Carbohydrates Flashcards
name functions of carbohydrates
dietary calories
storage
cell membrane components
building blocks
mediate signaling
what is a glycome?
the full set of carbohydrates produced by an organism
between what do glycosidic bonds form?
anomeric carbon and the oxygen of an alcohol (release water)
what type of bond is the glycosidic linkage?
covalent bond
what are the glycosyltransferases?
enzymes catalyzing the formation of glycosidic bonds
what are 2 ways to classify monosaccharides?
according to the number of carbon atoms
based on the carbonyl group (aldehydes or ketone)
what are isomers?
compounds with the same chemical formula but different structure
what are epimers?
carbohydrate isomers that differ in configuration around a specific carbon
cause for stereoisomer formation
what are enantiomers?
type of isomerism in pairs of structures that are mirror images (OH group on left or right)
what are Fischer projections?
2D representation of a 3D organic molecule by projection
what is a hemiacetal?
product of aldehyde + alcohol to form a ring
what is a hemiketal?
product of ketone + alcohol to form a ring of sugar
describe pyranose formation
glucose cyclizes into a hemiacetal pyranose ring
describe furanose formation
fructose cyclizes into a hemiketal furanose ring
what are anomers?
occur when the OH group can freely interconvert between a and b forms in aqueous solutions
What are Haworth projections?
a simple depiction of carbohydrates without the carbon atoms in the ring being written
What is the limitation of Haworth projections?
they suggest that molecules are planar
What are the 2 classes of conformation of pyranose rings?
chair and boat
difference in the tetrahedral geometry if saturated carbon atoms
role of sugars in phosphorylation
phosphorylated sugars appear as intermediates in metabolism for breaking down glucose and ts synthesis
what modification is the amino sugars?
the replacement of the hydroxyl group with an amino group
further acetylated into N-acetyl sugars
eg. glucosamine (N-acetylglucosamine)
What happens to oxidized sugars
the carbonyl and hydroxyl groups can be oxidized
yield uronic acids (sugars that have the COOH group)
What happens to reduced sugars
the carbonyl and hydroxyl groups, yield eg. xylitol
reduction by ribonucleotide reductase:
-converts ribose into deoxyribose
what is a modification using glycosidic bonds?
anomeric carbon of glucose + oxygen of alcohol –> a glyoside
What are disaccharides?
2 sugars joined by an O-glycosidic bond