Question

How would you explain the relationship between monomers and polymers, using polysaccharides as an example?

Answer 1

Hint: A polysaccharide is a large molecule which is made of many smaller monosaccharides. Certain special enzymes help in binding of the smaller monosaccharides together in order to form a polysaccharide.

Complete answer:
Saccharide is a synonym for sugar. Polysaccharides are the most abundant carbohydrate found in food. Polysaccharides are monosaccharides bound to each other by glycosidic bonds. They can be structured lineareally or can be highly branched in structure. Examples of storage polysaccharides are starch, glycogen and glycogen and examples of structural polysaccharides are cellulose and chitin.

Monomers are the building block of polymers. Polymers are basically repeats of monomers. These monomers can be of one type or more than one type. Monomers are small molecules, mostly organic, that can join with other similar molecules to form polymers. Polysaccharides are often quite heterogeneous. Polymers are of two types, homopolymers are polymers which are made by joining monomers of the same composition or structure and heteropolymers are polymers which are made by joining monomers of different composition or structure.

So as to say polysaccharides can be said to be polymers (many repeated units) of monosaccharides (single unit). Examples of this comparison include: monomer- glucose, polymer which repeats of glucose is starch. Monomer- protein, a polymer which is repeats of protein is polypeptides. Monomer- amino acids, a polymer which repeats of amino acids is DNA, RNA (nucleic acid). Monomer- glycerol and fatty acids, a polymer which repeats glycerol and fatty acids is diglyceride, triglyceride (lipid).

Note: Polysaccharides are polymers of monosaccharides. Polymers are repetitive sequences of monomers. To understand this better, always remember this example,
1)Polysaccharide: Example is Glycogen which is made up of monomers of glycogen
2)Polymers: Example if polyethylene and the monomer is ethylene