Week 2 Learning Objectives Structure and Function of Carbohydrates 1.

. To understand that carbohydrates are a class of biological macromolecule containing C=O and OH groups with the general formula CnH2nOn (n is = or > 3). 2. To understand that sugars (saccharides) are a major type of carbohydrate. 3. To understand the 4 ways to classify saccharides: a. number of carbons per monosaccharide/sugar unit (e.g. triose - 3, tetrose - 4, pentose 5, hexose - 6, heptose - 7, etc). b. number of saccharide/sugar units (e.g. monosaccharide, disaccharide, trisaccharide, oligosaccharide, polysaccharide, etc.) c. location of the carbonyl group (C=O) (i.e. on terminal carbon - aldose, on internal carbon - ketose) d. stereochemistry (enantiomers/optical isomers) (i.e. D or L) and to know the meaning of "enantiomer/optical isomer" 4. understand the type of bond that links saccharide/sugar units together in a disaccharide, trisaccharide, etc. (glycosidic bond) 5. know the function (fuel) and chemical structure of the hexose sugar known as glucose and the ways in which glucose can be represented on paper (i.e. Fischer projection, Haworth projection) 6. know the names of some other hexoses (fructose, galactose) 7. know the function of the pentoses known as ribose and deoxyribose (components of genetic material) 8. understand the meaning of "epimer" 9. know that galactose in the diet is metabolised by conversion to glucose in a reaction catalysed by the enzyme epimerase and the consequences if galactose cannot be metabolised - galactitol accumulation. 10. to understand that saccharides can spontaneously cyclise in solution and to know the carbons involved in the cyclisation and the meaning of "pyran" (6-sided) and "furan" (5-sided) rings. 11. to understand the meaning of "anomer" (i.e. alpha/ C1 OH below plane of ring, beta/C1 OH above plane of ring). 12. to know the chemical reactions that saccharides/sugars can undergo (oxidation/reduction, glycoside bond formation, esterification, formation of amino derivatives). 13. understand the functional role of amino sugars (components of many types of structural polysaccharides). 14. to know how glycosidic bonds form and are broken, the difference between alpha- and betaglycosidic bonds, and how the different types of glycosidic bond are named (e.g. alpha (1,4) glycosidic bond). 15. know some examples of disaccharides (e.g. lactose, maltose, sucrose). 16. to know the classification of polysaccharides as fuel storage or structural. 17. to know the meaning of "conjugated carbohydrate". 18. to know that starch is the major storage carbohydrate of plants and the chemical structure of the two types of starch (amylose and amylopectin). 19. to know that glycogen is the major storage carbohydrate of animal cells, that it is predominantly found stored as granules in liver and muscle, and its chemical structure. 20. to know that cellulose is the major structural polysaccharide of plants, its chemical structure, and the reason why it cannot be broken down in our digestive tract (same reason as for the disaccharide known as cellobiose). 21. to know that glycosaminoglycans are the major structural polysaccharides in animal cells, the general structure (i.e. repeating disaccharide units), the function (jelly-like protective coating on cells, cell-cell recognition), and to be able to name an example of such a glycosaminoglycan. 22. to know that glycoproteins are proteins with attached carbohydrates, the role of the

carbohydrate component of glycoproteins, the amino acids in proteins that carbohydrates can be attached to (Ser, Thr, Asn), the functional role of glycoproteins (e.g. cell-cell recognition, blood clotting, etc), and the types of saccharides most commonly found in glycoproteins (Nacetyl neuraminic acid/sialic acid, mannose, glucosamine, galactose, etc.). 23. to know what glycolipids are. 24. to know that the carbohydrates of glycoproteins and glycolipids in the plasma membrane face towards the extracellular environment, their functional role (cell-cell recognition, signaling), and the example of the ABO carbohydrate antigens on the surface of red blood cells that determine blood agglutination. 25. to know the major structural polysaccharide of bacterial cell walls (peptidoglycan), its general structure (repeating NAG-NAM-NAG-NAM), functional role (major component of protective cell wall), and that it is a target of the antibiotic penicillin. 26. to know what proteoglycans are (glycosaminoglycans covalently attached to core proteins), their general structure (repeating disaccharide), their arrangement in branched fibers, their functional role (shock absorbers in cartilage and dental pulp), and to be able to name some examples of proteoglycans (e.g. chondroitin sulphate). 27. to know the type of inherited disease known as mucopolysaccharidoses, their symptoms, the molecular basis for these diseases (inability to breakdown structural polysaccharides in lysosomes due to absence of a lysosomal hydrolytic enzyme), and some examples (e.g. Hurler's syndrome/mucopolysaccharidosis type I). 28. To know the basics of carbohydrate digestion in the gut. 29. To know that glucose is taken up by the intestinal epithelial cells from the lumen of the small intestine by co-transport with sodium (secondary active transport) and that various GLUT transporters mediate transfer of monosaccharides to the blood and then into peripheral cells by passive transport (facilitated diffusion).