Functions of carbohydrates

 CARBOHYDRATES

Introduction

Carbohydrates are widely distributed in plants in which they are formed from carbon dioxide of the atmosphere and water by photosynthesis. Plants use carbohydrates as the precursor for the synthesis of proteins, lipids and other organic compounds. Animals obtain their carbohydrates from plants.

 

Functions of carbohydrates

Carbohydrates have a variety of functions in the animal and human body.

·           They supply energy for body functions and for doing work.

·           They are structural components of many organisms.

·           They exert a sparing action on proteins.

·           They provide the carbon skeleton for the synthesis of some nonessential amino acids and fats.

·           Some carbohydrates are present as tissue constituents.

·           Starch forms main source of carbohydrates in the diet.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cell Membrane and its Functions

Image
  Cell Membrane The cell is enveloped and thus separated from its surroundings by a thin wall contains a rigid framework of polysaccharide chains crosslinked with short peptide chains. Its outer surface is coated with lipopolysaccharide. Cell membrane is also called as plasma membrane (or) plasma lemma. The pili, not found in all bacteria have extensions of the cell wall. The cell membrane contains about 45% lipid and 55% protein. The cell membrane or plasma membrane have an average thickness of 75A°. The principal lipids are phospholipids, sphingolipids and cholesterol. An important feature of these lipids is they are composed of hydrophobic (water - insoluble) hydrocarbon sections and hydrophilic (water soluble) units. The latter include charged units (eg. phosphate or amino groups) and uncharged units (eg. hexose). In water, such compounds orient themselves in such a way that only the hydrophilic section is exposed to water. The hydrophobic components of individual molecules ten...
Read more

Types of Living cells

Image
  Types of cells Two general types are recognised in nature. They are prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Prokaryotic cells Prokaryotes were the first cells to arise in biological evolution. They are very small and simple having only a single membrane. The cell membrane, is usually surrounded by a rigid cell wall. They are devoid of nucleus and membranous organelles such as mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum etc. (Fig. 1.1). Eukaryotic cells Eukaryotic cells are presumably derived from prokaryotes. They are much larger and much more complex than prokaryotic cells (Fig. 1.2). They have nucleus and membrane bound subcellular organelles. Many of their metabolic reactions are segregated within structural compartments. The significant differences between prokaryotic and enkaryotic cells are: The eukaryotic cell structure is composed of (i) cell membrane, (ii) nucleus (iii) mitochondria (iv) endoplasmic reticulum (v) golgi apparatus (vi) ribosomes (vii) lysosomes and others. These spec...
Read more

Sub cellular Organelles

Image
  Sub cellular Organelles   Cell Membrane The cell is enveloped and thus separated from its surroundings by a thin wall contains a rigid framework of polysaccharide chains crosslinked with short peptide chains. Its outer surface is coated with lipopolysaccharide. Cell membrane is also called as plasma membrane (or) plasma lemma. The pili, not found in all bacteria have extensions of the cell wall. The cell membrane contains about 45% lipid and 55% protein. The cell membrane or plasma membrane have an average thickness of 75A°. The principal lipids are phospholipids, sphingolipids and cholesterol. An important feature of these lipids is they are composed of hydrophobic (water - insoluble) hydrocarbon sections and hydrophilic (water soluble) units. The latter include charged units (eg. phosphate or amino groups) and uncharged units (eg. hexose). In water, such compounds orient themselves in such a way that only the hydrophilic section is exposed to water. The hydrophobic compone...
Read more