Amylopectin together
with amylose compose starch, the
primary storage polysaccharides of plants. Amylopectin
is a polymer of glucose.
It differs from amylose and resembles the animal storage polysaccharide,
glycogen, in containing
1,6 branches in addition
to
1,4 links between glucose units. Amylopectin
is less branched, however, than glycogen, having branches approximately
every 10-20 residues, versus every 8 residues in glycogen. Amylose, amylopectin, and glycogen
all differ from the polysaccharide, cellulose, in containing exclusively
1,4 bonds in contrast to the
1,4 bonds of
cellulose.