title: Porphyran primary structure. An investigation using beta-agarase I from Pseudomonas atlantica and 13C-NMR spectroscopy.
abstract: Porphyran, a highly substituted agarose from Porphyra umbilicalis was degraded by highly purified beta-agarase I from Pseudomonas atlantica. This enzyme cleaved at the reducing side of units of beta-neoagarobiose (3,6-anhydro-alpha-L-galactopyranosyl-(1 leads to 3)-beta-D-galactopyranose). The oligosaccharides were divided into fractions of low and high molecular weight by dialysis. The permeate (23% of total starting carbohydrate) was separated by ion-exchange into neutral and anionic fractions. Gel filtration of the neutral fraction (19%) resolved two major oligosaccharides. These were shown by 13C-NMR spectroscopy to be 6(3)-O-methyl-neoagarotetraose and 6(3),6(5)-di-O-methyl-neoagarohexaose. Gel filtration of the anionic oligosaccharides (3.3%) revealed two novel monosulphated tetrasaccharides, 6-O-sulphato-alpha-L-galacto-pyranosyl-(1 leads to 3)-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1 leads to 4)-3,6-anhydro-alpha-L-galactopyranosyl-(1 leads to 3)-D-galactopyranose and its 6(3)-O-methylated derivative. The 13C-NMR data from the sulphated tetrasaccharides provided a novel reference which was used to characterise higher, partially sulphated fragments in the dialysis permeate. The fraction retained on dialysis (77%) had an average degree of polymerisation of 40 and was homologous with the high-molecular-weight anionic permeate. From 13C-NMR spectroscopy porphyran was found to comprise 49% sulphated disaccharide units and these were calculated to occur in stretches averaging 2.0-2.5 contiguous units.
mesh_terms: D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000032:analysis; D011134:Polysaccharides; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000201:enzymology; D012685:Sepharose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; D011134:Polysaccharides; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; C038549:porphyran; D012685:Sepharose; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; C019624:agarase