BIOL 1050 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Dietary Fiber, Cellulase, Cellulose
28 Nov 2016
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Module 2 nutrie(cid:374)t a(cid:374)d e(cid:374)ergy flow i(cid:374) Plant cell walls are made up of cellulose: complex carbs. Largely insoluble fibre: does(cid:374)"t breakdo(cid:449)(cid:374) i(cid:374) o(cid:373)(cid:374)i(cid:448)ore digesti(cid:448)e syste(cid:373)s. Requires cellulase enzyme to digest: found in microorganisms. Humans use cellulose as fibre: bulks up diet, slows rate of passage, undigested. Humans eat more of the low cellulose plant parts. Chewing motion is different for herbivores: side to side rather than up and down, grind rather than crush food. Adapt a multi-purpose digestive system into a specialized system: standard mammalian digestion not equipped to handle plant structural carbohydrates. Develop symbiosis w/organisms that can digest plant material. Need to create an environment for the symbiosis: temperature, ph (saliva acts as a buffer), substrate to move around in (h2o + saliva) Reticulum acts as gatekeeper for particles large ones go back up for more grinding/chewing/digestion, smaller particles continue through the rest of the system: depends on size and how readily food is digested.
