∞ generated and posted on 2016.08.22 ∞
Water-soluble, colloidal carbohydrate polymers that serve as storage molecules for glucose.
Starches can be differentiated in terms of their degree of "branching" where amylose lacks branches, many of the starches found in plants have branches, and the starch found in animals (and fungi), called glycogen, has even more branches.
Figure legend: Storage of the starch, amylose, here within plastids called amyloplasts as found within the cells of an unripened (green) banana. This is a wet mount stained with iodine.
Starches are important components of foods, particularly those derived from grains or potatoes, though starches can be found in other food types including the glycogen found in meat.