MCDB 310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Anomer, Tubulin, Chitin
12 Mar 2018
School
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Carbohydrates are very similar to proteins in many ways. First, there are a limited number of monomers (sugars amino acids) that are the basis for the important polymers (proteins complex carbohydrates). Second, both groups play two major roles in living things: proteins are structural (like actin and tubulin) and mechanical (like enzymes and carriers), while carbohydrates are structural (chitin and cellulose) and forms of energy (starch and glycogen). Finally, both have nasty sets of unique terms. There are other similarities, but you will figure them out without much difficulty. One of the more difficult aspects of learning about carbohydrates is the nomenclature. Sometimes the name itself gives clues about the molecule and sometimes it seems to make no sense at all. Use the former to your advantage, and just memorize the latter. Understand the basic nomenclature for carbohydrate chains (section 7. 1), for aldoses and ketoses, and for pyranoses and furanoses.
