title: Purification, characterization and enzymatic degradation of YCP, a polysaccharide from marine filamentous fungus Phoma herbarum YS4108.
abstract: YCP, a mitogenic polysaccharide with its molecular weight (MW) of 2.4 x 10(3) kDa, was isolated from the mycelium of the marine filamentous fungus Phoma herbarum YS4108 by a combination of ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-32 and gel permeation over Sephacryl S-400. The detailed compositional, spectroscopic and methylation analyses of the polysaccharide demonstrated that its backbone possessed most likely a linear alpha-(1 --> 4) bonded glucopyranoside main chain co-bearing through side alpha-(1 --> 6)-linkage. The alpha-(1 --> 4) bondage of the glucopyranoside building blocks in YCP was confirmed by the observation that it could be hydrolyzed by the alpha-amylase produced by Bacillus licheniformis. A reliable concentration monitoring experimentation highlighted that the reducing sugars released continuously from YCP during its incubation with the enzyme, and the MW of the main resulting fragment weighed 0.8 x 10(4) Da with approximately 10% of YCP converted to maltose, maltotriose and glucose after a 120-min enzymatic degradation. Finally, YCP was found to be able to increase phagocytic activity of mice in vitro and in vivo, indicating that it may be looked up as a potent immunomodulator that could activate macrophages.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Biomolecules, State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: X B
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: X D
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: R X
authors.initials: RX
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004795:Enzyme Stability; D005260:Female; D005658:Fungi / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D006868:Hydrolysis; D017737:Macrophages, Peritoneal / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D008745:Methylation; D051379:Mice; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D009005:Monosaccharides / Q000378:metabolism; D010587:Phagocytosis; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D013997:Time Factors; D000516:alpha-Amylases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008934:Mitogens; D009005:Monosaccharides; D011134:Polysaccharides; D000516:alpha-Amylases