Question

Carbohydrates are commonly found as starch in plants storage organs. Which of the following five properties of starch (1-5) make it useful as a storage material ?
(1) Easily translocated
(2) Chemically non-reactive
(3) Easily digested by animals
(4) Osmotically inactive
(5) Synthesised during photosynthesis
The useful properties are

• A. (1), (3), (5)
• B. (1) and (5)
• C. (2) and (3)
• D. (2) and (4)

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Starch is the major storage carbohydrate of plants. In most plant species it is accumulated in the chloroplast of leaves, whereas in storage organ it accumulates in amyloplast as reserve starch. It is the osmotically inactive form of photosynthetic product and is a hexosan polysaccharide made of large number of glucose unit so, chemically non reactive.