Question

Name one macromolecule that you would expect to find in honey bee that functions as storage for glucose, and explain where you would be most likely to find large amounts of it in the organism. Name one macromolecule that you would expect to find in honey bee that functions to help maintain the cell’s shape, and describe how it does this and where it is found in the cells.

Answer 1

Although trehalose is the main store for glucose in the hemolymph of honey bees, where trehalose is metabolized to glucose as per requirement, it is maintained in the blood and acts as a reservoir for instant energy. However, large amounts of glucose are stored as glycogen in the fat bodies in the abdomen and thorax of the honeybees. Glycogen can be broken down into glucose upon requirement.

The cell's shape can be maintained by many macromolecules in eukaryotic cells including the cytoskeleton, plasma membrane etc. The phospholipid bilayer which makes up the plasma membrane of the cell is important in maintaining the cell shape. The cytoskeleton contains microtubules which are large macromolecules of 20-25 nm made up of tubulin like proteins acts as a scaffold to maintain the shape of the cell in the honey bee. They are present in the cytosolic region of the cell and forms large crosslinks to transport molecules across the cytoskeleton tracks and this mesh like network helps in maintaining cell shape.