Question

Which is a homopolysaccharide?
A. Pectin
B. Heparin
C. Hyaluronic acid
D. Inulin

Answer 1

Hint: In homopolysaccharides, all sugar components are the same. This variety includes cellulose, starch, glycogen, and para-mil. In heteropolysaccharides, the sugar component can take different forms. These include hyaluronic acid, keratin sulfate, and chondroitin sulfate. It is naturally present in many foods in wheat, banana, onions and asparagus.

Complete answer:
Let's talk about each option one by one for answering the question.
> Pectin- It is an acidic polysaccharide found in the matrix of the cell wall and the middle lamella (e.g. calcium pectate). Pectin is soluble in water and can be replaced with a sol-gel. Pectin is composed of galacturonic acid, galactose, methylated galacturonic acid and arabinose.
> Heparin- Is a heteropolysaccharide. The reason is in the composition of iduronic acid in two different forms, therefore it is the structure of a heteropolysaccharide. It is an anticoagulant produced by the liver and mast cells. It occurs in the blood and connective tissue.
> Hyaluronic acid- Cartilage tissue contains related polysaccharides hyaluronic acid, keratan sulfate, and chondroitin sulfate. Hyaluronic acid is an unbranched heteropolysaccharide containing the repeating disaccharides N-acetylglucosamine and glucuronic acid.
> Inulin- Is a straight-chain food polysaccharide found in onion plants such as artichoke, dahlia, and dandelion. It consists of repeating units of fructose. Fructose units are by joining glycosides bonds.

Hence from the above points, it’s clear that the correct option is (D).

Note:
Inulins are composed mainly of fructose molecules but sometimes contain molecules at the terminal position. The fructose molecules in inulins are attached by a glycosidic bond linkage. Inulin is almost linear, but sometimes few per cent branching is also present. Generally, plant inulins contain between two and seventy fructose units or sometimes as high as two hundred but molecules with but ten units are called fructooligosaccharides, the only being 1-kestose, which has two fructose units and one glucose unit. Bacterial inulin is more highly branched and contains on the order of tens or many subunits.