A water-soluble form of STARCH found in seeds, tubers, and root vegetables. It is made up of long chains of GLUCOSE units, and often contains a thousand or more glucose units. Amylose differs from the other prevalent form of starch, AMYLOPECTIN, which is highly branched. Amylose forms large spiral configurations when dissolved in water and can react with iodide to form a characteristic blue-purple pigment. Amylopectin and amylose occur together in starch, and the relative amounts vary depending on the plant sources. During digestion, AMYLASE breaks down amylose to maltose, a disaccharide composed of two glucose units. An intestinal enzyme, MALTASE, then hydrolyzes maltose to the simple sugar glucose, the ultimate product of starch digestion.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Amylose
A water-soluble form of STARCH found in seeds, tubers, and root vegetables. It is made up of long chains of GLUCOSE units, and often contains a thousand or more glucose units. Amylose differs from the other prevalent form of starch, AMYLOPECTIN, which is highly branched. Amylose forms large spiral configurations when dissolved in water and can react with iodide to form a characteristic blue-purple pigment. Amylopectin and amylose occur together in starch, and the relative amounts vary depending on the plant sources. During digestion, AMYLASE breaks down amylose to maltose, a disaccharide composed of two glucose units. An intestinal enzyme, MALTASE, then hydrolyzes maltose to the simple sugar glucose, the ultimate product of starch digestion.
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