Carbs: Study Guide Flashcards
Know the major elements required for life present in monosaccharides
*Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen
Are carbs considered “true polymers”
yes because they contain multiple monomers, and they are interlinked.
How do carbohydrates facilitate cellular interactions? How do they provide structural support?
*Forms a glycocalyx (bundle of carbs) to form a mesh-like bundle that surrounds the plasma membrane and prevents clotting
*They are on extracellular receptors and form noncovalent interactions with ligands.
A1C is formed via “non-enzymatic glycosylation” of hemoglobin. What does that mean?
*Non-enzymatic glycosylation is the attachment of glucose to proteins without the help of an enzyme.
Be able to identify different glycosidic bonds (i.e., O- vs. N-; α vs. β).
*O-bond is between carbon-1 and OH groups oxygen
*N-bond is between carbon-1 and NH2 groups nitrogen
*Alpha bond is OH on carbon-1 below the plane
*Beta bond is OH on carbon-1 above the plane
Be able to identify homopolymers and heteropolymers.
*Homopolymer is one sugar residue
*Heteropolymers would be multiple types of sugar residues
The terms “simple carbohydrate” and “complex carbohydrate” are often used on nutrition labels. What do those terms mean? Are all simple carbohydrates monosaccharides?
- Simple carbohydrates are referred to as quick energy, because they have fewer glycosidic bonds allowing them to enter glycolysis faster. Simple carbohydrates may contain monosaccharides or disaccharides.
-Complex carbohydrates are referred to as slow energy, because they have more glycosidic bonds and therefore enter glycolysis slower.
Glucose and sucrose were both subject to Fehling’s test. Know what happened to each molecule and why.
*Glucose’s color changed, meaning it is a reducing sugar. Sucrose’s color did not change, meaning that it is not a reducing sugar.
Why is glycogen storage limited in the human body?
*Because of the water uptake properties that glycogen has, we can only store so much
Besides glycogen, know one of the common larger polysaccharides – what it’s made of, what function/role it has, and what type of bonds it has.
*Chitin is a larger polysaccharide; it is a linear homopolymer linked by beta 1,4 glycosidic bonds. Chitin is a glucose derivative and serves as the structural component of an arthropod’s exoskeleton.
How do glycoproteins, glycolipids and glycoRNAs differ? How are they similar?
*All three have carbohydrates attached to their exterior surface
*Glycoproteins are both N and O linked, Glycolipids are N linked, and GlycoRNA’s are O linked.
Simple vs. Compound sugar
Simple sugars: also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose (fewer glycosidic bonds,enters glycolysis faster)
Compound sugars: also called disaccharides or double sugars, are molecules made of two bonded monosaccharides; common examples are sucrose (glucose + fructose) (more glycosidic bonds, enters glycolysis slower)
Metabolically inert
They cannot reproduce or replicate themselves. Viruses themselves are metabolically inert and must rely on metabolic events in the cell to generate its component parts and to replicate new viral copies.
Rh factor
an inherited protein found on the surface of red blood cells.
Glycosyltransferase
enzymes that catalyze the formation of the glycosidic linkage to form a glycoside. These enzymes utilize ‘activated’ sugar phosphates as glycosyl donors, and catalyze glycosyl group transfer to a nucleophilic group, usually an alcohol.
Glycosylation
the attachment of carbohydrates to the backbone of a protein through an enzymatic reaction. A protein that is glycosylated is known as a glycoprotein
A1C is formed via “non-enzymatic glycosylation”. What does that mean?
Glucose can attach to hemoglobin without the assistance of an enzyme
How does glucose (Glc) differ from GlcN? What about from GlcNAc?
- Glc: glucose, hydroxyl located on carbon-2
- GlcN: glucosamine, amine group located on carbon-2
- GlcNAc: N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetyl group (N-C=O) on carbon-2
Glucose and sucrose were both subject to Fehling’s test. What happened? Would you expect maltose (has two glucose residues) to react to the reagent? Understand why.
-Sucrose was not able to participate in the redox (no color change =not a reducing sugar)
- glucose had a color change (aldehyde can participate in the reaction)
-fructose can’t participate bc it has a ketone
-maltose: reducing sugar, second sugar has the ability to partially open up and be free to be in aldehyde (therefore participating in a redox reaction)
Be able to identify different carbohydrates (i.e., disaccharide vs. oligosaccharide, homopolymer vs. heteropolymer, etc.) in images and/or descriptions.
