Carbohydrates and Glycobiology

What are the two major families of monosaccharides, classified based on the type of their carbonyl group?

How many stereoisomers are possible for an aldohexose, which has four chiral centers?

Which of the following pairs of sugars are epimers?

What is the term for isomeric forms of monosaccharides that differ only in their configuration about the hemiacetal or hemiketal carbon atom?

Why is sucrose considered a nonreducing sugar?

What are the two types of glucose polymers found in starch?

What type of glycosidic linkage is responsible for the branch points in amylopectin and glycogen?

Why do starch and glycogen form tightly coiled helical structures, while cellulose forms straight, extended chains?

What is the defining feature of a proteoglycan?

What chemical features give glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) a very high density of negative charge?

What is the difference between O-linked and N-linked oligosaccharides in glycoproteins?

What type of glycoconjugate is primarily responsible for determining the human ABO blood groups?

What is the general function of proteins known as lectins?

Selectins are a family of plasma membrane lectins involved in what critical process in the immune system?

What is the primary purpose of using exhaustive methylation followed by acid hydrolysis in the analysis of a polysaccharide like amylose?

What analytical technique uses a glass slide with attached pure oligosaccharides to identify proteins that bind to specific carbohydrate structures?

What is the abbreviated nomenclature for the disaccharide lactose, which consists of D-galactose and D-glucose linked via a beta 1 to 4 bond?

In the extracellular matrix, what type of molecule forms enormous aggregates by noncovalently associating with a single, long chain of hyaluronan?

The repeating unit of chitin is N-acetylglucosamine. What is the only chemical difference between chitin and cellulose?

What is the function of the asialoglycoprotein receptor on the surface of hepatocytes?

What is the term for the entire collection of a cell's carbohydrate-containing molecules?

The process where the alpha and beta anomers of a sugar interconvert in aqueous solution is called:

In the structure of the proteoglycan aggregate found in cartilage, about how many aggrecan core proteins are associated with a single molecule of hyaluronan?

What is the structural basis for the gel-forming property of agarose?

Dextrans, which are polysaccharides found in dental plaque, are primarily composed of what type of linkage between D-glucose units?