title: An arabinogalactan from the skin of Opuntia ficus-indica prickly pear fruits.
abstract: The cold-water extract from the skin of Opuntia ficus-indica fruits was fractionated by anion-exchange chromatography. The major fraction, which was purified by size exclusion chromatography, consisted of a polysaccharide composed of galactose and arabinose residues in the ratio 6.3:3.3, with traces of rhamnose, xylose and glucose, but no uronic acid. The results of methylation analysis, supported by (13)C NMR spectroscopy, indicated that this polysaccharide corresponded to an arabinogalactan having a backbone of (1-->4)-linked beta-D-galactopyranosyl residues with 39.5% of these units branched at O-3. The side-groups consisted either of single L-arabinofuranosyl units or L-arabinofuranosyl alpha-(1-->5)-linked disaccharides. This polysaccharide is thus an arabinogalactan that can be classified in the type I of the arabinogalactan family.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolécules Végétales, CNRS, and Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Youssef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Habibi
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahrouz
authors.forename: Marie-France
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Marais
authors.forename: Michel R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Vignon
mesh_terms: D001089:Arabinose / Q000737:chemistry; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D005685:Galactans / Q000737:chemistry*; D005690:Galactose / Q000737:chemistry; D005947:Glucose / Q000737:chemistry; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008745:Methylation; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D029747:Opuntia / Q000378:metabolism*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry; D012210:Rhamnose / Q000737:chemistry; D014574:Uronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D014994:Xylose / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005685:Galactans; D011134:Polysaccharides; D014574:Uronic Acids; D014994:Xylose; D001089:Arabinose; D005947:Glucose; D012210:Rhamnose; C005653:arabinogalactan; D005690:Galactose