We can't live on air and sunshine alone. The human body needs food and water to survive. A human can go for more than three weeks without food (Mahatma Gandhi survived 21 days of complete starvation), but water is a different story. At least 60% of the adult body is made of it and every living cell in the body needs it to keep functioning.
Scheme demonstrating the function of glycogen branching enzyme. In glycogen, every 10 to 14 glucose units, a side branch with an additional chain of glucose units occurs. The side chain attaches at carbon atom 6 of a glucose unit, an Î±-1,6-glycosidic bond. This connection is catalyzed by a branching enzyme, generally given the name Î±-glucan branching enzyme. A branching enzyme attaches a string of seven glucose units (with some minor variation to this number) to the carbon at the C-6 position on the glucose unit, forming the Î±-1,6-glycosidic bond.
In simple terms, polysaccharides are complex sugar molecules made up of many blocks of simple sugar. The sugars are held together by the glycosidic bonds. A glycosidic bond is a covalent bond that joins a carbohydrate molecule to another group that may or may not be a carbohydrate.