glycosidic bond beta(1-4).

Polysaccharides have many functions mainly structural properties. Cellulose, a linear polysaccharide of up to 15,000 D-glucose residues (a glucan) linked by beta(1-4) glycosidic bonds. Cellulose is the primary structural component of plant cell walls. Chitin, the principal structural component of the exoskeletons of invertebrates such as crustaceans, insects and Spiders, as well as in the cell wall of most fungi and many algae. Chitin is a beta(1-4)-linked homopolymer of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. On the other hand, there are storage polysaccharides such as starch and glycogen. Starch is a food reserve in plants and the major nutrient in animals, and is composed by chains of alpha-amylose and amylopectin. Glycogen is the "animal starch", is present in all cells but is most prevalent in skeletal muscle and liver. Its structures resembles that of amylopectin but is more highly branched.

Answer 3

Monosaccharaides are a type of simple carbohydrate, such as glucose. The function of monosaccharaides is to provide a source of energy to the body.

Answer 4

They are sources of energy

They can be converted into large molecules which can either be stored (glycogen and starch) or used as structural material (cellulose)