Video Transcript
In some metabolic reactions, large
molecules are made from smaller ones, as shown in this simple diagram. What monomer subunits join together
to form starch in a metabolic reaction?
This question is asking us about
metabolism, which refers to all of the chemical reactions that occur within the
body. There are two types of metabolic
reactions, catabolic and anabolic. Catabolic reactions are reactions
that break down large molecules into smaller units to release energy. Anabolic reactions, on the other
hand, are the reverse set of reactions where small molecules can be assembled into
larger molecules. These reactions require energy. And this energy comes from the
energy that was generated during catabolic reactions.
Now that we’ve described metabolism
and the two types of reactions that go into it, let’s turn our attention to the
provided diagram. Here, we can see smaller subunits
joining together to become a larger molecule. This is an example of an anabolic
reaction and requires an input of energy. Since starch is being made and
starch is a polymer of glucose, these monomer subunits must be molecules of
glucose.
