F5c. Why can your enzymes break down starch, but not cellulose? ?cellulose is too large a molecule to digest. ?Cellulose does not result in an insulin response in human cells. ?Glucose is bonded together in starch with beta-1-4 linkages in with alpha 1-4 linkages in cellulose ?Glucose is bonded together in cellulose with beta-1-4 linkages in with alpha 1-4 linkages in starch
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Step 1: The difference between starch and cellulose is the type of glycosidic linkage that holds the glucose monomers together. Show more…
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Cellulose digestion Both starch and cellulose are made by stringing together many glucose molecules. However, while starch is easily digested by humans, cellulose is indigestible. The starch polysaccharide has bonds occurring below the sugar rings, while the bonds in cellulose alternate above the ring and below the next ring. How can you explain humans' inability to digest cellulose? Multiple Choice The enzyme that breaks down starch can only fit the specific bond configuration of bonds below the ring. Humans do not eat cellulose. The acidic molecules found in stomach acid cannot act on the bonds that are above the sugar rings in cellulose. The alternating bonds make the cellulose molecule too large and bulky to enter cells for digestion. Cellular respiration is only capable of breaking down specific bonds.
Sri K.
Humans can digest starch but not cellulose because humans have enzymes that can hydrolyze the alpha (a) glycosidic linkages of starch but not the beta (B) glycosidic linkages of cellulose.
John N.
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