Structurally, how does a polysaccharide differ from a polypeptide?

Answer 1

Polysaccharides are carbohydrates, long chains of monosaccharides, made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, often in a 1:2:1 ratio. Polypeptides are proteins, long chains of amino acids, made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and a variety of other element, not in a particular ratio.

Polysaccharides include starch and glycogen and are often used for energy storage in organisms. Below is the structure of part of a starch molecule (the full molecule is too large to show because it can be hundreds of monomers long):

Polypeptides are long, unbranched chains of amino acids and can link together to form proteins like hemoglobin. Below is an image explaining a bit about protein structure:

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer 2

Daniel Arnold

In addition, polysaccharides have glycosidic linkages between monosaccharide units, whereas polypeptides have peptide bonds between amino acid units. Polysaccharides are composed of long chains of monosaccharide units, while polypeptides are composed of long chains of amino acid units.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.