What are the similarities and differences between monosaccharides, disaccharides, polysaccharides?
2007-02-05 11:07:54 · 3 answers · asked by Bella Vega 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
They are all sugars, and sugars have 1 carbonyl group on 1 carbon, and hydroxyls on the rest.
monosaccharides- mono=1,sacchar=sugar "one sugar"
so a sugar with only one ring, like glucose, or ribose. These are called simple sugars
dissaccharides- 2 sugars, just basically two monosaccharides joined together. examples are maltose or sucrose
polysaccharides- many sugars, these are gigantic molecules of many many sugars linked together. Examples are stach, cellulose (makes cell wall of plants), and glycogen.
the are also oligosaccharides- few sugars, which have between 2-10 sugars linked together. These are often used in specific cell signalling and recognition, for instance in Blood type, you have one of two oligosaccharides on your red blood cells, or you have both or neither.
2007-02-08 18:10:55 · answer #1 · answered by kz 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
mono - simple sugar like glucose or fructose
di - pair of monos. These are the ordinary sugars.
poly - long chains like starch and cellulose
2007-02-05 11:13:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pleeeeease! Use the Wiki!!!
Here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate
If you need something more "elaborated" look in: http://www.cem.msu.edu/~reusch/VirtualText/carbhyd.htm#carb1
2007-02-05 11:41:08 · answer #3 · answered by professor_poncho 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