Comparative Chart - Cellulose Starch Glycogen

Cellulose

Starch

Glyclogen

One of the most important structural polysaccharides which makes up most of the walls of the living cells of the plants the fluffy white balls of cut plants and about half the bulk of tree Trunks scientists estimates that plants synthesize about a trillion tons of cells each year making it the most important organic molecule on Earth.

Cellulose, like starch, is a polymer of glucose but instead of those every other glucose is upside down

Although most animals in easily digest starch no vertebrate synthesize and enzyme that can attack the bonds between glucose molecules and cellulose

Starch is composed of two types of polymer chains known as amylose and amylopectin.

The ratio of amylose and amylopectin affects the starch structure in terms of crystallinity, size of the granules and chemical nature and arrangement of polymers within the granule. The studies have shown that the fine structure of amylopectin plays an important role in the functionality of starch. It is the relative concentration of amylose and amylopectin which determines the physical and functional properties of starch. The starches containing low amylopectin have been found to show the quick onset of gelation as compared to low amylose starches.

Glycogen is a branched polymer of glucose. Glucose residues are linked linearly by α-1,4 glycosidic bonds, and approximately every ten residues a chain of glucose residues branches off via α-1,6 glycosidic linkages. The α-glycosidic bonds give rise to a helical polymer structure. Glycogen is hydrated with three to four parts water and forms granules in the cytoplasm that are 10-40nm in diameter. The protein glycogenin, which is involved in glycogen synthesis, is located at the core of each glycogen granule. Glycogen is an analogue of starch, which is the main form of glucose storage in most plants, but starch has fewer branches and is less compact than glycogen.

COMPARATIVE CHART BY RODRIGO DE LEÓN