Oligosaccharides: water-soluble; often attached to other biomolecules to facilitate cell recognition
Disaccharides: Sucrose, lactose, maltose (have the glucose residue)
homopoly: one type of sugar residue
Heterpoly: multiple types of sugar residues
Why do linear and high molecular weight polysaccharides have lower water solubility?
as molecular weight increases, the polymer would have a smaller solubility range
Know which conjugated molecules (i.e. glycoprotein, glycolipid, and glycoRNA) have O-glycosidic bonds vs. N-glycosidic bonds.
Glycoprotein: can have both N and O (glycoproteins, proteoglycans, mucins)
Glycolipids: sphingosine platform, cluster with cholesterol rafts (O bond)
glycoRNAs: monosaccharides attached to RNA via nucleobases (N linked)
Pancreas GLUT2 vs. Brain GLUT3
GLUT2: transporter for glucose in pancreas, stim. insulin release; HIGH Km, more glucose needed to reach 1/2 Vmax
GLUT3: low Km, saturated with glucose most of the time (due to high need of glucose in brain)
Redox reaction versus Oxidation number
increase in oxidation number through a reaction corresponds to an oxidation in the molecule, decrease means reduction
NAD+ and FAD comparison
FAD accepts 2 H+, NAD+ only accepts one
Understand how dietary carbohydrates are digested.
o A-Amylase in mouth
o Stomach: acidic environment denatures enzymes, generate uniform mixture by contractions
o SI: pancreatic a-1,4 amylase, A-dextrinase, Sucrase and maltase cleave disaccharides; Monosaccharides transported into intestinal cells by transporters
Do digestive enzymes cleave covalent bonds or noncovalent interactions?
cleave covalent bonds using water
Can humans metabolize oligosaccharides with α-glycosidic bonds? What about β-bonds?
Humans lack the enzymes to cleave the B-glycosidic bonds (lactase)
How do the two types of α-amylase differ? How are they similar?
Pancreatic Alpha-Amylase: cleaves remaining A- 1,4 glycosidic bonds
-generates oligosaccharides and disaccharides
-has 94% amino acid similarity to salvia alpha-amylase
Salvia Alpha-Amylase: cleaves random A-1.4 glycosidic bonds
-responsible for up to 30% of carb digestion
How do pancreatic α-amylase and α-dextrinase differ? How are they similar?
-Alpha-dextrinase cleaves A-1,6 glycosidic bonds
-pancreatic A-amylase cleaves A-1,4 glycosidic bonds
Does insulin stimulate the liver to synthesize or metabolize glycogen?
Insulin triggers insulin signal transduction pathway in muscle and fat cells
-high blood sugar, promotes insulin release to the pancreas, releases insulin (stimulates glucose uptake from blood), stimulates glycogen formation in the liver, lowers blood sugar
-low blood sugar, promotes glucagon release to the pancreas, releases glucagon to stimulate the breakdown of glycogen in the liver, which raises blood sugar
If dietary fiber is indigestible, why is it important that we regularly consume it? Be able to clarify the role of insoluble fiber vs. soluble fiber in our diet
Since it is indigestible, it enters the large intestine mostly intact; insoluble fiber helps improve the bioavailability of water-soluble vitamins within the LI (helps pass stool)
What can happen to dietary monosaccharides, following digestion?
-glucose stored as glycogen for later use
-can also be used as building blocks for new carbs
-if not needed, then metabolized (enter cellular respiration via glycolysis)
Know the four metabolic pathways involved in cellular respiration.
- glycolysis: glucose (input); pyruvate/NADH (output)
- pyruvate oxidation: Pyruvate (I); acetyl CoA/ NADH (O)
- Citric acid cycle: acetyl CoA (I); NADH/ FADH2 (O)
- Oxidative phosphorylation: NADH/FADH2 (O)
Be able to identify which molecule is oxidized and which is reduced in a redox reaction.
Oxidization: loss of electrons
Reduction: gain of electrons
During starvation, does the brain require glucose? How does it obtain it?
yes, the brain still requires glucose (the body will cannibalize muscle and fat)
-gluconeogenesis synthesizes glucose from non-carbohydrate sources
If you’re on a low-carb diet, how does the brain obtain glucose?
-brain still requires glucose
-non-carb precursors for gluconeogenesis obtained from dietary lipids and proteins
-consumed fats are also a source of acetyl CoA for ketone body synthesis
Phosphoryl-transfer potential
comparing the tendency of organic molecules to transfer a phosphoryl group to an acceptor molecule; form of energy transformation ie. formation of glucose 6 phosphate by dephosphorylation of ATP, endergonic rxn
Pyruvate translocase / MPC
the membrane protein that allows pyruvate to cross the inner mitochondrial membrane
Fructose 2,6-bisphosphate
regulation of glycolysis in LIVER, Increases phosphofructokinase’s (PFK) affinity for its substrate, producing fructose 1,6-biphosphate